My mom asked my assistance in following up on a suspicious charge of $159.99 on her credit card account which showed up as "TLG*AUTOVNTGE" and eight numbers, on the reference line. Upon inquiring with my credit union rep, we quickly determined that it was a fraudulent charge. I asked him who the company was, and the customer service rep at my bank responded that he was going to Google the company. "Great idea, " I thought; so I did the same thing.
The first article I came across identifying this company was a consumer affairs website which reported on one of at least two class action lawsuits brought against this company, one of which settled for several million dollars. Not only was this charge on my mom's account initiated by this company without our her knowledge or consent, we had no prior history with this company; and neither did the many others who reported the same fraudulent activity. So, how they obtained my mom's and others' credit card numbers are a unknown; yet, I can't help and wonder if there isn't a connection between TLG and another unscrupulous company to whom we did give that credit card number.
I've had an recent issue with "Blooms Today" signing me up for a rotating monthly membership charge that was unwanted when we simply ordered an arrangement of flowers with this same credit card number. Upon canceling our "membership, " they began sending "checks" which appear to be refund checks, but instead are checks that, if they are cashed, unwittingly obligates the recipient of the funds from that check for unwanted services. Although this isn't fraud, as TLG is reportedly in the practice of; but it IS obviously an extremely unscrupulous business practice at best, more of the same deceptive business practices that others have reported about Blooms Today on this and other sites, and I myself have experienced.
I can't help but wonder if Blooms Today, whom we did provide our credit card number to, is party to this scam by TLG. I mention this in case others reading this who have ordered from Blooms Today have also seen this "mysterious" charge appear on their statements, either from TLG, or from their many other affiliated companies with whom they're reported to be associated. If so, this would bring to light how TLG and/or their affiliates are obtaining credit card numbers of consumers with whom they've had no prior history.
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