UNAUTHOTIZED CHARGE FROM MY CREDIT CARD
Complaint
Dorothy G. Celosia
Country: United States
Please stop the $40.00 monthly charges from my Bank of America Credit card. I have not signed a written agreement with the company. Please cancel the account. I want my payment in March and April 2008 refunded to me.
I already reported to Bank of America about this unauthorized charges.
Thank you.
I already reported to Bank of America about this unauthorized charges.
Thank you.
Comments
The law firm of Salehi & Associates was recently retained by a client who, upon opening a Bank of America account, received a letter from Smart-Step Protector Insurance claiming that he had enrolled in one of Smart-Step's insurance policies. Salehi & Associates is investigating allegations that Bank of America improperly divulged personal information to third parties and/or that Smart-Step improperly obtained said information. We are currently looking into this matter, and are interested in any information or assistance that other Bank of America account holders would be able to provide. You may contact us at 310 820 3366 or visit our site at www.salehiclassaction.com. Thank you very much for your time and attention.
The law firm of Salehi & Associates was recently retained by a client who, upon opening a Bank of America account, received a letter from Smart-Step Protector Insurance claiming that he had enrolled in one of Smart-Step's insurance policies. Salehi & Associates is investigating allegations that Bank of America improperly divulged personal information to third parties and/or that Smart-Step improperly obtained said information. We are currently looking into this matter, and are interested in any information or assistance that other Bank of America account holders would be able to provide. You may contact us at 310 820 3366 or visit our site at www.salehiclassaction.com. Thank you very much for your time and attention.
The law firm of Salehi & Associates was recently retained by a client who, upon opening a Bank of America account, received a letter from Smart-Step Protector Insurance claiming that he had enrolled in one of Smart-Step's insurance policies. Salehi & Associates is investigating allegations that Bank of America improperly divulged personal information to third parties and/or that Smart-Step improperly obtained said information. We are currently looking into this matter, and are interested in any information or assistance that other Bank of America account holders would be able to provide. You may contact us at 310 820 3366 or visit our site at www.salehiclassaction.com. Thank you very much for your time and attention.
The law firm of Salehi & Associates was recently retained by a client who, upon opening a Bank of America account, received a letter from Smart-Step Protector Insurance claiming that he had enrolled in one of Smart-Step's insurance policies. Salehi & Associates is investigating allegations that Bank of America improperly divulged personal information to third parties and/or that Smart-Step improperly obtained said information. We are currently looking into this matter, and are interested in any information or assistance that other Bank of America account holders would be able to provide. You may contact us at 310 820 3366 or visit our site at www.salehiclassaction.com. Thank you very much for your time and attention.
The law firm of Salehi & Associates was recently retained by a client who, upon opening a Bank of America account, received a letter from Smart-Step Protector Insurance claiming that he had enrolled in one of Smart-Step's insurance policies. Salehi & Associates is investigating allegations that Bank of America improperly divulged personal information to third parties and/or that Smart-Step improperly obtained said information. We are currently looking into this matter, and are interested in any information or assistance that other Bank of America account holders would be able to provide. You may contact us at 310 820 3366 or visit our site at www.salehiclassaction.com. Thank you very much for your time and attention.
The law firm of Salehi & Associates was recently retained by a client who, upon opening a Bank of America account, received a letter from Smart-Step Protector Insurance claiming that he had enrolled in one of Smart-Step's insurance policies. Salehi & Associates is investigating allegations that Bank of America improperly divulged personal information to third parties and/or that Smart-Step improperly obtained said information. We are currently looking into this matter, and are interested in any information or assistance that other Bank of America account holders would be able to provide. You may contact us at 310 820 3366 or visit our site at www.salehiclassaction.com. Thank you very much for your time and attention.
The law firm of Salehi & Associates was recently retained by a client who, upon opening a Bank of America account, received a letter from Smart-Step Protector Insurance claiming that he had enrolled in one of Smart-Step's insurance policies. Salehi & Associates is investigating allegations that Bank of America improperly divulged personal information to third parties and/or that Smart-Step improperly obtained said information. We are currently looking into this matter, and are interested in any information or assistance that other Bank of America account holders would be able to provide. You may contact us at 310 820 3366 or visit our site at www.salehiclassaction.com. Thank you very much for your time and attention.
The law firm of Salehi & Associates was recently retained by a client who, upon opening a Bank of America account, received a letter from Smart-Step Protector Insurance claiming that he had enrolled in one of Smart-Step's insurance policies. Salehi & Associates is investigating allegations that Bank of America improperly divulged personal information to third parties and/or that Smart-Step improperly obtained said information. We are currently looking into this matter, and are interested in any information or assistance that other Bank of America account holders would be able to provide. You may contact us at 310 820 3366 or visit our site at www.salehiclassaction.com. Thank you very much for your time and attention.
