On 2-11-11 FT Class World made an unauthorized draw on my account via electronic check in the amount of $29.99. My story is identical to every other one I have read today. My name at the top, wrong address, no signature required and no previous knowledge of the companies exsistance. I went through all the steps earlier today. Notified my credit union, filed a police report, had the transaction canceled, filled out forgery affadavits and sent them in to CUNA. CUNA will perform an investigation, but to what extent and conclusion is anyones guess.
These transfactions seem to span various financial institutions and it will be hard for one agency to get satisfying results. The transaction amounts are simply too small to raise any serious ginquiry. To most of those agencies its a meager $30. To us? Its an alarming aggression toward one of our most precious resources. We shouldn't sit back and pray that someone (who may or may not be concerned with the outcome of our ordeal) has the ability or the will to fight for us and win.
There is noone better suited for the task of figuring out exactly who and for what reason than all of us who have been affected.
Your bank accounts cannot be accessed without some form of authorization from you and you only. I know, I know. You're thinking to yourself right now, "But hackers do it every day and sometimes without the victims ever realizing it." Hackers steal your acount numbers, card numbers, pin numbers and passwords, and then proceed to use them electronically to access your accounts. Our accounts may have been accessed via an electronic check, but if your bank offers the feature of providing you with veiw of the check, you will see that the check was in fact printed and actually deposited at a bank. You can see the water-marks, front and back side of the check, and that the check was stamped on the back. A real person verified YOUR authorization of the draw on your account.
But where did they obtain this authorization? The only possible answer?
You!
I'm not saying that it's all your fault, because it's not. Somewhere along the line you may have given some entity authorization to make draws on your account, and maybe your relationship with that entity was less than fruitful or may have ended prematurely. You may have even given your authorization to a trustworthy entity recently, and this charge may be a fee you agreed to that, for whatever weird reason, was legitimately drawn by a third party handling their billing services.
Whatever the source may be, some names came to mind as soon as I realized that it wasn't just a printing error with my account information on the check order of an individual with the same name as me. Please bare in mind that I am making no accusations as to the guilt of any party that I mention in this report or subsequent additions that I may or may not make to this report.
These are the first two parties whom I believe may be the possible source along with my generalized reason for said beleif.
Start-up Essentials/A-1 Leasing/Bond Corporation: I had major problems with these companies about four years ago due to a fraudulent lease that Start-up Essentials drew up on behalf of A—1 Leasing/Bond Corporation. After about eighteen months of relentless harrassment from A-1/Bond, and me having more evidence that I never signed any lease than they had evidence of any information on what type of equipment that was supposedly leased, A-1/Bond became involved in a class action suit and lost (which I chose not to be involveed in), Start-up Essentials abrubtly closed for buisiness and all harrassment ceased. Until about two weeks ago when A-1/Bond audited their "delinquent accounts." I have not taken their calls and they have sent me a letter 2-8-11 stating that if I do not pay them over $5000 they will investigate my asserts and take necessary steps to recover the money they paid Start-up Essentials on behalf the lease. They have a false authorization attached to the fraudulent lease that was manufactured by Start-up Essentials.
Taxslayer.com: I have been using taxslayer to prepare my taxes online every year for over ten years and every year since it became available through them, I have been getting my refunds via direct deposit using my account number, routing number and electronic authorization. I trust them with my information. I searched my bank statement for Taxslayers charges for service and did not see them, so it may actually have been billed by a third party or I may have had it deducted from my refund. Ill be contacting Taxslayer as soon as I post this.
I will also be going through my files to identify other parties that may have authorizations on file including Pandora Radio. I just recalled that my debit card number changed last year and they haven't been paid for this year yet.
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