Complaint

0
Debbie Williams
Country: United States
They started auto withdrawal from my bank account when I didn't even order the service. I do have an AOL mailbox but I use an AT&T internet card in my laptop & never dial up. I google & yahoo without this problem! And I never authorized any auto withdrawal. How can they just start taking the money out, & causing my account to be overdrawn? How do I stop them without going to the expense of changing my bank account, buying new checks, etc?

Comments

  • 0
    tj
    How did they get your bank account or debit card number?  You should NEVER give those out, and NEVER set up any automatic payments through them with ANYONE for just this reason.  Only use credit cards, since you can more easily change them.  The costs of changing your account and reprinting checks will pale compared to the on-going leak in your money, with a few overdraft fees thrown in at the worst moments.

    Since you never authorized the charges, you don't even know for what or by who they were actually submitted.  Assuming you never once had an AOL account for which you had provided your bank account information, charges starting would imply that someone got your account information and used it for their own purposes.  AOL and other ISPs such as NetZero, have had problems with this type of fraud for a long time.  They do little to protect against it since their actual out of pocket costs to this type of fraud make it cheaper to just eat the costs, leaving consumers whose accounts get hit to deal with it by disputing.  In fact, these types of anonymous on-line intangible purchases are often used to "ping" stolen account numbers to determine whether they are valid before going on a spending spree.

    Regardless, immediately dispute all unauthorized charges with your bank and close the account.  There is no safe substitute, so just do it now since if you avoid closing it, you will still probably have to later.  Be sure to follow up with your bank dispute IN WRITING.  Make sure in your dispute that you make clear that you did not authorize the charges, or even provide AOL with your account information.  

    In the future, never use debit cards, check cards, or bank account information to directly pay anyone.  Cancel all debit and check cards, and use only credit cards for on-line or merchant purchases.  Use checks ONLY for payments to companies that you can trust, such as utilities, rent, mortgage, etc.  Use an ATM card with PIN ONLY at bank owned and sited ATM machines, to limit the risk of card skimming.  And DO NOT set up auto payments from your bank account, for any reason!  Manage your money and your payments yourself, directly, or people will just start helping themselves to it.

Post a new comment