A “Nu Chek” charge on your credit card is almost certainly a transaction from Nu-Chek Prep, Inc., a small scientific supply company in Elysian, Minnesota that sells purified fatty acids and lipid reference standards to research laboratories.1Nu-Chek Prep, Inc. Product Catalog If no one with access to your card ordered lab chemicals, treat the charge as potentially unauthorized and dispute it with your issuer right away.
What Nu-Chek Prep Sells and Who Buys From It
Nu-Chek Prep has made lipid compounds for scientific researchers for more than 50 years. Its customers are lipid researchers and laboratories, and its products are sold strictly for scientific research, not for food, medicine, or human consumption. The company accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.1Nu-Chek Prep, Inc. Product Catalog
If you don’t work in a chemistry or biology lab and no one on your account does either, this is not a vendor you would normally buy from.
Why the Statement Entry Looks Strange
Card statements compress a merchant’s name into roughly 12 to 25 characters, and there is no universal standard for how banks format that string.2Chargebacks911. Statement Descriptors3Stripe. What Is a Statement Descriptor4Stripe. Why Do Customers See Descriptors That Don’t Match So “Nu-Chek Prep, Inc.” can show up as “NU CHEK,” “NU-CHEK,” “NUCHEKPREP,” or some other truncated variant with the hyphen stripped and “Prep” or “Inc.” missing.
Check Whether Someone You Know Placed the Order
Before assuming fraud, rule out the ordinary explanations. Is anyone else authorized on the account — a spouse, family member, or coworker — who might have ordered something? If the card is tied to a business, university, or lab account, someone in that lab may have used it to buy reference standards. Search your inbox for the exact dollar amount of the charge; automated receipts often surface that way.
You can also contact Nu-Chek Prep directly. The company’s phone number is (507) 267-4689, with business hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central, and the email address is info@nuchekprep.com.1Nu-Chek Prep, Inc. Product Catalog Many merchants can look up a transaction by the last four digits of the card number. Your issuer’s app may also show expanded details — a phone number, address, or merchant category code — that can confirm the charge matches this company.
If You Didn’t Authorize It
Small unfamiliar charges are a hallmark of card-testing fraud, where criminals run low-dollar transactions against stolen card numbers to see which ones are still active before trying larger purchases.5Chase. How to Identify Fraudulent Charges A charge from a small, obscure merchant is useful for that purpose because it is easy to overlook.
Call the number on the back of your card or open your issuer’s app. Report the charge as unauthorized, ask for a chargeback, and request a new card number. The FTC also recommends following up in writing, which preserves your full legal protections.6Federal Trade Commission. Lost or Stolen Credit, ATM, and Debit Cards If you suspect broader identity theft, go to IdentityTheft.gov and consider a fraud alert or credit freeze with the three major credit bureaus.7Federal Trade Commission. What to Do if You Were Scammed
Your Dispute Rights on a Credit Card
Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, your maximum liability for an unauthorized credit card charge is $50, and if only the card number was stolen rather than the physical card, your liability is zero.6Federal Trade Commission. Lost or Stolen Credit, ATM, and Debit Cards Most major issuers offer zero-liability policies that go further.8FDIC. Consumer News
Send a written dispute to the address your issuer designates for billing inquiries, not the payment address, within 60 days of the date the statement containing the charge was sent to you. Include your name, account number, and a description of the charge you believe is an error, along with copies of any supporting documents. Certified mail with a return receipt gives you proof of delivery. The issuer must acknowledge your dispute in writing within 30 days and resolve it within 90 days.9Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges While the investigation is open, you may withhold payment on the disputed amount, and the issuer cannot report you as delinquent on that charge or take collection action.10Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Regulation Z § 1026.13
Miss the 60-day window and the issuer is no longer legally required to follow this dispute process; you may be stuck with the charge.11Chase. How to Dispute a Credit Card Charge
If the Charge Hit a Debit Card Instead
Debit card protections work differently. Report a lost or stolen card within two business days and your liability is capped at $50. Report between two and 60 days after your statement and you could owe up to $500. After 60 days, you risk losing the full amount taken, including funds in linked accounts.6Federal Trade Commission. Lost or Stolen Credit, ATM, and Debit Cards If an unauthorized charge shows up but you still have the physical card, your liability is zero as long as you report it within 60 days of the statement date.12FDIC. Unauthorized Debit Card Charges Your bank generally has 10 business days to investigate and must issue a temporary credit if the investigation takes longer.13Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Do I Get My Money Back After an Unauthorized Transaction
Where to Escalate If Your Issuer Won’t Fix It
If your bank or card issuer does not resolve the dispute, file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint.14Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint The CFPB forwards complaints to the company, and most respond within 15 days. You can also report the incident to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.9Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges