Author Topic: Auto-Charged after Cancellation. Third Party Issue.  (Read 4077 times)

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Auto-Charged after Cancellation. Third Party Issue.
« on: August 29, 2014, 11:18:17 PM »
I was searching the forums and looking up stuff about "third-party" issues since I think I was scammed by one.

Here's my story:

I got charged 49.99 from an unknown company that had a number attached to it in my bank statement from Miami,FL The number was 888-442-3652. I called them twice. The first time I called, I asked about the charge and a foreign woman said in order to tell me what's wrong they needed my last 4 digits of my credit card, birthdate (why?) zipcode and first/last name. I declined to give out such sensitive information so I asked what their website was. They told me it was something like, "FFsCustomerservice.com" but it obviously was a bogus site and they changed the name of the website slightly when I asked for a clarification.

The second time I called it was a foreign man who answered. He asked me for my full name, zip, and first 4 and last 4 digits of my credit card. I asked for their company's website and he said they do not have one, they are people who provide service to websites. I asked about Avast and he said they provide third-party customer service for them and they do not have customer support directly in Avast so they are an outsource. It seemed shady enough that they didn't have a website, plus I wasn't comfortable with them asking for such private information a bit differently each time. I understand the last 4 digits are needed to check a transaction, but I just couldn't give out my creditcard since I had a hunch about it. So I ended up cancelling my debit card because. I tried cancelling the auto-charge of 49.99 from last month on Avast and I thought it actually went through, I guess didn't and was charged again through a third party exactly a month post-cancellation...

The company's name was "Customer Service for Merchants" or something weird like that. Do take note that when I asked about what their company's name and website was they were reluctant and would rather rattle off what their company does than tell me what they are. Totally shady.

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Re: Auto-Charged after Cancellation. Third Party Issue.
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2014, 11:27:54 PM »
1.  Debit cards are not safe and a thief can steal all your money; credit cards at least provide you protection in ID Theft situations.  This also goes for ATM cards; don't use debit cards and make them strictly ATM cards instead.

2.  I would report this to your bank and change your account numbers immediately.  Perhaps they will not hold you responsible.

3.  Make a police report for ID Theft.

4.  If you think this is related to making a phone call to Avast for help and you actually made the phone call, then contact riley[at]avast[dot]com for assistance since this is run by a third party.  If you ever need help, your best bet is to come here to the forum.

5.  If you live in the US and did not solicit this company to contact you, you can report them to the Do Not Call Registry (Do Not Call List) and they can be fined.

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Re: Auto-Charged after Cancellation. Third Party Issue.
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2014, 11:44:42 PM »
I already sent a report to my bank. Since it's a debit card I'm assuming I won't be getting my money back any time soon. I also preffer not to have credit cards (despite it's safety) as they charge interest and are very annoying to use. Are ATM cards just as safe as a Debit card is? I'm apologize for my sheer amount of ignorance here. I will be changing my account number as a simple debit card action gives them full access to my bank. So far this shady company only charged once.

This is going to be a little difficult reporting to the police, but with just the number and no legitimate company name that's searchable online, I'm assuming they can still work with just a number.

I already shot an email to Riley before making this post.

I actually called them first as the number showed up on my statement.



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Re: Auto-Charged after Cancellation. Third Party Issue.
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2014, 11:49:57 PM »
You can get credit cards (CC) that don't charge interest and they protect you in situations like this and you would not be responsible for paying anything.

A debit card of any kind gives them full access to your bank account.

You can still do a reverse phone look up online; everything is online these days.

If you contact Riley and you gave him your email, then he will help you out.

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Re: Auto-Charged after Cancellation. Third Party Issue.
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2014, 12:06:15 AM »
I just called my bank back and they said they would be able to get me the refund once they sort this out. I am going to be filing a report tomorrow morning.

I talked to them about the debit card granting the company full access to my account, they said that once it is cancelled they cannot access my account anymore. I asked again to be certain as I referred to your post. They assured me that they cannot access my bank account number.


"You can still do a reverse phone look up online; everything is online these days"
 I actually did some research and could not find the number's source.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2014, 12:09:51 AM by sarbe20 »

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Re: Auto-Charged after Cancellation. Third Party Issue.
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2014, 10:29:26 AM »
I'm glad everything worked out for you.  Let us know if we can assist you in the future.  :)

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Re: Auto-Charged after Cancellation. Third Party Issue.
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2014, 10:55:10 AM »
That number is owned by www.bandwidth.com
Quote
Bandwidth.com offers advanced VoIP, Internet Services and Managed Network Services to small and medium businesses.

Some sites that are using that telphone number are:
hxxp://888-442-3652.com/
hxxps://unlimitedwebhostspecialists.com/
and there are many more.
Definitely doesn't look trustful to me.

Very suspicious: none of the sites is using keywords in the header.

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Re: Auto-Charged after Cancellation. Third Party Issue.
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2014, 11:22:57 AM »
At least the OP is getting a refund and hopefully won't use a debit card again.  Thanks for looking up the phone number.