$279.99 was debited from my account without my authorization. These people should be locked up.
0
tj
complaintsboard.com shows about 20 complaints, same as yours, $279.99 removed from bank accounts without authorization, all in about the last month. Consumers calling appear to be strung along with promises a supervisor will call, they need to send in some form, etc. etc.
BBB has a file on them, opened Dec. 2006, unsatisfactory, 24 complaints all unresolved or no response. Detroit address appears to be phony, mail comes back "no such address". NY address might be real.
Treat it as fraudulent debit thru your bank, file appropriate dispute thru your bank in writing, and file complaints with your state AG, as well as AGs in NY and MI.
You may be wise to close your checking account and open a new one. You may remember about a couple years ago there was a "pharmacy card" scam funnelling bank account money to Cyprus.
0
tj
This was suggested in another complaint. Try typing the NY address, "1320 State Route 9", into a search engine.
You will get hits on a BBB complaint against some business with lots of complaints that they think shut down last fall, as well as other complaints against some "government grant" scam earlier this year. All at the same address.
0
Kia
This appears to be a fraud on a large scale. Here is more people who have given RX Smart $279.99 without prior authorization.
According to BBB, the NY address is a mail drop for some outfit in Canada. Most complaints involve credit, billing or refund issues, with none "resolved". They suggest disputing thru your financial institution to reverse the charge.
Have you ordered anything recently, using either check or debit card, from companies you don't normally do business with?
0
Brian
Today, July 17, 2007. I was hit by RX Smart for the same 279.99. I looked up this company and came accross your complaints. I have been in contact with my bank and local police. Of course no one can do anything. I am out of luck at least for 2 weeks untill my bank dose an investigation. My big question is how did they get my account number??? All the information you guys have put out has been very helpful and that is the big reason I am taking the time to write this. Thanks again.
0
tj
From various consumer reports, unauthorized account debits may fit several categories.
There are many complaints under "everprivatecard" and "secretcashcard", for example, that may be tied to applying for online payday loans. Although some of these complaints might be the result of questionable "internet loan" sites passing them information for a fee, but without authorization, there might be incentive with these types of "accounts", as with on-line bill paying services, to attract people stealing and using bank account information to make anonymous online purchases with other people's money.
Similarly, there are "services" and "clubs", some of which some CC companies have even signed their customers up for, without any customer authorization, actually selling their customer account info in exchange for fees.
"RX Smart", based on the BBB report, appears to represent themselves as either an "Internet pharmacy" for purchase of Canadian pharmaceuticals, or possibly as some "prescription discount" pharmacy, particularly given the repeated reports of $279.99 charges. They may have some real business activity, or they may just have some internet front to rope in consumer information, or merely maintain a facade of a business to have access to the ACH system for submitting fraudlent transactions from account information bought from others. One characteristic appears to be that these are all charged to bank checking accounts, apparently debited directly via ACH. I have not seen any report of charges to credit cards, or even to VISA or MC debit cards, and these would normally be very quickly reversed with limited damage to the consumer, under both federal law, and the CC companies unauthorized charge policies. This choice may indicate that fraudulent ACH charges have a better chance to "stick", and this is consistent with many consumer reports of having problems with getting their banks to reverse the debit, typically leaving the consumer defrauded and the bank claiming the consumer must have "authorized" the debit, or how else would it have been possible?
Their apparent physical location in Canada, with mail drops in the U.S., matches the profile of the usual "advanced fee" loan scam, already positioned to "take the money and run" when it gets too hot. One complaint against them was from a lady who said the transaction was strange, as it was against her account, but in the name of her husband, who had been dead several years. That would be consistent with purchasing of bank account information from illicit sources.
Small charges fraud has been done before, and on a large scale. Two notable cases were the pharmacycard.com scam that siphoned money out of bank accounts a couple years ago, ultimately thru Cyprus. This may be similar.
