CREDIT CARD SCAM

[JustWood]

I recently signed up for a 30 day free credit report monitoring trial offer where after the 30 days they charge your credit card a monthly fee ($9.95). I did my homework and checked Consumer Affairs and the BBB and found no negative info so I signed up on line. The reason being is I had an unknown couple ( that I had never even heard of) with address' in 14 different states ( did a backround check on them) use my name as a credit reference on a credit application . Nothing ever came of this and I cancelled my subscription to this service well within the required 30 days. buuuuuuuut.
What a fluster cuck it's been the last 90 days. This credit reporting company apparently has several other business' and uses your credit card # to make fraudulent charges. When you dispute these charges they again use a different company name and make more fraudulent charges to your card under that company name. This has gone on for 2 billing cycles so I finally got smart and had my account # changed. Hopefully this will stop the madness. Any advice on this wood be appreciated. I normally am very carefull when it comes to CC's but this took me by surprise.
Another thing that pissed me off about this is the amount of time I spent on the phone talking to some foreigner who I could barely understand and they as well could not understand what my problem was and/or how to fix it. WTF!!

 

[roac]

Check and see if your bank has a service called virtual cc #. What they do for online purchases is issue you a one time use credit card # that is good for only 1 purchase. It keeps your true cc # secure and in reserve for in person charges. I have never seen one of those "free for X days" offers be easy to cancel or not come with enough fine print to give you a headache. Just step away and don't do it...

 

[savageactor7]

LEE sorry to hear about this I'd report it to our State Attorney General. You can get all the info on line but last I heard he wants the complaint via snail mail to make it official.

 

[jadm]

About a year or two ago I switched to using money orders for most of my purchases. I get them free at our bank and, while it does take more time to get them, it saves me time in the long run. I like having copies of all my money orders in my files - instant access. (Bank stopped sending checks back years ago and if there is ever a dispute with a payment for anything - trying to get a copy from the bank is not something I want to get in to.)

Most companies I have bought from on line do accept them. So far haven't run into any problems.

Sorry about your difficulties. It is nice to know that you can get a new card number quite easily these days....