Fraudulent charges from SRVTS.com

[LJ555]

So I noticed on my last statement a recurring charge for $29.95 from SRVTS.com.  I've had a total of 4 charges for this amount, and the detail didn't give any additional merchant info.  I googled SRVTS.com and it seems to be a "highly suspicious" scam company for credit monitoring.  Despite my recent focus on keeping up with my credit, I know for sure that I didn't sign up for any new services and I most especially didn't do so using my Chase Amazon Visa.  I checked my email history and I have nothing that indicates even accidentally signing up for additional credit monitoring.  I already pay for one thing, why would I sign up for another?

I disputed the charges yesterday via their online portal, and today they were refunded!  There is still a pending charge that can't be disputed or refunded until it's processed.  Chase has called to follow up but I won't be able to return the call for another hour or two.  So yay for Chase being so responsive!  But I'm not so sure what to do about preventing future charges.  I guess I need to call the main phone number that pops up when I go to that website - I will just need to ensure that I won't give them any of my personal info even if it's clear they already have it. And stay on top of reviewing the charges in case this happens again.

Google seems to show that this is a common fraud - so hopefully if anyone else here sees charges from this company, this will help give you some assurance that it's a scam.  I wish I had been paying closer attention earlier, but here we are.

[Anonymous]

If it is a reoccuring charge and chase has refunded/plan on refunding any charges from them thats fine, but they need to be reissuing you out a new card with card #, exp date, cvi. Its obvious this company is automatically hitting your card. If chase will not reissue you a new card due to fraud (which if they don't it is beyond me) then you need to just request a new card due to your current card being lost/stolen. Then you'll get a new card with new details.

[LJ555]

The lady I spoke with yesterday at Chase was super nice and recommended that I call the number listed on the website to ensure they don't process further charges.  She says that the refunds I'm seeing on my account now are temporary until it's determined if the merchant will issue refunds or not.  If they do NOT, then she says they'll process the refund on the Chase side of things.  If they DO, then she says to wait until that refund hits, then they will issue a new card.

[LJ555]

Just an update, in hopes someone may find this useful if encountering a similar problem.  I called the number listed on the web page and it was a pretty quick and painless conversation.  They told me I was enrolled with clickyourscores.com for credit monitoring (never heard of them).  I said I didn't know who they were, didn't authorize the charges, needed to prevent this from happening again, etc.  She was really nice and said ok, we'll refund all your charges and make sure you'll never be charged again.

So.  The willingness to so easily return the money pretty much confirms in my mind it was a scam all along.  So now I just have to wait and see when/if the refund hits, because then Chase will have to reverse the dispute (guess I should have called these folks first).

[Kree]

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wrote:

Just an update, in hopes someone may find this useful if encountering a similar problem.  I called the number listed on the web page and it was a pretty quick and painless conversation.  They told me I was enrolled with clickyourscores.com for credit monitoring (never heard of them).  I said I didn't know who they were, didn't authorize the charges, needed to prevent this from happening again, etc.  She was really nice and said ok, we'll refund all your charges and make sure you'll never be charged again.

So.  The willingness to so easily return the money pretty much confirms in my mind it was a scam all along.  So now I just have to wait and see when/if the refund hits, because then Chase will have to reverse the dispute (guess I should have called these folks first).

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truth

[HeavenOhio]

I don't understand why Chase didn't immediately replace the card. Refunds can still come through indefinitely under the old card number.

It looks like you need to be monitoring your accounts much more proactively. It takes me about two minutes to roll through my accounts. I do it almost daily.

Even better is to set yourself up so each and every transaction produces a notification on your phone. Chase is a bit cumbersome as you have to go into your preferences and tell it you want to be notified for every transaction over $0.00. But it works great once you jump this hoop.

The great thing about notifications is that they'll catch the tiny temporary authorizations that tend to drop from pending quickly (often, within minutes). These temp authorizations often occur when recurring payments are set up. Usually, they're for $1.00, but I saw one for one cent. The recurring fraudulent charges on your card probably started this way. Had you caught it immediately, the tiny charge would have likely dropped from pending, the card could have been replaced, and no refunds would have been necessary.

[LJ555]

Thank you Heaven - yes, actually the reason I noticed this charge on my statement is because I recently went into all of my accounts and set alerts.  So when the alert for this charge came through I was like, what?  I haven't even been carrying that card with me, plus I really only use it for Amazon.  THEN I reviewed all of my transaction history and realized it was a recurring charge that I hadn't authorized.  You are correct - I need(ed) to be more proactive with everything so when I went to set up autopay for each of my three cards (one of which I don't even use), I also set up alerts.

I will call Chase today and request a new card. 

[LJ555]

So an update, or more of a comment on this situation.  I would just like to say that so far I've been pretty pleased with the customer service at Chase.  Mostly because I've worked with the same agent throughout this ordeal so I don't have to repeat myself every time I call.  I find that to be unusual with these larger banks, and it's refreshing.