Another very large small charges fraud was the Ken Taves case, where credit card numbers were actually purchased from a supposedly legitimate bank, and used to put thru $45 million in fraudulent charges, mostly about $49, in a period of a couple months before they were caught. Only a portion was ever recovered. For a detailed history, see: http://www.faughnan.com/ccfraud.html
Our electronic payment systems are vulnerable to these sorts of frauds, as the transfers are fully electronic, with only account information needed to put them thru, and with anyone handling one of your payments having all they need to put thru a fraudulent charge. Criminals know this. Banks basically trust any payment processor with access to the system, so if some criminal organization gets access to the system thru a quasi-legitimate business that has established access thru a payment processor, and spreads out small charges thru many accounts to "fly below the radar", substantial damage can be done before the operation is shut down.
You need to put pressure on your bank, make sure you have filed your dispute of the charges IN WRITING, WITH CONFIRMATION that they have received it TIMELY (usually that is within 60 days of the statement date showing the unauthorized charge). If they refuse to reverse it, or sit on it too long, make a stink. File complaints with OCC and Secret Service (yes, electronic payment fraud is their turf, large scale cross border fraudulent money transfers can mean other activity). If your police don't respond, contact your district attorney's consumer protection unit. The DA is elected. And contact your local newspaper or TV station if they have a consumer reporter. Show them the quantities of complaints you can easily find on-line. It's not just one "mistake". Where there's smoke, there's fire.
As you have noted, the question remains: What is their source of account numbers? Have you recently done business with (provided a bank account nubmer) to any company you don't normally deal with? Or is this a breach of some other financial institution's information? Do you use PayPal, or any bill payer to which you have provided your bank account number?
"The most sophisticated attacks are coming from telemarketers who violate ACH rules by taking checking account information and creating ACH debits during outbound calls. Only calls originated by the payer are allowed to generate ACH debits. These telemarketers tend to target consumers almost exclusively, and not surprisingly, the statistics indicate that consumer accounts are far more likely to be hit. ... Under ACH rules, the party most likely to have its pocket picked by ACH fraud is the originating bank, the bank of the party attempting the debit. That bank must guarantee that all payments it puts into the ACH are authentic. When they aren't—and when the transactions are caught in time (two days for corporate accounts and 60 days for consumer accounts)—the originating bank must reimburse the victim and victim's bank and then try to recover the loss from its customer, explains NACHA's Herd."
0
rick in pa.
beware ever private card. i ask them for there address so i could drive,fly or what ever way i could get there to kick some serious ass, nothing would give me greater pleasure than that. i hate being ripped off, and will be in pesuit of these scum bags, you may think tis is a stupid idea, but i am sick of this sh-t. i work very hard for what little i make for some [***] to take it from me. i will make it my #1 priority. any info contact me at duperpooper2000@yahoo.com
0
tj
You should contact FTC. They appear to be cracking down on another similar operation:
File a written complaint regarding the unauthorized charges with your bank, close the account, and file complaints with both FTC, your state AG, and the AG of Minnisota, since that is where the credit card charge says they are located.
They may be getting information from other merchants, or they may be getting information thru "list brokers" such as this, who may in turn be getting it from some merchants, or possibly even banks.
Defendants Sold Consumers’ Account Information to Undercover Investigators Posing as Corrupt Cross-Border Telemarketers; Sale of Data Could Facilitate Identity Theft
The Federal Trade Commission has joined forces with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois to halt an illegal operation that sold lists of consumers to Canadian telemarketers who planned to use them unlawfully. The lists included consumers’ credit card and bank account information, exposing thousands of consumers to possible identity theft, and violating federal law.
The USPIS set up an undercover sting – using postal inspectors who posed as Canadian telemarketers – and sought to buy lists that contained consumers’ credit card account numbers and security codes, and bank account numbers and routing codes, so they could offer credit cards to U.S. consumers for a one-time, up-front fee. It’s a violation of federal law to sell such lists, but Practical Marketing, Inc., sold them to the undercover inspectors. Randy G. Massey, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, brought federal criminal charges, and Practical Marketing pled guilty to identity theft and was sentenced to a criminal fine of $10,000, and ordered to make payment of $100,000 to the Postal Inspection Service Fraud Fund to assist the Service in investigating and prosecuting fraud cases.
