SKS Associates Northern Leasing? Golden Eagle Leasing? unauthorized bank withdrawal Goleta, CA, Internet

Our business bank account is showing an attempted debit of $56.91 from "SKS Associates." Since I have never heard of them, and have no relationship with them, I went to the bank to ask them to deny this attempted charge.

The bank suggested that I call the number, an 866 number, that was in the attempted charge. The number belongs to a health care company, and they are furious that some national scam attempt has listed their phone number. They have received dozens to hundreds of calls about this. She advised that I file a fraud report with our state's Attorney General or whoever deals with fraud issues.

My quick research on the internet indicates this is a fraudulent attempt to pretend to be a company leasing credit card processing equipment. Since 100% of our credit card charges are done via a virtual terminal, I can guarantee that we don't lease or own any equipment, and have never done so.

I am as irritated at my bank as at the attempted scammers, as they say they can reverse the charge once it goes through, but can't stop it from going through pre-emptively. Why not? If I say "they aren't authorized. it's a scam" and it's MY bank account, the bank should be able to stop this from processing. Please (a) don't call the 866 number, as it has nothing to do with the scammers, (b) file a report with your state, (c) fight your own bank on it if they say they can't stop it beforehand. The credit card companies are some of the worst scams in the country right now, and the supposed back office processors need to clean up and police their own act to restore trust.