Description

I received a phone call from a woman who said that my high school student (she named my child) had requested SAT/ ACT study prep materials and that she needed me to authorize the request and provide a credit card number to cover the deposit. She said the testing materials would be free but that some of the manuals would be on a Zip drive that would need to be returned after a month. As long as we returned the drive, the deposit would be refunded. This seemed legitimate as my child is indeed in the phase of starting to take the various college exams. The woman had my name, child’s name and our home address. I gave her my email address. When I gave her my credit card number and she entered it, an alert text message from the bank showed up asking if this was a legitimate purchase; I foolishly typed YES. The woman gave a confirmation number and her phone number and said I should feel free to call with any questions. I had thought she said the charge on my card would be $49, but when I checked my credit card later, discovered a $249 charge from Academic ENRL. I spoke with my child when they got home from school and they did not remember requesting any study materials. So I started to feel a little suspicious. A web search for Academic ENRL turned up a BBB page with a description of a scam that sounded almost identical to what I experienced. I have now spoken with credit card bank about canceling my card and disputing the charge.