Ordered from EBGames? Check your CC statement for fraud!

[Taigei]

This is unbelievable!

Today I saw an odd charge on my credit card from a company called WLI Reservation Rewards for $9. Positive I hadn't heard of the company or made a $9 purchase, I did a quick search on the web and the second link is this company's web site: For a recurring charge they offer coupons from various companies which you can print off their website.

Nope, never had anything to do with this company.

The fifth link was also to the company's website. But all other links, including the first, were complaints about unauthorised charges and fraud

Here's their deal: They develop partnerships with companies and offer them a big chunk of the regular membership fees. In return, Reservation Rewards (aka Web Loyalty, Buyer Assurance, Internet Loyalty Marketing Group, memberspecials.com, pcprotectionplus.com, Travel Values Plus, walletshield.com) has the affiliate companies provide your personal information and some method of charging you.

"Some method," you ask? Just look at the company's ToS:

Membership Fee will be billed automatically to Member's designated credit card, ISP account, DDA account, debit account, mortgage account, payroll account or charge account (each a "Billing Device") for the initial membership term and each renewal term.

So the big question is: How the heck did this company get my credit card number?!

The answer...

EBGames

That's right. EBGames is an affiliate (read "Partner in Crime") of Web Loyalty (aka Reservation Rewards, et al). Read through some of the complaints on the web about this company and it's the same story over and over. "Some company called [insert one of the various akas of Web Loyalty] has been making unauthorised charges to my account every month! I called them and they told me I signed up through [insert name of affiliate]!?"

I have to wonder if anyone actually seeks this company out to sign up for their services.

So you call Reservation Rewards to challenge the charge. They tell you who you "signed up" through and ask for your member account number and password...

Uh. How the hell should I know.

... or to verify your credit card number...

You mean the new card number? Or the one I had frozen because of the unauthorized charges?

Jeez.

Let's see how this works: Buy something from EBGames, you are offered a discount on your next purchase through a popup. In small print you see you see something like "By clicking on the link you claim your reward from Reservation Rewards." Your credit card and email are harvested and voila! You are now charged a recurring fee for membership with some company you never heard of, whose service you probably don't want.

There's nothing in making a purchase through EBGames that says anything about being charged by or having to opt-out of membership to a third party. At best, EBGames's ToS/Privacy says it DOES in fact share your personal information with third party affiliates.

Apparently there are a good number of well-trusted companies who you might unintentionally sign up with Reservation Rewards through. And the trick may not be on the end of the company you're ordering from, but with the company providing the online shopping cart.

Enter your email get $10 off your next purchase! Discount provided by Reservation Rewards!

Where's the part that says I get billed $9 a month?

[Taigei]

Ok I think I figured out how people get duped into 'joining' WLI.

You make a purchase at one of many sites and there will usually be a pop-up at the end of the shopping cart - either a enter-your-email or fill-out-this-survey popup which offers a discount on future purchases. The popups are really simple - enter your email, click a button, or fill out a short survey, click a button, and you'll find out how to get the discount.

As sson as you click the button on the popup, your cc and personal info are passed to the WLI company and you are now a member. In the case of a survey popup, the persoal and cc info is passed when you click to take the survey, not after you complete the survey.

If you complete the survey or enter your email and click the button, you go to the WLI (or aka) website and probably deside you aren't interested in joining the company. But a longish email is automatically sent to your email address which tells you toward the end of the message that if yo don't opt-out you will be charged a recurring fee.

Now, if you have a junk mail filter or used an email address you use for junk mail, there's a good chance you won't ever read the email. The email subject will say something like "Your Membership Kit You Requested from Reservation Rewards". You didn't sign up for anything, so it looks like unsolicited email. You toss it without realizing they're going to charge you.

Opt-out is unethical to begin with. This is worse in that WLI goes to pains to hide the fact that you "authorised" them to charge your cc as soon as you clicked on that popup window button.

At no time is it clear that you have already sent them personal and cc information until you receive, and unless you read, the email.


Here's a list of some of the companies that people have purchased from which have passed cc info to WLI:

fandango.com
movietickets.com
ebay.com
wdrake.com (Walter Drake)
classmates.com
amazon.com
joann.com
jessicalondon.com
travelvalue.com (WLI aka)
travelvalueplus.com (WLI aka)
buyerassurance.com (WLI aka)
reservationrewards.com (WLI aka)
chadwicks.com
orbitz.com
jyfonline
columbiahouse.com
lillianvernon.com
skinstore.com
deepdvddiscount.com
accstation.com
virtualcart.com (shoppingcart - beware of any purchases made through online stores using this shoppingcart)
yahoo stores
expedia.com
priceline.com
ubid.com
onetravel.com
sprint.com
bidz.com
buy.com
1800flowers.com
charlotteflowers.com
priceline.com
mypoints.com
webloyalty.com (WLI)
restaurant.com
dvdplanet.com
cooking.com
allposters.com
musicspace.com
aetv.com
half.com
drugstore.com
jcwhitney.com
hotelreservations.com
lanebryant.com
ccnow.com (shoppingcart - beware of any purchases made through online stores using this shoppingcart)
lernercatalog.com
americangreetings.com
vistaprints.com
gifttree.com
ebags.com
electronicsplus.com

[Tai-Jiang Kun]

Yeeeeeeeesh!

