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Best Buy card, multiple fraudulent charges, new charges keep showing up after closing acct?!?!?

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urbex
Established Member

Best Buy card, multiple fraudulent charges, new charges keep showing up after closing acct?!?!?

This is an absolute nightmare...short story - I got a Best Buy Visa a few years ago as part of a "dumb sucker promotion"..the typical "save $X with approval!", which I hooked right on to.  Never used it until late last year when I put a new cell phone on it, so I never really paid attention to the balance on it.  Early May, I noticed I had gotten an email with the details of the Geek Squad plan I apparently bought on a couple pairs of Bose headphones in early April...except that I never bought Bose headphones..ever.  

I open up my online account, and sure enough, there's a receipt for 2 pairs of Bose headphones and geek squad plan, bought in a store clear on the other side of the country, with the card number being a lookup.  A week later, they were returned for store credit.  

 

I called customer service, explained the situation, got them to cancel the card & send a new card/new number.  Figured no biggie..it happens, life goes on.  

 

3 weeks go by, new card never shows up, and another charge hits, again for 2 pairs of Bose headphones, which got returned for store credit several days later.  I call customer service again, new card/number sent out...still haven't gotten the 1st replacement card.  

 

A few days after that call, ANOTHER charge hits, for 2 pairs of Bose headphones Smiley Indifferent.  By this point, I'm upset, and I've gone from a few hundred dollar balance to a $3,000 balace because of all this, which has also been reported to the credit reports, which unsurprisingly, has caused a considerable drop in my score.  I call customer service again, rep acts like it's no big deal, and they'll just send another card out.  I get hot, tell them just to close the account altogether, as it's apparently the only way to stop all these fraud charges.  She tells me that I'll have to apply for a new card account if I do that, I tell her I DON'T WANT A NEW CARD, I DON'T WANT A NEW ACCOUNT, I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH BEST BUY, I WANT THE ACCOUNT CLOSED ALTOGETHER!  

 

Another week goes by, I get an email for the geek squad plan on the new camera I apparently just bought. W...T....F....Yes, I'm steamed by now.  I call again, this time the rep tells me that apparently I had more than one account (news to me!) and not all of them got closed.  He says he has closed them all now.  

 

I just called and checked the balance...$4,000+, $0 credit availble, my autopayments aren't nearly enough to cover minimums, as I had them set up to cover the payments on what I actually bought. Great...somehow MORE charges keep accruing on accounts that are supposedly closed, and I've gone from a account that had utilization in the single digits to one that's now apparently overdrawn.  

I'm at my wit's end.  I have absolutely no idea how to handle this now.  Reporting fraud seems to have had no impact.  Attempting to close the account seems to be a complete waste of time.  Calling the fraud department just results in the same canned respones "so sorry that has happened to you...we'll cancel that card and send you a new one".  I have the credit monitoring thing, and no new accounts with any other company have been opened in my name, so I don't think it's an identity theft thing.  This seems to be isolated solely to the Best Buy account.  By this point, I'm so upset over this that I can't even think straight, or think of what to search online of how to handle this.  

Message 1 of 4
3 REPLIES 3
Brian_Earl_Spilner
Credit Mentor

Re: Best Buy card, multiple fraudulent charges, new charges keep showing up after closing acct?!?!?

Contact the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) to file a complaint. Also, it might be wise to file a police report so that you can put fraud alerts on the bureaus as well as be able to dispute the balances. It would be a huge problem if one of your other lenders does AA because of this card and could lead to an avalanche of AA from your other lenders. 

    
Message 2 of 4
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Best Buy card, multiple fraudulent charges, new charges keep showing up after closing acct?!?!?

@urbex File a police report with your local police department.  They wouldn't investigate but you will have a record of having made a report.

 

Write a letter to Citibank Executive Office; they service BestBuy Visa cards so they are ultimately responsible for the actions of the customer service/fraud teams.

 

Since this is already affecting your credit reports I'd also file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau...that will surely light a fire under Citibank and Best Buy.

Message 3 of 4
K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: Best Buy card, multiple fraudulent charges, new charges keep showing up after closing acct?!?!?

So sorry that this has happened to you.  What a nightmare.  In addition to the other advice given, make sure you print out copies of your statements showing the charges made in another state if you still have access to your online account.  Hope you get this straightened out quickly.  The fraudulent charges should have been completely removed from your account while they investigated.

Message 4 of 4
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