MTEAhelp.com- are they a legitimate website?

July 27, 2014 8:21 AM

I have a payment showing on my bank statement from "MTEAhelp.com" for approx. £30. I don't remember buying anything online on that day, so I'm wondering if I've been scammed?

Could someone please tell me what MTEAhelp.com sell? I'm worried that if I contact them and they are trying to hack me, then they'll send me a dodgy email. Could someone please confirm if this is a safe website?

I tried a Google search for info about the site but my browser directed me to the website which I think potentially exposed my computer to malware. Any advice on this situation would be appreciated.

posted by Musashi Daryl to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

They seem to be the billing backend for a product called MMA Tea, but I can't figure out what else they may be in addition to that. You may be able to contact your credit card company for more information, and file a complaint/chargeback if the info you get from them isn't sufficient. If it's legitimate they will explain who they are and you can drop the complaint.
posted by brainmouse at 8:34 AM on July 27, 2014

I'll also note that it looks to me like MMA Tea is basically a subscription scam, so if you bought from them previously you probably got a monthly subscription that they were not completely upfront about, and you will need to read the fine print on your order to figure out how to cancel and maybe do some research on the laws in your jurisdiction to determine if they are violating them.
posted by brainmouse at 8:44 AM on July 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

If you didn't buy anything from them, then it doesn't even matter if they are a scam. Just contact your credit card company and tell them the charge is not legitimate since you didn't order anything from them.
posted by barnoley at 9:11 AM on July 27, 2014 [3 favorites]

Did you pay with your bank's credit card or debit card? It will be easier to get the payment reversed with a credit card, but not impossible with a debit card, I've successfully disputed a debit card payment with RBS before.
posted by ellieBOA at 10:46 AM on July 27, 2014

They are some sort of scammy dietary supplement company. They sell body building supplements called either MMA Tea or MMA Nutra. They are a limited partnership registered out of an office services company in Lanark, Scotland.

I would get your credit card company to reverse the payment.
posted by interplanetjanet at 11:33 AM on July 27, 2014

You can call your credit card company and tell them that you don't recognize the name of the vendor and you need help identifying if this is a legitimate charge. If they can't provide you with the information, they can go back to the vendor ask them to prove that it is legitimate. You can question a charge without having to say right off that it is fraudulent, just that you don't recognize it. Once you have more information, you then go ahead and dispute the charge if you think it is wrong.
posted by metahawk at 11:52 PM on July 27, 2014

Call your bank and say you don't recognize the charge. They should initiate a fraudulent charge investigation.

I'm not sure if the laws are similar in the UK, but here in the US for debit cards/bank account transactions, you have to wait until the charge has actually cleared and is no longer pending before filing a dispute.
posted by tckma at 8:52 AM on July 28, 2014