Scam Alerts
e-Retailers & Credit Card Companies Colluding with Scammers
We’ve learned to be on the lookout for spam emails and suspicious pop-up advertisements, now trusted major online retailers are selling off their customers and their credit card numbers to scammers.
After completing a credit card purchase at retailers, including Orbitz, Buy.com, Travelocity, Barnes & Noble, Pizza Hut, and Pricelin, customers would be offered $10 cash back for simply entering their email address. Contrary to the accepted norm, the customer’s credit card number would automaticly be send to a 3rd party who billed the card monthly “loyalty programs” charges without the customer giving customary implicit permission by entering their credit card number in a form. Fine print in the pop-up offer, overlooked by most customers documents this ‘transaction’ fulfilling the letter, if not the intent of the law.
The so-called post-transaction marketing companies behind the scheme effecting some 30 million card holders, Webloyalty, Vertrue, and Affinion kicked back some $800 million to the retails for their part in the $1.4 billion scheme.
The senate investigation Committee Chairman John Rockefeller has sent letters to the big three credit card companies asking for for an explanation for their allowing this deceptive practive to continue, despite numerous customer complaints and charge-back requests. Fortheir part the credit card 3% service charges added up to some 42 million dollars.