DENVER, Colo. — After visiting Certified Tattoo Studios nearly a year ago, Natalie Lee said she was surprised to see charges from the tattoo shop hit her bank account last Friday night.
"I logged into my bank and saw three charges totaling over $1,200, all from Certified Tattoo," Lee told Scripps News Denver on Wednesday.
After calling several times, she said the business eventually told her via email that a full refund had already been processed. But days later, Lee is still without her money.
Lee and countless other customers have reached out to Scripps News Denver this week about unauthorized charges from Certified Tattoo Studios. On Wednesday, Scripps News Denver sat down with owner Nando Mondragon to hear his side of the story.
"For me, this was a shocker, very unexpected," Mondragon said.
The owner said calls started flooding the family-owned business over the weekend, all with similar stories of unexplained charges. According to Mondragon, Stripe, the business's online payment processor, is to blame.
"When I reach out to [Stripe], they don’t do much," Mondragon told Scripps News Denver.
He showed us the countless emails sent by his staff to Stripe, asking the company for help and answers about what caused the random charges.
Mondragon said he decided to take matters into his own hands, refunding 1,400 customers out of his own pocket. As his account with Stripe shows, many of those refunds are still pending.
“I am here for my community," the owner said. "I love Denver, I love the people, and I am here to stand up and let them know that. The money has been refunded. If I could refund it again, I would.”
Scripps News Denver reached out to Stripe, asking if they were aware of a breach and what they're doing to make sure customers get their money back quickly. We also asked what security measures are in place to protect those using the online payment platform.
As of the publication of this article, Stripe has not responded to our questions. In the meantime, the tattoo studio plans to err on the side of caution moving forward.
"We are going to go away from using Stripe as a processor because of it," Mondragon said.
Mondragon said he reported the incident to the Colorado Attorney General's Office. If a data breach affects 500 or more Coloradans, state law requires companies to notify affected Coloradans and the Office of the Attorney General.
“I understand that there are people out hundreds of dollars, but I can assure you the money is already on its way back to them, and if I could speed it up, I would," Mondragon said.
Meanwhile, customers like Lee just want to be reimbursed.
"I just want my money back," Lee said.
If you received an unauthorized charge from Certified Tattoo, you can report a data breach through this link.
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