Complaint Review: Fraud Alert Services

I have a CitiBank Mastercard.

On the last statement, which I received today on Aug 7, 2000, a sale was listed that appears to be fraudulent:

Company: FRAUD ALERT SERVICE 877-872-6684
Amount: $99.95

I am very sure that I had never ordered such and called their number.

The person on the phone (called Diego) told me that this service I had bought would protect me from CC frauds for lifetime at a one-time fee.

This assured me even more of the fact that I had NOT ordered this, since I know that one does not need such a protection because the CC companies have to take care of frauds themselves already (it's their and not my responsibility to make sure that no one takes my money without my authorization!).

Then he offered me to send me a check about $50 while still keeping the "protection". I refused and asked to get all the money back. He gave me a cancellation code and said I'd get the money reimbursed soon on my CC.

After that I asked for a proof of me having actually done this purchase. He said that someone had called me on July 20 and offered it to me, to which I agreed supposedly.

I am very sure I did not because I have a very strong opinion against buying anything that gets offered to me on the phone via unsolicited calls.

So, I believe strongly that this CC deduction was made not only in error but rather with a fraudulent purpose.

I then called CitiBank and was told by them that the above service company is even a partner of CitiBank! So, obviously, CitiBank gave my information to that company who then billed me without my content.

I consider contacting legal about this, such as the district attourney, and would like to hear if others had a similar experience with either partners of CitiBank or that particular company.

If so, please send an e-mail to:
Thomas Tempelmann, fraudalert@tempel.org