A “Securus Corrections Tech” charge on your bank or credit card statement is a payment processed by Securus Technologies, the company that runs phone, video, and messaging systems inside jails and prisons across the United States. It means a credit or debit card was used to deposit money into a communication account tied to someone who is incarcerated, or to pay for a call, video visit, or message. If you set up that account or know someone who did, the charge is legitimate. If you don’t recognize it, treat it as potentially unauthorized and dispute it with both your bank and Securus.
Why the Charge Shows Up
Securus contracts with thousands of correctional facilities to handle inmate communications.1Securus Technologies. AdvanceConnect To stay in contact with someone inside a facility, family or friends usually fund one of two account types: an AdvanceConnect prepaid calling account, which accepts collect calls with charges pulled from the balance, or an inmate trust/debit account that the incarcerated person draws from directly. Any deposit into either account posts to your statement under a Securus descriptor, most often “Securus Corrections Tech” or “Securus Correctional Billing Services.”
The charge can also come from a video visit session, a batch of messaging “stamps,” or a tablet subscription for music, games, or movies. Deposits made through a kiosk inside the facility using your card information will show up the same way as a deposit you made online.
What to Do If You Don’t Recognize It
If you have no connection to anyone in a correctional facility and no one in your household does either, the charge is almost certainly either fraud or an account someone opened using your card without telling you. Call the number on the back of your card right away and report it as unauthorized. Filing with your bank and with Securus at the same time is fine and often the fastest way to a refund.
The deadlines here are strict, and they run from your statement date rather than from when you noticed the charge. Don’t wait to investigate on your own before reporting it.
Verifying the Charge Against Your Securus Account
If you do have a Securus account and want to check what a specific charge covered, log in on the Securus website and open your billing history or transaction ledger. Each entry lists the date, time, facility, and service type (call, video visit, message, or deposit). Match the date and dollar amount from your bank statement to a specific ledger entry.
If the numbers don’t line up, write down both figures before you call. That discrepancy is what any dispute will turn on. For charges initiated at a kiosk or tablet inside the facility, the transaction record may include a device or terminal ID, which helps distinguish an online deposit you made from an in-facility transaction someone else funded with your card.
Disputing the Charge With Securus
You can dispute a Securus charge through their online billing inquiry form or by calling 1-800-844-6591. Written disputes can be mailed to Securus Correctional Billing Services, PO Box 650757, Dallas, Texas 75265-0757.2Securus Technologies. Contact Us
Securus says investigations typically take up to 30 business days.3Securus Technologies. SCBS Inquiry Form The outcome comes back by email, and any approved refund goes to the original payment method. Save the date you submitted the dispute and any confirmation number. If the investigation drags past 30 business days without a response, that record is what you’ll need to escalate.
Disputing an Unauthorized Charge With Your Bank
Don’t rely on Securus’s internal process alone if the charge is genuinely unauthorized. Your card issuer offers separate legal protections with firm timelines.
For credit cards, the Fair Credit Billing Act caps your liability for unauthorized charges at $50, and most major issuers waive that.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 – 1643 Liability of Holder of Credit Card You have to notify your card issuer in writing within 60 days of the statement date showing the charge. The issuer must acknowledge the dispute within 30 days and resolve it within two billing cycles.
Debit card protections under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act work on tighter deadlines. Reporting within two business days limits your liability to $50. Wait longer, and the ceiling rises to $500 or more. Call your bank as soon as you spot the charge, and follow up in writing.
Why the Amount May Be Bigger Than You Expected
Even legitimate Securus charges catch account holders off guard, usually because of funding fees. Every time you add money to an account by credit or debit card, or through the automated phone system, Securus charges a separate fee on top of the deposit. The fees are tiered by deposit size. Based on recent facility contracts, an online or kiosk deposit fee starts around $3.95 for deposits under $20 and climbs toward $12 for deposits up to $300. Phone deposits run about a dollar higher at each tier.
If you have recurring auto-deposits set up, that funding fee hits every cycle. Small, frequent deposits produce more fees over a year than fewer, larger ones for the same total amount. Your statement may also show regulatory recovery fees or taxes that vary by the facility’s location; those are separate pass-through charges.
Call rates themselves are capped by the FCC across interstate, intrastate, and international calls from correctional facilities.5Federal Communications Commission. Incarcerated People’s Communications Services Through April 5, 2026, the interim per-minute caps are $0.14 at prisons, $0.16 at large jails with 1,000 or more average daily population, and $0.21 at smaller jails, with an allowance for facility-related charges required by state law that can bring the effective ceiling to $0.21 per minute even at larger institutions.6Securus Technologies. FCC Matters – Securus Technologies If your per-minute cost works out to significantly more than these figures, the provider may be out of compliance, and the FCC’s complaint process at fcc.gov is the right place to report it.
Preventing Repeat Surprises
Most unexpected Securus charges fall into one of three buckets: an auto-deposit the account holder forgot was active, a family member using a shared card without mentioning it, or fraud.
Log into the account and check whether any recurring deposit schedule is running. Auto-deposits fire on schedule whether or not the person inside is actively using the balance, and each one triggers a fresh funding fee. If several people in your household might be funding the same account, a dedicated prepaid debit card for Securus deposits keeps the charges easy to track and limits how much of your primary account is exposed. And if a Securus charge appears with no explanation anyone in your household can offer, don’t sit on it. The 60-day credit card window and the two-day debit card window both start from your statement date.