CONCORDIA, Mo. -- There's a new twist to a scam involving berry products. Several attorneys general have shut down acai berry companies, but as one closes, another one pops up. This time, consumers say they did not even sign up for the free trial offers.
A Concordia athletic screen printing shop's personal and business credit cards are taking a hit. They blame another company's poor customer service that started with a phone call.
"She said we would like to confirm your free trial offer and I told her I didn't order a free trial offer." said Lindsay Krause.
Although Krause hung up the phone, the calls continued. Then charges showed up on two different credit card statements, some for $1.95 and $2.00, then another charge for $87.13.
The charges show up as NaturCleanse or Antiox-Berry, but Krause says she never signed up for those products. One of the charges even caused a foreign transaction fee.
Call for Action called the numbers listed on the statements and we reached SCS Health Products.
The Florida Attorney General has 13 complaints against the company.
The company refuses to take no for an answer when it comes to billing Krause. "They mailed us two packages, which at the post office I got them and they were two little white boxes and it said, 'Hollywood, Florida' on there. I refused them and sent them back," Krause said.
Krause canceled her cards but that is not the end of this problem. She is trying to run a business and without a credit card, it is hard to order supplies.
"You have to tell your customer it maybe a little bit longer than it normally is because I'm having some credit card fraud issues." said Krause. "We take measures to make sure that our customers are protected, why isn't someone doing the same thing for us?"
Call for Action repeatedly tried to contact SCS Health Products. However, they claim they can't answer our questions because we do not have an account with them. We asked to speak to their supervisor, but was told by a SCS employee they could not transfer our call because we did not have an account with them. We also tried asking for a Media Relations Representative, but they claim they don't have that department.
This is another reminder to check your credit card statement for even the smallest charge. That's how Krause picked up on the fraud so quickly. "I go through every single line every month, and as I was going through them it just stood out. It was something I wasn't expecting," Krause said. "Two years ago when I didn't own a business I would have missed it."
