[ALERT] Beware The Recurring Charge Scam - Comments Page 1

Bob,
Please run a story about temporary credit cards. They last a month and then expire.

I am totally FED UP with opt-out subscriptions. They are slightly different from the scams you describe here in that they are, in my experience, pretty staid genealogy, established periodicals or informational sites with varying lengths of subscription. But they have auto renewals--as if none of us ever die or forget X subscription expires in May or June. I'm getting older and the risk of having my bank account drained by the leeches increases with easy passing year and dying brain cell.

Some of them give NO notice whatsoever. I have begun to write to complain, requesting a reversal on my credit card. I make it clear I will contest the charge if they do not.

One site gave me tons of grief but finally capitulated. I will never do business with them again. Another site not only reversed the charge they changed to an opt-in renewal system.

But the ultimate solution for me would be a temporary card that expires in thirty days. Can you provide some guidance as to where to obtain such a card safely?

My bank offers "virtual credit cards", where they give me a temporary card with a unique number. I choose the amount and expiration date, all online.
I use these for all online and phone transactions. This offers safety from recurring charges.

Absolutely! Carefully check *everything* on those screens! A similar scam: I was charged several recurring charges identified as "Netflix". They were not from Netflix, but some one claiming to be Netflix. I immediately reported the fraud to the bank where they cancelled the card, removed the fraudulent charges, and issued me a new card. So, check your accounts for fraud every day.

Attn: Duckie & othes; Citibank offers one-time use credit card numbers (for their cardholders) for use in such situations. Citibank calls them Virtual Account Numbers. I also use the service when purchasing anything outside of the USA. As time goes on you may get notices requesting updated expiry dates from abusive vendors . I just ignore them. The system works.

Bank of America also has virtual credit cards. I've used them for past 20 years, and like how I can have a defined spend amount (for monthly purchase agreements) and a definable (up to 1 year) end month.

I don't know anything about 30-day cards, but you can go far with Gift Cards. You buy such a card from your bank (nominal sales charge, usually $500 credit limit). The cards usually have an expiration date in 5 years or after the credit limit is reached.
Seems like they work. Vendors often refuse to receive payment via a Gift Card; they want your regular credit or debit card (or a checking account number that they can use for electronic withdrawals). I tell them "it's gift card or nothing." Use gift cards if you don't trust the vendor or it's new and you choose to play it cautious. Your loss is limited to the available credit left on the card.
Anytime Fitness just came to town and your option is sign up for a full year with checking account or credit/debit card. No gift card; I walked away.
It's a good thing to have when you're traveling and may not know who you're dealing with.
Watch out for automatic renewals.
The Wall Street Journal accepts only plastic for subscriptions to their electronic service (I don't remember if they take gift cards) and it's automatically renewing. So even a non-scamming vendor wants to take advantage of what they hope will be your failure to keep a sharp eye on renewal dates.

@Bob...How about some hints on how to remove these recurring charges via your Credit Card settings?
Apparently Malware Bytes does this also.
Didn't even know it until an expiration date renewal on my card caused their charge to be declined.

My wife 'ordered' some supposedly marvelous cosmetic cream, and a similar occurrence - she'd unwittingly not 'unchecked' a 'bill me every month and send me another minuscule bottle of gloop' box on the scam page. We managed to get a refund after one month, and stop the payments (which I would have done anyway!) but were forced to return the product using high-cost tracked mail to Singapore to get that refund. Postage from Australia is VERY expensive - it was an exercise in what NOT to do in future, and we consider ourselves fortunate to have only lost about $150.00!!

My wife wants to buy things from catalogs she gets in the mail. One time she called and used a credit card and they had signed us up to their club for $15.oo a month. Now I tell her to send them a check and we don't get signed up to their club.

In all fairness, recall that directly on the heels of the Apple in-app purchases suit was the Google in-all purchases suit. As with Apple, Google settled and reimbursed the parents of kids who had quite easily racked up large bills due to in-app purchases. Both companies have taken positive steps in making in-app purchases both clearer and more difficult to complete. All that said, I have made purchases with both companies through their app stores with no issue. I also have subscriptions with Apple (Apple Music and Apple Cloud Storage.). I have had zero problem with these subscriptions. I receive clear, monthly nortifications from Apple about them, and they are extremely easy to cancel and/or modify. I also use Amazon’s Subscibe and Save option for household goods. I am notified of upcoming shipments and have ample time to cancel or change the upcoming shipment. Should I die, there are instructions on canceling subscriptions, and, indeed, all bills that are automatically paid, whether it be through my credit union’s online banking portal or directly through the providing business’ Website.

