BACK STORY:
last june, i was looking for some of my husband's childhood friends, and was using the internet to find them. i paid a people search website, PUBLICRECORDSNOW.COM for additional info, and apparently they passed along my debit card info on to this scam company. i vaguely remember having to accept membership to another company in order to advance with my search, but it was for a trial membership and could be cancelled for the next 14 days. when i tried to cancel, I NEVER RECEIVED A CONFIRMATION NUMBER, AND COULDN'T FIND INFO ON HOW TO CONTACT THE COMPANY!!! life got in the way, and i forgot all about it.

FAST FORWARD TO YESTERDAY:
i mostly use my debit card for small charges like lunches, gas or cake stuff. yesterday, i went online to my bank account statement and saw a suspicious pending charge for $17.95...today, the charge became official...the details stated that it is for a "mail order/telephone order" from a company called "AP 24PROTECTPLUS".

i called the number provided, and they stated that they are a membership club that provides online merchant gift cards. i stated that i've never subscribed to any such thing and they said i've been a member SINCE JUNE 2007!!!!!!! i denied this and asked to speak to a supervisor; i restated to her that this was fraudulent charges, and she was very quick to let me know she'd refund this month and last month's charges...AND THEN HUNG UP ON ME!!

I googled this company, and came across this website http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/318/RipOff0318364.htm
which has logged hundreds upon hundreds of complaints against this same company. i called my bank, canceled my debit card, filed a fraud charge and will hopefully be refunded, but the claim is only valid 60 days prior, so the total will only be for $53...the scammers have actually ripped me off for over $300.

on ripoffreports.com, i saw many complaints where people said they were charged resulting from doing business somehow with aol...also many were complaining that it stemmed from the people search site "intelius". there were also several other online sites responsible.

the scammers website is www.24protectplus.com . if you see charges on your card or bank statement listed as "AP24PROTECTPLUS", PLEASE TAKE ACTION.

I HAVE ALSO FILED A COMPLAINT WITH THE FBI INTERNET CLAIMS DEPT.

i know some of this is my fault for not being more vigilant, but i just wanted to warn everyone.

hope no one else has/was/is experiencing this.

starla

I have a $69.95 charge on my bank account, called the bank and they said to call the number associated with the transaction description. I called, they were some sort of membership club, I told them I never authorized anyone to withdraw funds. The lady said it would be canceled and my bank account to be credited.
I called the company back yesterday, the woman I talked to stated that it shows it has been canceled and would take 7-10 days to show up at my bank. I think I will call my bank tomorrow to see what they think.
A good friend was scammed like this a couple of weeks ago, $30.00 for some membership in something like ancestry.com. She had to change her bank card because she could not reach the people that withdrew her money.
I would like to know how in the heck these people are getting our bank card numbers???

call the company back and ask how long you've been a "member"...also, when you call, make sure you get the confirmation number of the refund!! also, go to the fbi internet claims dept and use the info on your bank statement to file a claim against this company...that is how they eventually get shut down.

i'm glad i was able to help someone out. like i said, i vaguely remember choosing to do a paid search for someone on this people search site...it was a legit site, but it gave me the option of trying a trial membership for this other site, i said yes, and then once i was done, i thought what the heck is it, so i tried to cancel...but never received a confirmation. so i was assuming it was cancelled before the 14 day trial period was up, but apparently not!! they also don't give info on the company, so i had no way to contact them to verify the cancellation. usually i follow up on this type of thing, but this last year has been very hectic, so i didn't and now they've made over $300 on me for the last 17 months. i am just not good about meticulously managing my check register, but can you imagine how they scam these rich people who keep a ton in the bank,and never even look at their statements?

That really stinks that you can only get the $53 back. At least you caught it! My mother "forgot" to cancel their AOL account when they got DSL, and she paid for it for 2 years!

My dh's paypal account got hacked a few weeks ago, and we are trying to figure out how it happened.