WARNING! CREDIT CARD SCAM!

[dreamflower]

Tonight I checked our bank account online, and noticed a pending charge for $12 that did not sound familiar. My husband and I both thought it odd-- neither of us had signed up for such a thing. At my husband's suggestion, I googled the telephone number that appeared next to the charge. (When he called the number, an automated voice told him to enter his credit card number to cancel the service!)

Shopper Rewards and Discounts 800-889-8776

This is a scam apparently perpetrated by seemingly reputable online merchants. They claim you have signed up for their service (we did no such thing). And it is NOT a one time charge as I discovered when I linked to this page:

http://leblog.exuberance.com/2006/03/why_does_wlisho.html

A long list of complaints from people not only in the US, but elsewhere in the world, making it clear that this charge will appear on your statement EVERY MONTH unless you make a stop to it!!!!!!!!!

I will be contacting my bank first thing tomorrow morning to make sure this charge is removed, and that we do NOT authorize any more such withdrawals!

But I thought I'd better warn my friends!

ETA: The DH called them again this morning, and spoke to a person, cancelling the "subscription" (we shall see; they apparently have a reputation for saying they will, and not doing so.) We did discover how our name got on the list. I ordered a jacket for the DH as a Christmas gift from "King-Sized", a merchant with whom we have frequently dealt in the past with no problems. It seems that the "10% discount" I checked off when ordering had nothing to do with them, but was instead an ad planted by this company on the King-size site. I thought it was a discount on the shipping charges.

Since a lot of people possibly ordered online over the holidays, this company is probably reaping a huge profit this month!

Comments

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

I think I saw this thing on Facebook. It started out wanting to give me a chance to get some sample for free and then it wanted me to enter info and I could have sworn that it said shopper reward and discounts! I didn't enter anything and got out of it at once and so far I haven't had any charges but thanks to your post, I intend to keep checking on it.

[dreamflower]

Apparently they also will put ads on with online catalogs, and they make their ad look like it's part of the business where the ad is. An unsuspecting shopper may check off to get a discount that they *THINK* is from the business they are ordering from, only it's not!

[ansostuff.livejournal.com]

That's scary! One's got to pay close attention, that's for sure. I hope they manage to remove it and give you money back if you've lost any.

[dreamflower]

Be vigilant! This company apparently operates all over the world.

[shirebound]

Good heavens. Thank you for the heads up, and I hope the bank whisks that right out of your account.

[dreamflower]

I will be calling as soon as the bank opens!

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

wow, thanks for the warning. I think a similar thing happened to my mom recently!! You have to be very mindful of things on your statement all the time, I guess!

[dreamflower]

I figure they probably reaped a huge harvest of suckers over the holidays. Apparently the way they got us was when I ordered a jacket for my DH for Christmas! (See my ETA to this post for details as to how they did that.)

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Some of those shopper's discount programs are so insidious in their little traps. This on reminds me of those "programs" that offer unbelievable discounts on groceries or household goods or whatever, and then you look in the eeentsy-teeensy fine print and there's a $69.95 annual fee that will be automatically charged to your credit card. From what I hear, they then make it nearly impossible to unsubscribe from the program (and I use that term loosely!). So many ways to scam people. You really have to stay on your toes.

[dreamflower]

It's insidious, and it ought to be illegal.

[addie71.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads up!

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads up, Barbara. That should be illegal.

[pippinfan1.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info! I do learn from stuff like this. My sister once clicked on one of those ads advertizing "work at home and make some money" deals, and well...it was actually a scam originating in the Middle East. She ended up having to change her card number, which is a huge 10 day inconvenience. Gotta be careful out there. Thanks again.

[lilybaggins.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, that sounds so completely dishonest. I hope this company loses everything and goes down the tubes very quickly!