In a separate civil action, the FTC charged Practical Marketing and its principals with assisting telemarketers who were purchasing lists in order to solicit U.S. consumers to pay advance fees to get “guaranteed” credit cards with substantial credit limits. Selling lists with unencrypted credit card and bank account information – so called “full data leads”– violates the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule. In addition, the TSR bars telemarketers from charging fees in advance to obtain credit cards. The FTC charged that the telemarketers violated the Rule by offering advance-fee credit cards, and the list brokers knowingly assisted the telemarketers in that unlawful conduct. ..."
Comments
BBB has a file on them, opened Dec. 2006, unsatisfactory, 24 complaints all unresolved or no response. Detroit address appears to be phony, mail comes back "no such address". NY address might be real.
Treat it as fraudulent debit thru your bank, file appropriate dispute thru your bank in writing, and file complaints with your state AG, as well as AGs in NY and MI.
You may be wise to close your checking account and open a new one. You may remember about a couple years ago there was a "pharmacy card" scam funnelling bank account money to Cyprus.
You will get hits on a BBB complaint against some business with lots of complaints that they think shut down last fall, as well as other complaints against some "government grant" scam earlier this year. All at the same address.
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/ysKLL9esnwCClAjJi8V6jQ
Have you ordered anything recently, using either check or debit card, from companies you don't normally do business with?
There are many complaints under "everprivatecard" and "secretcashcard", for example, that may be tied to applying for online payday loans. Although some of these complaints might be the result of questionable "internet loan" sites passing them information for a fee, but without authorization, there might be incentive with these types of "accounts", as with on-line bill paying services, to attract people stealing and using bank account information to make anonymous online purchases with other people's money.
Similarly, there are "services" and "clubs", some of which some CC companies have even signed their customers up for, without any customer authorization, actually selling their customer account info in exchange for fees.
"RX Smart", based on the BBB report, appears to represent themselves as either an "Internet pharmacy" for purchase of Canadian pharmaceuticals, or possibly as some "prescription discount" pharmacy, particularly given the repeated reports of $279.99 charges. They may have some real business activity, or they may just have some internet front to rope in consumer information, or merely maintain a facade of a business to have access to the ACH system for submitting fraudlent transactions from account information bought from others. One characteristic appears to be that these are all charged to bank checking accounts, apparently debited directly via ACH. I have not seen any report of charges to credit cards, or even to VISA or MC debit cards, and these would normally be very quickly reversed with limited damage to the consumer, under both federal law, and the CC companies unauthorized charge policies. This choice may indicate that fraudulent ACH charges have a better chance to "stick", and this is consistent with many consumer reports of having problems with getting their banks to reverse the debit, typically leaving the consumer defrauded and the bank claiming the consumer must have "authorized" the debit, or how else would it have been possible?
Their apparent physical location in Canada, with mail drops in the U.S., matches the profile of the usual "advanced fee" loan scam, already positioned to "take the money and run" when it gets too hot. One complaint against them was from a lady who said the transaction was strange, as it was against her account, but in the name of her husband, who had been dead several years. That would be consistent with purchasing of bank account information from illicit sources.
Small charges fraud has been done before, and on a large scale. Two notable cases were the pharmacycard.com scam that siphoned money out of bank accounts a couple years ago, ultimately thru Cyprus. This may be similar.
