Money taking out of account, Alzheimers-Mom does not understand

My 86 yearl old sister in law has Alzheimers and this company took out $ 19.00 out of her checking account. not only one time but 4 x per month. When I called the company the lady was very polite and said they would refund it. It did not happen, but after going to the bank and talking to a banker they went over her account and found a few additional items that looked like scams. The bank refunded the money and activated a fraud claim. I can only encourage everyone to do just that. It is unbelievable how these vultures sniff out the unprotected.

The operators you speak DO NOT have your account information. Your calling an answering service.

Suddenly an electronic withdrawal for $7.00 for a 'newletter'.  They seem to target elderly people.  They said they'd return the money but wanted the checking account # - it's apparent that they ALREADY have it!

Hello.

My 93 yr old Grandfather had recently moved in with me. Since he has done so, I could not help but notice the abundance of junk/scam mail that he receives. To him this mail is something he looks forward to. He does not understand that the mail he his getting is not from an individual (I.e Doctor whomever) but from low life companies looking to scam him out of the little money he has in soc. sec.

I know that these mailers work as in the past he has sent checks for many different products that claim to help with all kinds of ailments or extend life etc.  All of these publications tell him that the medicine prescribed buy his doctor is going to kill him and he should buy their snake oil instead. The worst part is he tends to believe them. The only way I can change his mind is if I can prove otherwise. In which I have had to do many times buy researching and showing him what I have found on the internet..

I hate the idea of going through his mail, but I feel that i don't have a choice if I am going to do my best to protect him. I stumbled on to this website looking for information on A.R.P. they had sent an ominous yellow letter that was designed to look like it has bubble wrap in it.  

I have talked with the mail man and he said that the only thing I could do besides throwing letters like this out (which is what he does for his parents) is putting a red strike with a marker through his address and write "Refused" But this does not do anything but return the letter back to the sender on the post office's dime.

I really think there needs to be a watch dog group that actively pursues and shuts down these vicious parasites. Although they will not be able to shut them all down at once, there needs to be a deterrent. At them moment it seems way to easy to start scamming our loved ones.

Here are the problems: Elderly mailing address' are easily accessed, Elderly data brokering is not Illegal, Laws would need changed, Constant lobbying would be needed, Half of the scammers are international, The watchdogs would need a team of lawyers, and Court would need to be held in the state/countries in which the scammers operate.

Uncle Sam is having a hard time paying his bills the way it is, so how would this company be funded?

I got it, Lets contact all of the elderly and ask for a monthly deduction of $4.99 from their bank accounts to help fight off all of these parasites.

LOL.

Seems legitimate.  Probably not the "sweepstakes" chances itself, but I did just call the number and all the rep asked for was full spelling of mom's name and the last 4 digits of the bank account from which the deductions are being made from.  The rep was courteous and did not ask for the rest of the bank account number, credit card number, social security number, or anything else.   Said they will cancel the account within 72 hours

Same - fraudulent scum taking advantatge of dad

This is happening to my 87 year old mother-in-law NOW....they will not cancel her so called subscription unless I give them the last 4 digits of her bank account for which they already have. They have been deducting $19 per month for over a year.....!!!!

Same thing happened to my mom. I just called and told them to credit the acct. I had previously cancelled, I thought, in Dec 2012! Suppose to be corrected in 72 hrs. We'll see,

Based on consumer protection rights, a financial institution must stop all debit entries from a company once they have been notified by the consumer the desire to do so. As well as notifying the BBB and Attorney General?s office, I would encourage everyone suffering or who has suffered from this companies deceiving practices to contact their financial institutions and request the contact information for the financial institution that is processing these entries for ARP. Your financial institution does have access to this information. Once the contact information is obtained call that financial institution and inform them of the situation. They are as responsible for allowing the entries to be sent to the accounts as ARP is for creating the entries. Be sure to state the reason for the call is due to fraud being processed by their financial institution. An additional step would be to file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB.org) against the financial institution that is processing the payments.

In response to Wells Fargo helping with the situation; I would like for all to know this is not just specific to Wells Fargo. Based on consumer protection rights, a financial institution must stop all debit entries from a company once they have been notified by the consumer the desire to do so. As well as notifying the BBB and Attorney General?s office, I would encourage everyone suffering or who has suffered from this companies deceiving practices to contact their financial institutions and request the contact information for the financial institution that is processing these entries for ARP. Your financial institution does have access to this information. Once the contact information is obtained call that financial institution and inform them of the situation. They are as responsible for allowing the entries to be sent to the accounts as ARP is for creating the entries. Be sure to state the reason for the call is due to fraud being processed by their financial institution. An additional step would be to file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB.org) against the financial institution that is processing the payments.

