I was looking over my credit card statement this morning when I noticed there was a charge for $9.95 that I did not recognize. The vendor listed in the statement was AZ BUSINESS PRODUCTS CALGARY CAN which added to my suspicion. I called Citi to see if they had any more information that might help me identify the charge before refusing it.

The operator was very helpful but the only other information for this charge identified it as a computer program or computer services transaction. I have other charges on my card that fall in the same category and I know exactly what they are so this $9.95 was becoming a fraudulent charge very quickly. Add this to the fact that I checked Google for the company name and the only couple of hits that were of value also reported it as an illegal transaction to their credit card companies.

I mentioned my findings to the operator who suggested that I report the charge as a fraudulent charge. He asked me a few questions about the charge such as if I might have authorized someone else to use my card or if it could be a newly scheduled recurring payment that I set up but had forgotten about. Neither one of these was the case so the Citi rep approved my request to dispute this charge and asked me if I would authorize Citi to investigate the vendor on my behalf. He also told me that I would not be issued a new card because of the fee being so low and being a one time event, a little strange if you ask me but I imagine they have the data to back up those decisions.

I checked my other bank account and everything is fine but I would imagine this could happen to a lot of people. I almost paid for the fraudulent charge without noticing it, if it wasn’t for the name of the company and the type of services they appear to offer, I probably would not have noticed. Just another reason to pay attention to those little details when conducting business online.