X-posted on r/scams, because I'm not what sub is the best place for this post, so please bear with me/direct me to other subs. TL;DR at the bottom.
Today I received a phone call from a woman regarding an unknown charge to her chipped credit card. She told me her bank said it came from me, as my business name and business address were listed along with the charge, and she found me by googling my business name. I went through my business records, but had no charges for the date or the amount she was charged. Upon speaking a bit more with the woman over the phone, it appeared that the strange charge came from Square.
I use Square for my business, but the business name attached to her charge is different than the way my business charges appear. (i.e., my business charges appear along the lines of "SQ *RachelMarylProducts," and her charge said "SQ*Rachel'sProductsCityState."
I contacted Square, but got the standard "we searched for this online and found no record of it, but she can look up the receipt on this link, good luck," response. The receipt lookup yielded no results, and now the Square's help line is closed for the day.
Thankfully, the woman was very understanding, and was able to get her bank to re-issue her money. For my part, I fully plan to escalate things with Square tomorrow. The Square representative I spoke with this evening didn't seem too interested in hearing that my information was compromised/they were third party to credit card fraud -- I got some pretty standard responses. I'm fully prepared to spend as much time on the phone, escalating the issue, until this is resolved. I am busy enough as it is without needing banks and credit card companies coming after me because someone has fraudulently used my name to run their credit card fraud scams.
Outside of Square, I am removing my business address off the internet as possible, and will be opening a PO box instead of listing my company's physical address. This sucks, because the internet is literally the only way people find my business, but thankfully I'm service-based and not a retail location. I also am going to put a freeze on my credit (I ran my annual free credit reports while on hold with Square this evening, and there are no accounts open that I don't know about).
What should I do to get Square's attention? What else do I need to do at this point? Is this identity theft, even though my credit reports came back clean?
TL;DR: A woman called me about a charge on her credit card that her bank says came from my business square account, but it didn't. The charge is fraudulent. The woman was able to get her bank to return her money, but I'm for my identity and my business. I couldn't get the representative at Square to do anything aside from the standard "we care about your business, here's a link to look up the receipt with that woman." What do I do next? How do I escalate? How do I protect myself and my business?
Submitted November 28, 2018 at 10:05PM by rachelmaryl https://ift.tt/2TSM0ZY