I have a typo in my post, it was $19 each, not $9.

My Dad is 93 and his mental state has been in decline for a number of years.  When I reviewed his checking account statement for the first time, I found the two entries below, each for $9.  I contacted the Wells Fargo branch my Dad uses, and they said they will stop future payments.  They will also assist in recovering previous payments, which have been going on for at least 18 months.  The Wells Fargo people all know my Dad, and that helps.  I will be vigilant from now on!
ARP 888-215-9441 Stlmnt 121207 0-ARP 888-215-9 hohn
ARP 888-215-9441 Stlmnt 121207 0-arp 888-215-9 John

what is their PO Box  address?  
Does anyone know any information on this company other than the phone number?

This has been happening to my elderly mother also, my father recently pasted away and i started helping her with her bank statements i asked what this was and she had no idea, looks like it has been going on for several years $19 a month out of her bank by this company. So i called about 3 months ago they said they would cancel, but did not. it is still happening. What is the best way to resolve this?

I have also been looking over my mothers bank statements to find that this company has been scamming her for several years she has no clue who they are or how they got her bank info. i tried to cancell it has been 3 months ago they said they would cancel, but did not. this is still coming out of her account every month $19. is there anyone that can stop this?

YES!!! CHANGE BANKS!!!

It is not a company with 4 employees it is 4 scam artist scumbags,if you check with the IRS you will find that the IRS doesn't know anything about them, maybe you should let the IRS know about this and how much money they stole from everybody,and the IRS will send in the FBI to take these scumbags out!

First of all it is not a company,it is a low life scumbag who printed this s*** on his computer and why do you think it says on the letter that was sent to you guys "sorry no cash or money orders" that is so they can keep at your bank account,on the letter it says they will take $7 now and then bill you $19 monthly, the only thing you can do is either take the trip to their po box and wait for them to open expecting other people's banking info and shoot them dead or change banks and never trust any f****n thing that comes in the mail or on the phone.

kenneth patterson

Form A.R.P. - verified    Release Code  9779   Response required within 72- Hours immediate release  ,of $ 1,000,000.00in sweepstake cash and prize . I sent it the next day

This company is stealing $19.00 a month from my checking account - I want to join the class action suit - please advise.

I just cancelled the same thing. My mom has been admitted to an Alzheimer's unit. This company is a scam!

Nothing but problems with these people, never issue refund or cancel account as "Promised"! They are such a scam and hiding behind a "Call Center" and P.O. Box is just shameful and should be against the law! I am taking action by filing a complaint with the state attorney, BBB and FTC. I hope that others will take action as well, I urge you to please TAKE ACTION and let us all put a stop to these types of companies who pray on our elderly loved ones and siphon their bank accounts, this is just out right a shame and it needs to be stopped!! Please join me in putting a stop to these people!!

A.R.P. has been automatically withdrawing $19.00 per month from my father's (90s) checking acct. Bank advised it could not cancel the withdrawals and I had to deal with A.R.P.  I sent a "cease" letter to A.R.P. at P.O. Box 383050, Germantown, TN 38183-3050, tel 888-215-9441, and cc'ed:
Office of the Attorney General and Reporter
P.O. Box 20207
Nashville, TN 37202-0207

and

Better Business Bureau
3693 Tyndale Drive
Memphis, TN 38125-8537

BBB Memphis immediately sent a complaint letter to A.R.P. with a response date. I just received BBB letter dated March 20 with response from A.R.P. that it canceled the subscription (automatic withdrawal) and apologized for any misunderstanding.

If you send letter to A.R.P. use following:
A.R.P.
Administration
P.O. Box 770546
Memphis, TN 38177

NBT

Your best bet is to close the bank account. ARP is like a tick , once they get ahold of your infomation they will continue to take money out of your account. Cancelling does not always help and by asking for a refund you may get some of you money back but the majority of the time they will continue to charge you. *sidenote* if you do decide to call the number (which i do not recommend because the operators have info on the company)  try to be calm and civil because like i said before the people who answer the calls have nothing to do with why money is being taken out of the accounts.

When you call that number you are going to get an answering service. The people who answer the calls have nothing to do with the money being taken out of the accounts. They DO NOT work for arp. They are instructed to take peoples account info , they have nothing to do with how or if the caller gets they're money back.

I called for my M-i-L tonight. They say they will submit a request for cancellation, which should be effective in 72 hours, but since I did not have the full bank acct #, it might not go through.  I will have that info next week. I asked for a refund & she agreed to submit that as well.

888-215-9441 took a automatic debit of 7.00 out of my fathers account.  When I called the number they say they are not telemarketer and hang up.

I called today and asked if they had a website, the lady "Jan" told me no they don't but she would put a message through that I was asking for one.