Another very large small charges fraud was the Ken Taves case, where credit card numbers were actually purchased from a supposedly legitimate bank, and used to put thru $45 million in fraudulent charges, mostly about $49, in a period of a couple months before they were caught. Only a portion was ever recovered. For a detailed history, see: http://www.faughnan.com/ccfraud.html
Our electronic payment systems are vulnerable to these sorts of frauds, as the transfers are fully electronic, with only account information needed to put them thru, and with anyone handling one of your payments having all they need to put thru a fraudulent charge. Criminals know this. Banks basically trust any payment processor with access to the system, so if some criminal organization gets access to the system thru a quasi-legitimate business that has established access thru a payment processor, and spreads out small charges thru many accounts to "fly below the radar", substantial damage can be done before the operation is shut down.
You need to put pressure on your bank, make sure you have filed your dispute of the charges IN WRITING, WITH CONFIRMATION that they have received it TIMELY (usually that is within 60 days of the statement date showing the unauthorized charge). If they refuse to reverse it, or sit on it too long, make a stink. File complaints with OCC and Secret Service (yes, electronic payment fraud is their turf, large scale cross border fraudulent money transfers can mean other activity). If your police don't respond, contact your district attorney's consumer protection unit. The DA is elected. And contact your local newspaper or TV station if they have a consumer reporter. Show them the quantities of complaints you can easily find on-line. It's not just one "mistake". Where there's smoke, there's fire.
As you have noted, the question remains: What is their source of account numbers? Have you recently done business with (provided a bank account nubmer) to any company you don't normally deal with? Or is this a breach of some other financial institution's information? Do you use PayPal, or any bill payer to which you have provided your bank account number?
"The most sophisticated attacks are coming from telemarketers who violate ACH rules by taking checking account information and creating ACH debits during outbound calls. Only calls originated by the payer are allowed to generate ACH debits. These telemarketers tend to target consumers almost exclusively, and not surprisingly, the statistics indicate that consumer accounts are far more likely to be hit.
...
Under ACH rules, the party most likely to have its pocket picked by ACH fraud is the originating bank, the bank of the party attempting the debit. That bank must guarantee that all payments it puts into the ACH are authentic. When they aren't—and when the transactions are caught in time (two days for corporate accounts and 60 days for consumer accounts)—the originating bank must reimburse the victim and victim's bank and then try to recover the loss from its customer, explains NACHA's Herd."
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/08/edebit.shtm
They may be getting information from other merchants, or they may be getting information thru "list brokers" such as this, who may in turn be getting it from some merchants, or possibly even banks.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/10/listbrokers.shtm
"For Release: October 9, 2007
Federal Enforcers Target List Brokers
Defendants Sold Consumers’ Account Information to Undercover Investigators Posing as Corrupt Cross-Border Telemarketers; Sale of Data Could Facilitate Identity Theft
The Federal Trade Commission has joined forces with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois to halt an illegal operation that sold lists of consumers to Canadian telemarketers who planned to use them unlawfully. The lists included consumers’ credit card and bank account information, exposing thousands of consumers to possible identity theft, and violating federal law.
The USPIS set up an undercover sting – using postal inspectors who posed as Canadian telemarketers – and sought to buy lists that contained consumers’ credit card account numbers and security codes, and bank account numbers and routing codes, so they could offer credit cards to U.S. consumers for a one-time, up-front fee. It’s a violation of federal law to sell such lists, but Practical Marketing, Inc., sold them to the undercover inspectors. Randy G. Massey, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, brought federal criminal charges, and Practical Marketing pled guilty to identity theft and was sentenced to a criminal fine of $10,000, and ordered to make payment of $100,000 to the Postal Inspection Service Fraud Fund to assist the Service in investigating and prosecuting fraud cases.
In a separate civil action, the FTC charged Practical Marketing and its principals with assisting telemarketers who were purchasing lists in order to solicit U.S. consumers to pay advance fees to get “guaranteed” credit cards with substantial credit limits. Selling lists with unencrypted credit card and bank account information – so called “full data leads”– violates the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule. In addition, the TSR bars telemarketers from charging fees in advance to obtain credit cards. The FTC charged that the telemarketers violated the Rule by offering advance-fee credit cards, and the list brokers knowingly assisted the telemarketers in that unlawful conduct.
..."