Unauthorized charges to bank card
Complaint
P C
Country: United States
Found charges of 29.95 for the past 6 months on my bank statement. Called the MVQ company,and they claim that the charge was derived from someone in my home going on "spendonlife.com" and clicking on an offer for identity protection. The problem is no one in my household ever did this. I do not know how they got my bank card number. Also, they immediately reimbursed me for the entire 6 months, without any questions. Wow! I believe that an attorneys general should look into this company. After all, if they just take money from people's bank accounts and then just say sorry and give the money back if they caught...that's not a bad business, especially if they can average a 6 month floator better, like they got in my case.
I guess I better start reading my bank statements every month. Yikes...
I guess I better start reading my bank statements every month. Yikes...
Comments
The fact that they offer such an excuse just reveals that they know many of their charges are unauthorized, and they are prepared with excuses for trying to hang on to the money.
The Senate Commerce Committee has held hearings investigating this and similar "discount club" scams.
The New York Attorney General is also investigating it as consumer fraud.
Interesting that they immediately gave your money back, and more than the normal 60 day dispute period. That indicates they are feeling the heat, and trying to lie low. In the past they would try to only give back 2 months worth.
Contact your bank immediately to block the card number due to fraud, or close any checking account linked to the charges, to prevent additional fraud. Check your statements for other similar charges under different names.
If you are dealing with their unauthorized charges, your first line of defense is disputing through your bank, not trying to get some scam to give you back your money.
You can dispute unauthorized credit card charges under FCBA, or unauthorized EFT (debit card or ACH) checking account charges under FRB Reg. E. You have to dispute within 60 days of the statement date of the statement showing the disputed charges, and you should follow up with a written dispute or fraud affidavit to your bank to preserve your FCBA or FRB Reg. E dispute rights. You should also close the account due to fraud to prevent future fraudulent charges, since these companies often set up multiple "discount club" charges under different names.
The Senate Commerce Committee has held hearings recently to investigate their unauthorized charges, and the New York Attorney General recently announced an investigation.
Supposedly they will give your money back if you ask, while denying they did anything wrong.
http://www.bbb.org/nebraska/business-reviews/ ... ha-ne-107000028
"...
BBB Rating for Vertrue, Inc.
Based on BBB files, Vertrue, Inc. has a BBB Rating of F on a scale from A+ to F.
Reasons for this rating include:
Failure to honor commitment to arbitrate or mediate disputes.
2739 complaints filed against business
Based on BBB files, this company has a pattern of complaints concerning unauthorized charges to consumer's credit cards.
Complaints reported to the Bureau primarily involve claims of unauthorized charges by the Company's affiliates. In such cases, customers reported no recollection of having agreed to the programs that were billed to their credit card, debit card or bank account. In some of the cases, consumers reported being charged for two or three years.
The company has responded to all complaints offering a full unconditional refund for such unauthorized charges, while also denying that any of its charges were not authorized by the customers. The company has stated that, with the consent of its customers, its practice is to tape record telephone transactions, including the terms of the agreement with the customer. The company asserts that the audio tapes clearly reveal that all customers are fully aware that their credit card, or other forms of payment, will be charged for the program if it is not cancelled within the trial period.
In response to customers who have complained about repeated charges over a period of years, the Company has stated that the terms the customers have agreed to include the automatic renewal of the membership each year at the then current price."
..."
There is also MVQ twentyfour prtc (protection plus), which charged us $2.00 per month on the consecutive $1.00 charges.
I am thrilled these people wanted to "protect our privacy" unauthorized at the grand total of $63.90 per month.
Like the other posts, when we contacted them, they quickly offered to refund us. Let's just see if we get a refund in "3-5 business days.
The consumer never intended to become a customer of the third-party "discount club" scammer, who uses deceptive advertising to appear to be a "discount" offered by the merchant the consumer actually did business with, and then got customer account information from that merchant instead of from the consumer, without the consumer's knowledge or consent. That is taking money through fraud.
The Senate Commerce Committee held investigative hearings on these "loyalty" scams, and the New York Attorney General is investigating them for consumer fraud.
VISA as well as the other credit card companies, have been under pressure from the Senate investigation to do something about this rampant fraud, and they have now changed their policy to require that consumers signing up for such "memberships" must now explicitly and separately provide their card numbers to such third party companies. That shows that the deceptive pop-ups and "pass thru" of account information was resulting in high rates of fraudulent charges.
See story on change in VISA policy, here:
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/CSQ7e6WT0AAPHAjMsETmXw
If you have been rejecting your customers' valid FCBA fraud disputes based on the "charge-back" policy you stated, then you have been assisting these scams in stealing from your own customers.
Called my bank and im getting my money back. I am very angry they just take people's money...and curious how they got my info...
Notify your bank immediately, but be sure to follow up in writing, and make sure they get your written dispute within 60 days of the statement date of the statement showing the disputed charges to effectively dispute under FRB Reg. E or FCBA.
Do NOT trust scam companies' promises to stop charging. This and similar companies have many complaints of continuing to charge consumers even after being contacted and agreeing to stop. Only blocking or closing your account will stop them, since it was their intent from the beginning to cram charges through obtaining your account number and "authorization" through deception.
File fraud complaints with FTC, your state Attorney General, and www.ic3.gov, used to report internet related fraud.
Also file a complaint with your police for theft, and get a copy of the police report in case your bank gives you any trouble in disputing the fraudulent charges. If so, file a complaint against your bank with www.occ.gov, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Get a better bank, who will protect YOUR interests, not some scammer's.