Scammed!

  I am paranoid when it comes to making any sort of financial transactions on the internet.  Do I want my computer to save my password?  Nope!  Do I want some merchant to save my credit card information for future transactions?  Absolutely not!  Do I want Zelle, Pay Pal, cryptocurrency or any number of electronic fund transfer services?  Never.  

So I count myself savvy and safe when it comes to preventing myself from getting scammed.  But it did happen.  There is a weak spot in my internet defense. The missus orders frequently from Amazon and other on-line retailers, pays bills with her cell phone and uses her Kindle to access the internet.

Okay, so I have to admit, all of that is normal in this day and age.  I get flak all the time for my stone age philosophies in the age of artificial intelligence and instant gratification.  But now I have an example of why being paranoid pays off.

My wife's Kindle, which is less than six months old, began acting up, its screen flashing incoherently with no button pressing or finger swiping able to bring it out of its electronic fit.  She tried turning it off and on, pretty much what every customer service representative advises as cure-all for any electronic on-line device.  That didn't work.

So my wife Googled on her phone, hoping to find a phone number or website for Kindle support.  She may have typed the question, “How to fix a wonky Kindle” or something similar.  Some entity, and I'm using that word very charitably, agreed to help.  But it would cost her $5.  That seemed a fair price compared to buying a new Kindle or having a repairperson look at it so she committed the ultimate sin.  She gave the entity her credit card number.

Within minutes, she received an automated phone call from our bank asking if we had authorized a $51 charge to our credit card.  Turns out that the $51 charge is the monthly membership fee for an outfit called “JustAsk”, which was the entity she apparently found on-line.

Wendy said 'no', she only authorized a $5 charge.  But you could only answer yes or no to the bank's robotic answering service.  Wendy said 'no'.  Then our bank put a lock on our credit card.  We're in the midst of making reservations for a trip and needed that credit card to be active  We unlocked the credit card.

My wife then called JustAsk who canceled the membership, but NOT the $51 charge.  By the way, the JustAsk guy made the same “turn it off, then back on” suggestion that Wendy already tried unsuccessfully.  So they were no help.

When the $51 appeared as pending on our credit card statement, I called Bank of America to dispute the charge.  While waiting for a live customer service agent, the recording that played in the background over and over advised me to contact the merchant directly if I had a dispute with the charge.  To me, that was like contacting the overseas crook that just scammed you out of hundreds of dollars as you tried to collect a non-existent lottery prize.  No thanks.

When I did finally get a representative from the bank on the phone, they said I had to wait until the charge, which was pending at the time, actually posted to my bill.  What?!  We said up front the charge was a fraud.  The bank must have known the charge came from a shady outfit as they themselves contacted us immediately.  Can't they nip this scam right in the bud?  Turns out, no.

I was not happy and I think the customer service agent knew that.  At the end of our conversation, she said I might get a survey to rate her service.  I never did though.  I think they knew better than to send me one.  After the charge posted to our bill, I immediately disputed it and within a week was credited back the $51.  Fingers crossed that's the end of this debacle.

Oh, and the clunky Kindle?  My wife did some research and was able to fix it herself.