AEC FBO Esafe Card - Scam!

Today I checked my bank statements. I noticed 5 incoming check charges in July for $19.85 and I couldn't figure out what these were for.

A visit to the bank showed that the charges were placed by AEC FBO Esafe Card. I had never heard of AEC FBO Esafe Card .

The bank asked me to call them to see if I could reverse the charges. I went back and called them at the number on their check, 1-866-610-8416, and just got a mechanical voice that talked in circles.

Although there is not presently much information about AEC FBO Esafe Card on the web, here are a couple of links, mostly to rants by pissed off consumers complaining about this scam:
http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?p=532956
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/336/RipOff0336327.htm

My bank was not thrilled to help out. since there were seven charges to dispute. But they completed 7 pages of dispute paper work, and I had to sign my signature "under oath" that the charges were fradulent.

I asked the bank to dishonor any other electronic checks presented by this "company." I was told that this was impossible, and that I must either a) spend the rest of my life coming to the bank to sign dispute paper work to contest future charges or b) change my bank account.

Option B is probably what I will need to do, but then who is to say that this company won't just somehow figure out my new account number? Changing my bank account is a huge hassle, because I will need to contact all of the companies that I have legally authorized to charge my account, and those that send me money. That means that I'll have to go through the trouble of "confirming" my new bank account xx times with companies like PayPal.

What a pain in the ass!! All because banks either can't or won't block fraudsters from zapping cash out of my account.


So if AES FBO Esafe Card is slowly leeching the life out of your bank account, be sure to visit your bank and demand that they assist you under Federal Regulation E.

UPDATE!
I installed PC Tools anti-virus, and it did indeed find a keylogger trojan infection on my laptop!! If your bank account is being leeched by this company, SCAN YOUR COMPUTER NOW. I believe this is how they obtained my bank information. Not so coincidentally, my Credit Card company said my card was identified on a list of stolen cards so they sent me a new card; I believe this trojan captured my financial data.

Interestingly, a problem that was having with my mouse disappeared after removing the trojan keylogger. If your mouse cursor is behaving funny, this might be a symptom of infection.

Good luck!

Update (8-8-08)
Today I had to reverse more charges from "Modux Payment: Modux Inc." They have their phone as 866-925-1969. The bank that apparently is enabling their illegal activities is "First Regional." There is no bank information on the e-check. They were balsy this month, taking $100.00, and $19.85.

AEC FBO Esafe Card can probably morph each month into some other company.

Its just astounding to me that someone could use the US banking system in this manner. When I opened my accounts, I had to provide all manner of proof. I thought things were locked down. So much for George Bush's secure financial system: criminals are still running rings around the Feds, while the burden of doing business falls on the honest people.