The law firm of Salehi & Associates was recently retained by a client who, upon opening a Bank of America account, received a letter from Smart-Step Protector Insurance claiming that he had enrolled in one of Smart-Step's insurance policies. Salehi & Associates is investigating allegations that Bank of America improperly divulged personal information to third parties and/or that Smart-Step improperly obtained said information. We are currently looking into this matter, and are interested in any information or assistance that other Bank of America account holders would be able to provide. You may contact us at 310 820 3366 or visit our site at www.salehiclassaction.com. Thank you very much for your time and attention.
Let's be logical, just because we don't remember authorizing someone to charge the acc't doesn't make the company illegal. Yeah it takes forever to get your money back BECAUSE YOU DON'T DESERVE IT!! this is what's wrong with this country idiots who don't have a brain and don't listen carefully when they talk on the phone...I've fallen in that category, i've accepted something, but unlike the rest of you idiots i accept my responsibilities...look at the statistics. IDIOTS!
And yet many telemarketing scams go on for years before they are shut down.
Deception is the tactic that makes fraud, fraud. The same deception that fools the consumer can continue to fool the regulators, until the complaint numbers outweigh the "plausible deniability" designed into the scheme.
Pre-acquired account information fraud doesn't even require that the telemarketer get the consumer to divulge their account information. They already have it, from their bank partner (BofA, Chase, Citi, Discover, and others). This allows deceptive scripts aimed at just getting some consumer statement they can later misrepresent as an "authorization".
It doesn't even have to comply with FTC's TSR rules, which require complete recording of the call including all terms and with the consumer speaking the last 4 digits of the account number as authorization. Consumers don't know what those rules are anyway, and can be easily bluffed into believing they might have "authorized" something when they call to dispute unrecognized charges.
All a fraudulent telemarketer needs is enough of an excuse to claim it was just a "mistake" if caught, or even "lose" the recording, and there is no evidence.
"Let's be logical, just because we don't remember authorizing someone to charge the acc't doesn't make the company illegal."
Just because a company says you "authorized" their charges, doesn't mean you did. FTC prosecutes many companies for such fraud every year. A number of telemarketing companies show up repeatedly in reports of such schemes.
When numerous complaints over an extended period of time indicate a company is engaged in deceptive marketing resulting in unauthorized charges, including consistent consumer reports of the details of their deceptive scripts, combined with consumer reports of tactics designed to block attempts to cancel, then there is a pattern indicative of a deliberate and organized fraudulent telemarketing operation.
"this is what's wrong with this country idiots who don't have a brain and don't listen carefully when they talk on the phone..."
Listening is pointless when your adversary is a liar, even more so when he already has your account number, handed to him by your own bank.
"I've fallen in that category, i've accepted something, but unlike the rest of you idiots i accept my responsibilities"
Either you enjoy being fleeced, or maybe you want others to believe there is nothing they can do when they are conned. Why would you want that?
For those who would be educated in how preacquired account telemarketing fraud is conducted, read on. Unlike business directory or magazine subscription telemarketing scams, when you already have the account information, and the victim's bank is your partner, the rest is easy.
Comments by the Minnesota Attorney General submitted to FTC regarding problems with fraud in connection to marketing to consumers using preacquired account information.
http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/dncpapercomments/supplement/minnag.pdf
2003 FTC Rulemaking, published in the Federal Register.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/rulemaking/tsr/tsrrulemaking/index.shtm
"Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 310
Index of Rulemaking Record for the Final Amended Rule
Published in the Federal Register on January 29, 2003 and Effective on March 31, 2003
..."
Despite 2003 TSR changes, problems with telemarketing fraud using preacquired account information continue.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1460963
"The Invisible Hand of Preacquired Account Marketing
Prentiss Cox
University of Minnesota Law School
..."
Footnote from Cox's paper. Note the care employed in designing deceptive scripts to obtain enough of an excuse to later claim a charge was "authorized" while avoiding alerting the consumer that that is the purpose of the call.
"17 NAAG Comments I, supra note 11, at 12 (“Preacquired account marketers rarely, if ever, directly ask the consumer for authority to charge his or her account. Instead the telemarketer asks the consumer a general question about whether or not she or he understands the terms of the offer,” including asking the consumer to verify their birth date or state mother’s maiden name.)"
Class action lawsuits against Bank Of America and their marketing partners, including Intersections Insurance.
Gonzalez v. Bank of America N.A. et al
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/texas/txsdce/4:2009cv02946/697255/
http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/09/14/Clas ... e_Insurance.htm
Chavez v. Bank of America, et al.
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/3:2010cv00653/224329/
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/cacdce/2:2010cv00753/464118/
http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/02/18/24797.htm