My brother-in-law replied to an e-mail about grant information over a year ago. This week he was contacted about receiving his grant for $5k so he could go back to school. Because BIL does not have a bank account he asked me to provide my information to them so he could receive the funds.
The caller stated that our account would not be charged (over and over again) until the grant money was received. I knew that this was too good to be true but to help my BIL get back on his feet I agreed. I even hung up on these people, telling them that I knew that the scheme was a fraud and they called me right back assuring me that it was not fraud or a scam.
I heard the three people I spoke with each say that there would be $279 for the money/information/service and each time I stopped them saying that I did not want my account charged even one dime as this was not a service for me, I was only giving them an account to transfer money IN TO. Each representative assured me that the account would not be charged. No mention was made of having to pay the amount later. The callers also stated that my bank manager would call and I would need to give them the authorization number before the funds were placed into the account.
Today my bank charged $279.95 to my account. I called the bank to stop payment on the charge and they would not assist me. My bank did provide me with the bank requesting the funds, so my next call was to Citibank in attempts to stop the transaction. Citibank also refused to stop the transaction. Citybank provided me with the company information for the requestor which was MTJ/Financial Link. I called this company who claimed to be a payment processing center for the company charging the fees. The representative at Financial Link also stated that she could not help me stop the payment because her company shreds the routing and account numbers after submitting them for payment. Financial Link is listed as a mortgage broker/financial services corporation. The representative provided me with a number to reach American Financial.
I called American Financial and I was advised that there was nothing they could do and that I could file a complaint with my bank after the charge was completly posted. I advised the representative that this was unacceptable. I asked him for the address, city and state where the business is registered. The representative refused to provide me with a street address or business license number that I could cross reference. I asked to speak to a supervisor. The representative told me that no supervisors were present and that it was against company policy to provide me with any additional information.
I have used several services to try and cross reference the phone number or find a physical address for this company without success. A senior representative is supposed to call me back later this evening but I have low expectations. This company has overdrawn my checking account and left my family broke until payday on October 10th. They have shown no remorse.
Chris
Des Moines, Iowa
U.S.A.
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