An Orbro LLC charge on your credit card is almost certainly unauthorized and should be disputed with your card issuer right away. Orbro LLC was a Michigan web design and internet services company that stopped taking new business in 2014 and finished winding down by 2020. The company says it has not held a merchant account or processed a card transaction since 2014, and it tells anyone who sees its name on a statement to treat the charge as fraudulent.1Orbro LLC. Orbro LLC
Why a Closed Company’s Name Shows Up on Your Statement
Billing descriptors, the short text that identifies a merchant on your statement, are set when a business opens a payment processing account. They don’t always match a company’s public name because of legal-name registrations, character limits, and third-party aggregators.2Stripe. Billing Descriptors With Orbro LLC, the likely explanation is that someone is using the defunct company’s name as a descriptor fraudulently, or that a recycled or compromised merchant account is generating charges under a name that no longer belongs to any operating business. Orbro itself has confirmed it has no ability to initiate transactions and no relationship to any charge bearing its name.1Orbro LLC. Orbro LLC
Call Your Card Issuer First
Call the number on the back of your card and report the charge as unauthorized. Ask the issuer to open an investigation. Many issuers apply a provisional credit while they look into it, and most major issuers now offer zero-liability policies for fraudulent charges. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, your liability for an unauthorized charge is capped at $50, and in practice most issuers waive even that.3Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
Send a Written Dispute To Preserve Your Rights
A phone call isn’t enough to lock in your full legal protections. Send a written dispute to the address your issuer designates for billing inquiries, not the payment address. Include your name, account number, the charge amount and date, and a statement that you did not authorize the transaction. Mail it certified and keep copies.4Federal Trade Commission. Disputing Credit Card Charges
The written notice must reach the issuer within 60 days after the first statement containing the charge was sent to you.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Regulation Z – Section 1026.13 Once received, the issuer has to acknowledge the dispute in writing within 30 days and resolve it within 90 days or two complete billing cycles, whichever comes first. While the investigation is open, the issuer cannot report you as delinquent on the disputed amount, sue to collect it, or close your account over the dispute.3Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
What Happens After the Investigation
If the issuer finds the charge was an error, it must remove the charge and refund any related finance charges. If it denies your dispute, it must explain why in writing and give you at least 10 days to pay before reporting the amount delinquent. An issuer that doesn’t follow these procedures forfeits the right to collect up to $50 of the disputed amount, even if the bill turns out to be correct.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Regulation Z – Section 1026.13
Check for Other Signs of Fraud
A charge from a company that closed over a decade ago points to fraud rather than a billing mix-up, so look through your recent statements for other unfamiliar transactions. Fraudsters often test stolen card data with small charges before trying larger ones. If you spot more unauthorized activity, ask your issuer for a new card number and go to IdentityTheft.gov to report the problem and get a personalized recovery plan.3Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges If your issuer doesn’t resolve the dispute to your satisfaction, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or report the matter to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.