Spotted a recurring charge you don't remember signing up for? You are not alone. Here is a calm, step-by-step way to identify the mystery subscription, trace where it is billing from, and cancel it for good — all without handing over your bank login.
A subscription rarely shows up on your statement with the friendly name you remember. It can appear as a parent company, a payment processor, an app-store line, or a shortened billing descriptor that looks like gibberish. Add a few of those together and it is easy to end up paying for something you genuinely do not remember starting.
The usual culprits behind an unfamiliar recurring charge:
Open your bank or card statement and find the line in question. Note the exact billing descriptor, the amount, and the date. Recurring charges usually hit on a similar day each month, so check the last 2–3 months for the same pattern.
Search the exact descriptor text. Billing names are often a parent company, a payment processor, or an abbreviated code — not the brand you remember. Matching the descriptor to a real service is usually the moment the mystery clicks into place.
Many subscriptions bill through your phone, not the service directly. On iPhone or iPad, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. On Android, open the store app, tap your profile, then Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions. Anything you no longer want can be cancelled right there.
Once you know what it is, cancel from the place that actually controls billing — the service's account page if you signed up directly, or the app store if it bills through your phone. Cancelling inside an app you no longer have installed does not stop a store-level charge, so confirm where the money is really leaving from.
Save the cancellation confirmation and check next month's statement to be sure the charge does not reappear. If a charge truly is not yours and you cannot trace it, contact your bank or card issuer to dispute it.
SubScan gives you a single, private view of every subscription you are paying for. Add each charge, mark when you last used it, and see your true monthly and yearly total — so the next unfamiliar line is one you can place in seconds. Everything stays on your device: no bank login, no account, no upload.
Start your free auditBilling descriptors often use the parent company, the payment processor, or an abbreviated code rather than the brand name you remember. Searching the exact descriptor text usually reveals which real service it maps to.
Check whether it bills through your phone first. On iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. On Android, open the store app, tap your profile, then Payments and subscriptions. Many charges that have no obvious website are managed entirely from the app store.
If you cannot trace a recurring charge to any sign-up you recognize, treat it as potentially unauthorized and contact your bank or card issuer to dispute it. They can stop the charge and investigate.
No. You can identify unfamiliar subscriptions by reviewing your own statements and listing the recurring charges manually. SubScan is built around this on-device approach, so you never hand over bank credentials.
Yes. The core audit tool is free and runs entirely in your browser with no account required.
For informational purposes only. SubScan is a free, on-device tool and does not provide financial advice. Statistics are drawn from general industry reports and may vary by source and region. Brand and service names are intentionally generalized.