I see 6 month chargebacks on a regular basis (dealing with consumer fraud is fun), so these definitely happen, they're possible and if consumers can do it when they are the ones defrauding the merchants there will be a lot less trouble when it is the merchant doing the defrauding.

In many cases the cc company debiting your checking account is automated and there is no step for you to verify other than to periodically go through your statements to see if you have taken on any ghost charges.