Description

My credit card company alerted me that a suspicious charge was attempted but declined on my account. They gave me a phone number to call for the company. I called and asked questions to obtain the info I've provided here. The number I called initially strongly encouraged me to go to helpchat.biz for help because of extremely high call volume, though following that message, someone immediately answered the call. They said I had signed up "way back in February 2023" for a shopping discount club and that the reason I hadn't been charged before now (May 2023) was that it was a 90-day free trial. I told her that I did not sign up for this and would not have. With no questions asked, she said she would cancel my [alleged] subscription and that my card would no longer be charged. She provided me with a "cancellation confirmation number." When I asked how my card was obtained and how this could have happened, I was simply told it would not be charged again (meaning that no attempt would allegedly by made) and that my subscription was cancelled. To cover the bases, I went to the website, which I had never before been to. I would never have requested such a service. The declined charge for $24.95 was listed on my credit card account as M968Subscription. The lady was very nice, but it was clear that she was not interested in helping me to solve the "mystery" of why my card had been used, how they had obtained my email address, my full legal name, and credit card number. I guess this wasn't as much a scam against me, but appeared to be direct theft of my information and attempted monetary theft. Follow-up is that, prior to sending this scam report, I just searched my email and found that I had in fact received an unopened email from the alleged company in February 2023, where they had spelled the details of my 90-day trial and that, after which, I would be charged $24.95 per month. Interestingly, it listed an account number, which happened to be the exact number I was given by phone today as my "cancellation number." Again, I never signed up for it and never provided the company with any personal or credit card information.