Noticing a charge you don't recognise can be stressful. But in most cases, it's either a legitimate charge you've forgotten about, or it's easy to resolve. This step-by-step guide tells you exactly what to do.
Before calling fraud, take a moment to investigate. Many mysterious charges turn out to be subscriptions, one-off purchases, or app store billing that you've simply forgotten about. It's worth spending 5 minutes checking before raising an alarm.
Copy the exact text from your bank statement and paste it into Detect My Charge. Our tool matches the descriptor against thousands of known merchant patterns and shows you the most likely match with the merchant's full name, contact details, and what they sell.
"EVGBUK*EVGB LIMITED" → a common descriptor for EasyJet flight charges.
Search your inbox for emails from around the transaction date. Look for receipts, confirmations, and notifications. Also check your PayPal, Apple, and Google accounts for matching transactions — some charges route through payment processors rather than appearing directly from the merchant.
If you share your bank account or card with a partner, family member, or have business expenses, ask them if they recognise the charge. Joint accounts and shared Apple/Google family groups can produce charges you weren't expecting.
If you've completed the above steps and still can't identify the charge, call your bank. They can see additional details behind the descriptor — including the merchant's full registered name — which may clarify the charge immediately. If you're confident you did not authorise the charge, ask your bank to dispute it. You'll typically receive a provisional refund while the investigation is ongoing.
If you suspect genuine fraud, act immediately — freeze your card and call your bank. If you're simply unsure what the charge is, it's worth spending a few minutes investigating before calling.
You can still dispute if you didn't receive what was promised, the service wasn't delivered, or you were misled about what you were signing up for.
Banks generally allow disputes within 60–120 days. For older charges, success is less likely but still possible, especially for fraudulent transactions.
This means the bank's system doesn't have enriched data for that merchant. The charge may still be legitimate — it just means the merchant is smaller or less common.
Only if you strongly suspect fraud. If you're just unsure what a charge is, investigate first. Cancelling your card is disruptive — new card details, update all subscriptions, etc.
Very common. Most people have at least one confusing charge per month from forgotten subscriptions, marketplace purchases, or payment processor names.
Use Detect My Charge to identify any unknown bank charge instantly.