I took an unusually careful look at my credit card statement last week, and, unfortunately, noticed an unusual charge:
DIGICOM 866 569 101 OF 01866-5691010
for $50. Then after looking back several dozen entries, I noticed two smaller charges, from the same company. Since I buy a lot of stuff online, at first I thought it was just an weird billing name for something I had bought. But more careful research brought me to this website: http://www.digicom.com/digicombilling.html
It seems that I'm not the only one who has been defrauded. Apparently, this is such an issue for this similar-sounding company, that they had create a webpage telling people that, no, they are not the company that had charged them, and that they did not know why this company was using their name. So I called the number (imagine that, the number is 1-866-569-1010 - I felt silly for not figuring that out).
On my second try, I was able to reach a live person. She told me that the smaller charge was a test trial, and that the $50 was for an "unlimited long-distance calling card", whatever that means. I told her that it was absolutely impossible that I would have approved such a charge.
"Aha! But it's not impossible sir!" Apparently, I did agree to this charge, and to future charges, and she had the month-old recorded telephone conversation to prove it! So she clicked a few buttons, and voila: what played back was what I had thought was a phone survey. Back a month ago, a lady called telling me that my credit card company had partnered with them in a new viral-marketing scheme, and that I had been selected to participate. I would be asked to listen to three test advertisements, and would then be asked to rate how appealing the ads were. Also, for my trouble, I would be given three $25 gift certificates to Target/Costco/other stores, courtesy of my credit card company.
Since I didn't have to give up any personal information, I saw no problem with participating. Naive Bobby! They asked me if I understood that this was just a survey, and that I should decline all three mock offers. I gave them an "uh-huh" and then the ads started. That seems to be what they took as approval to charge my credit card. So I demanded that she cancel those charges, which she very grudgingly accepted, but only after scolding me for having "accepted" in the first place. Then I called my CC company, and told them to make sure those charges were cancelled, and that I wanted my credit card cancelled and then re-issued. I also wanted to know why this company had my credit card number in the first place, but they assured me that they would never give away any information to third parties. So that leaves me with the question of how they got my full credit card number, name, and address, since I certainly did not provide that information. Gah!