As Bob notes, there is nothing inherently wrong with a subscription (or auto-pay) model, as long as the business uses fair practices, such as using opt-in rather than opt-out, communicating about transactions, and making changes, cancellations and refunds easy.

Auto-renewal isn’t a big issue if the company sends reminders and is willing to reimburse in full or prorated upon subsequent cancellation. I had that happen once with Ancestry.com. They told me of the upcoming auto renewal, but I spaced it off. My fault. There was zero issue with canceling and getting reimbursed.

The biggest problem comes with companies that hide the user unfriendly terms in 6 point font at the bottom of a page, don’t communicate charges, refuse to cancel or reimburse a charge and so forth.

Malwarebytes told me I was signed up for a subscription after a year of using the free version. They tried to hit an account of mine that I had previously used to subscribe to malwarebytes, legitimately, several years ago, but no payment was taken this time as there were insufficient funds in account. This is deliberate theft! I thought malwarebytes was a legitimate company! Everybody hiss at the plagues that infest Malwarebytes! I wrote to them insisting I had not renewed their product, they replied offering an opportunity to renew again, a couple of days later they cancelled the non-existant subscription and notified me. Shame on you Malwarebytes, you cannot be trusted now to guard customers against malware when you infect their machines with your own!

I find useful to have info alerts from my bank. Each time a transaction is made, I get an email within a minute or two. It makes an early warning.
Yet virtual credit cards are even better, yet I wish in Canada I could get a US one.

Dear Bob,
I had no idea such practices were even out there. I don't use my credit card very much, especially online, but I am certainly grateful for the heads up.

Another similar outfit with this type of recurring nightmare issue is SkyStream TV, one of burgeoning TV streaming services. Because of my satisfaction with their hardware, I subscribed t their service. Despite hard evidence that I had subscribed for one monthly service. cancellable of course, I was billed for six services within a two day period. It took seven days to get any live person to complain to who finally agreed to cancel the excess charges> Despite a written record of our conversation, I was charged twice for another monthly renewal. My credit card company was of little help, it took three months to get these people off my back. Be careful

I searched around and chose a bank that offers no minimum balance or service charges and includes a debit card. I normally keep about $10 in it and if I am the least bit suspicious about who I am doing business I'll add just enough to cover the current charge and give them that number. If they try to charge me again there will be nothing to take.

It is not only the online sellers that perform scams, also "legitimate" brick & mortar stores. Where I worked as a PM, by reviewing purchases on my jobs, accidentally found out that the company bookkeeper was paying every monthly invoices for the same items that were paid months prior. These places found a cash cow. I initiated a purchase order procedure system to end that practice. The bookkeeper was fired after being forced to repay the company. We also initiated criminal proceedings against those suppliers.

I've been very happy with the banks which issue my credit cards (especially Citi and BofA). They warn me if their computers notice an unusual transaction, in case it may be fraudulent. I also carefully review my credit card charges, and if one seems bogus I open up a dispute. The bank will immediately credit me with the disputed amount pending a resolution of the dispute. I also carefully check the fine print to prevent the kind of recurring charges being warned against. All of this has been pretty effective. I don't worry too much about being scammed, because the banks seem to be on my side and will quickly fix any problems which arise.

Bank of America offers ShopSafe, a virtual credit card where you supply amount and end date for single purchases. Protects against repeating charges AND company hacks as the card can be set for a single purchase only. Good for buying from unknown companies and from known companies infrequently.

Looks like Quicken may be headed this way as well. In the past I acquired a physical disk of software in a package (useful for only three years, but that's another complaint). Now every time I use my 2016 Quicken I get nagged to renew online (Software-as-a-Service) for a "recurring" annual fee on my CC.

Not playing their game. I understand why they are doing it - greater revenue stream, more leverage over their victims (er, clients) - but I don't trust them with open access to my CC. I will find a way to renew for next year only, and then change over to one of the open-source Linux "clones" for keeping my (fairly simple) finances.

Sad to say Act Blue does this also. They automatically check make it monthly donation box; to avoid recurring charge, you have to uncheck it. If I give money to a political candidate or cause, I want it to be one time only by default. This really angers me. This is supposedly a legitimate enterprise.