An unfamiliar Omniroot charge on your statement is almost always an annual renewal fee for an SSL/TLS digital security certificate, billed by DigiCert, Inc. under a legacy company name from a series of mergers. Annual amounts typically run from about $372 to well over $1,000, depending on the certificate type and how many domains it covers. If you or anyone at your business bought website security from an older certificate provider in the last two decades, the billing likely ended up here.
Why the Name Looks Unfamiliar
Omniroot began as a root certificate authority run by a company called beTRUSTed. That company merged with TruSecure in 2004 to form CyberTrust, and the Omniroot label stayed on as a billing entity and root certificate name.1Wikipedia. CyberTrust Verizon later absorbed CyberTrust, and in June 2015 DigiCert acquired the CyberTrust root certificates from Verizon Enterprise Solutions.2DigiCert. What the Acquisition of Cybertrust Roots Means for DigiCert
The merchant descriptor on many of those old payment accounts was never rewritten. So your statement may read “OMNIROOT INC,” “DIGICERT OMNIROOT,” or something similar rather than plain “DigiCert.” Payment processors display whatever name the merchant originally registered, and companies that have changed hands several times rarely clean up legacy billing text. That’s how a charge for a product you actively use can still look like a stranger.
What You’re Actually Paying For
The product is almost always an SSL/TLS certificate. These certificates encrypt traffic between a visitor’s browser and the server hosting a website. Without one, browsers flag the site as “Not Secure.” Certificates also confirm that the site is run by the entity it claims to be.
Prices depend on the certificate tier. DigiCert’s basic single-domain SSL certificate starts around $372 per year on an auto-renewing subscription, and wildcard certificates that cover multiple subdomains cost more.3DigiCert. Buy Basic TLS/SSL Certificates Organization Validation and Extended Validation certificates cost significantly more because DigiCert performs background checks on the purchasing company before issuing them. If your charge sits between $500 and $1,000 or higher, you are probably looking at one of those tiers or a multi-domain license. Some Omniroot charges also trace back to document-signing certificates that businesses use to apply legally binding electronic signatures to contracts.
How to Verify the Charge Before Disputing
Confirm the charge is legitimate before filing a fraud report. Plenty of people dispute an auto-renewal they simply forgot about, and unwinding a fraud claim on a valid transaction is more work than a phone call to DigiCert.
Pull these details off your statement first:
- The transaction date and the exact amount, including cents. DigiCert support uses the precise dollar figure to identify the product tier and account.
- The last four digits of the card, so the representative can verify your payment method without the full number.
- The merchant descriptor text as written. “OMNIROOT INC,” “DIGICERT OMNIROOT,” and plain “DIGICERT” point to different billing paths.
Then search your email for “DigiCert,” “CyberTrust,” “certificate renewal,” or “order confirmation.” If someone at your organization bought the certificate years ago, the original confirmation is the fastest way to tie the bank charge to a specific product, because it contains a transaction ID DigiCert can look up right away.
Canceling or Getting a Refund From DigiCert
DigiCert’s billing support is reachable by phone at 1-801-701-9600, by email at support@digicert.com, and through the online portal at digicert.com/support.4DigiCert. DigiCert Accessibility Statement Have your transaction details ready. The representative will open a support ticket and give you a reference number.
If the certificate is still in use and you only want to stop future charges, turn off automatic renewals inside DigiCert’s CertCentral account portal. That option is available for SSL and standard code-signing certificates. With auto-renewal off, the certificate expires at the end of its current term and does not generate a new charge.
Timing matters for refunds. If the renewal just posted and you no longer need the certificate, contact DigiCert within 30 days. Most certificate vendors offer a refund window in that period, though the exact policy depends on the product. Once a refund is approved, the certificate is revoked immediately and stops working for your website or document signing. Credit card refunds usually appear five to 14 business days after the merchant processes the reversal.
Disputing the Charge Through Your Bank
If DigiCert declines a refund or you can’t reach anyone, your next step is a dispute through the card issuer. This is a chargeback, and it’s different from a merchant refund: the bank reverses the transaction and pulls the money back from the merchant’s processor.
Credit Card Charges
If you paid by credit card and the charge is unauthorized or wrong, federal law gives you 60 days from the date the statement containing the charge was sent to file a written dispute with your card issuer.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors The dispute has to identify your name and account number, the charge you believe is wrong, and the reason. Your card issuer must acknowledge the dispute within 30 days and resolve it within two billing cycles, no more than 90 days.
That’s the Fair Credit Billing Act, and it covers credit card accounts specifically. The issuer cannot try to collect the disputed amount or report it delinquent while the investigation is open. If the charge turns out to be a legitimate auto-renewal you forgot about, you’ll owe it. The FCBA protects against billing errors and unauthorized charges, not buyer’s remorse.
Debit Card and Bank Account Charges
Debit transactions follow different rules. If an Omniroot charge hit your checking account through a debit card, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and its implementing Regulation E let you stop future preauthorized transfers by notifying your bank at least three business days before the next scheduled payment.6eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.10 – Preauthorized Transfers You can do this orally or in writing, but the bank may require written confirmation within 14 days of an oral request. Skip the follow-up and the stop-payment order expires.
Regulation E also requires that any preauthorized recurring transfer from your account be authorized by a signed or similarly authenticated writing, and that you received a copy of that authorization.7Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.10 – Preauthorized Transfers If you never agreed to recurring charges, the transaction may qualify as unauthorized, and your bank must investigate.
Filing the Chargeback
Call the number on the back of your card and say you want to dispute the charge. For credit cards, the FCBA rules above apply and the bank handles the investigation. For debit cards, your bank may issue provisional credit within 10 business days while it investigates under Regulation E. Be ready to say whether the charge was completely unauthorized or whether it was an auto-renewal you didn’t agree to. Banks treat those differently. A charge from a merchant you’ve never interacted with looks like fraud. A renewal from a service you used three years ago looks like a billing dispute, and those are harder to win by chargeback alone.
Don’t file a chargeback and request a refund from DigiCert at the same time. If both succeed, you’ll get a double credit the bank will eventually claw back. Pick one route and let it play out before escalating.
Stopping the Charge From Recurring Next Year
Once the current charge is resolved, a few steps keep it from repeating:
- Log into CertCentral and turn off automatic renewal for any certificates you no longer need. The certificate stays active until its current term ends but won’t generate a new charge.
- Delete any stored credit card from DigiCert’s billing system after canceling. A vendor can’t charge a card it doesn’t have.
- Set a calendar reminder 45 days before the expiration date if you plan to keep the certificate but want to shop prices. That’s enough time to compare without risking a lapse.
- For debit card charges, place a stop-payment order with your bank at least three business days before the expected renewal date to block the transaction outright.6eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.10 – Preauthorized Transfers
If the certificate is actually keeping a website secure, don’t cancel without a replacement lined up. An expired certificate triggers browser warnings that will drive visitors away as soon as they load the page. Get a new certificate from any provider in place before the old one lapses.