I don't know if this is the most appropriate area to put this, but I think the elderly are probably deliberated targeted, and please forgive me if this has been done before but I can't see it.
I'm furious because my elderly friend, 86, has had several lots of £18.50 taken out of his bank account by something called Rewards Club. I've done some digging and it seems that he must have bought something over the phone from maybe a catalogue called Easylife and they have then sold him some sort of subscription to a magazine called Perx. This then means he has authorised them to take money out of his account at various times during the year. It's always £18.50 but different times of the month and not regularly every month, so difficult to spot. The magazine has not appeared.
I have PoA for my friend and have called the company and they have cancelled the subscription and refunded 3 payments but say they need to see a photo or hard copy of the PoA to refund any more. I've refused to do that but offered the online code on Gov.uk so they can access it, but they've said no even though my friend has spoken to them while I'm there and said I'm acting on his behalf. I think we are probably just fortunate to catch it this soon, to be honest as it could have run on for years. From the way the representative spoke to me over the phone, this is obviously a familiar conversation and there was no argument about the refunds for the last 6 months.
I just wanted to tell everyone to look at bank accounts very carefully for these payments. Both Which and Moneysavingexpert have a lot of stories about this but I was quite unaware. It's not actually illegal I suppose, but it's deliberately targeting the elderly. I'd be interested if anyone else has had the same experience. Fortunately my friend is a fairly resilient character and he isn't too short of money, and so he isn't too bothered by this, but it could really upset some people, I'm sure.