People will just try to leech from you any way they can!


Makes you wonder if your personal information stops with them, or if they sell it to others as well..

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

"They are all over, some are even under the veil of companies you expect to be a safe and reputable. Protect yourself or the Digital Pirates will bend you over and stick you in the assets"

Thanks for the info! There ought to be some sort of law against these digital pirates..

[se'xwax]

I wasn't worried about it because I bought SWG from Best Buy and nothing else in months and months (yes this game saves you money in the long run). Then I saw amazon.com on there and I have bought all kinds of books from them. *franticly searches his credit card statements*

Thanks for the heads up.

[Taigei]

Makes you wonder if your personal information stops with them, or if they sell it to others as well..

It certainly does, and that may explain the increased spam I've been getting since the beginning of the year (this all started in Nov).

The tactic they use tacks on the popup at the end of the online purchase (once all your info has been entered and validated through the shopping cart), so simply don't go click on any popups or discount offers while going through checkout.

I must say it's quite the magic trick. They piggyback on the credibility of the company you're ordering from - you think the offer is coming from a company you trust. They entice you to find out more about the discount offer (Look at this cool thing over here!) while passing your info and signing you up without your knowledge.

Pretty stunning that how effective an illusion this is. Nowhere on their website do they say you automatically get signed up when you click on those popups (and I'm willing to bet they'll be moving away from popups in the future and trying some other trick). The "fine print" is in that email, and that email looks like spam.

Couples often think the charges were made by their spouse. And for those people who don't read English - they CAN'T read the fine print. Many people don't fine-comb their statements everytime they get them because they get used to knowing what recurring charges are made and know what incidental charges. Of course, some people rarely look at their statements at all except to see the color of the ink.

Well, if you get taken by WLI, you can either call them yourself (let me know if you need the tollfree #) and haggle - they'll offer you the last month's fee, but if you persist they'll make "an exception" and refund the entire amount. Or... you can call your cc company or bank and ask them to get a threeway phone conversation with them, and the WLI rep will cave immediately. Either way, get a transaction number.

I haven't seen anything that has indicated WLI resells the information, but I sure don't trust them with that info.

Some of the things they offer to members are again relying on consumer ignorance, such as getting up to $250 from an airline for lost or stolen luggage (the airline does that if you call), or credit card fraud protection up to $5000 (which the cc company does if you you call them).

"Hey! Apparently I'm a member with your company. Can you call my cc company and report yourselves on my behalf?"

Yahoo! Stores has a bit on Reservation Rewards in their Store Help section:

Webloyalty.com generates revenue directly from consumers. Each customer who claims a thank-you reward is invited to join a travel discount and protection program (http://www.TravelValuesPlus.com), shopping protection service (http://www.BuyerAssurance.com), entertainment and travel protection program (http://www.ReservationRewards.com), or a home computer protection program (http://www.PCProtectionPlus.com). Although the customer is never obliged to continue after the trial period, many consumers choose to join one of these subscription services. This subset of consumers provides revenue to Webloyalty.com.

[/url]

[Taigei]

Makes you wonder if your personal information stops with them, or if they sell it to others as well..

It certainly does, and that may explain the increased spam I've been getting since the beginning of the year (this all started in Nov).

The tactic they use tacks on the popup at the end of the online purchase (once all your info has been entered and validated through the shopping cart), so simply don't go click on any popups or discount offers while going through checkout.

I must say it's quite the magic trick. They piggyback on the credibility of the company you're ordering from - you think the offer is coming from a company you trust. They entice you to find out more about the discount offer (Look at this cool thing over here!) while passing your info and signing you up without your knowledge.

Pretty stunning that how effective an illusion this is. Nowhere on their website do they say you automatically get signed up when you click on those popups (and I'm willing to bet they'll be moving away from popups in the future and trying some other trick). The "fine print" is in that email, and that email looks like spam.

Couples often think the charges were made by their spouse. And for those people who don't read English - they CAN'T read the fine print. Many people don't fine-comb their statements everytime they get them because they get used to knowing what recurring charges are made and know what incidental charges. Of course, some people rarely look at their statements at all except to see the color of the ink.

Well, if you get taken by WLI, you can either call them yourself (let me know if you need the tollfree #) and haggle - they'll offer you the last month's fee, but if you persist they'll make "an exception" and refund the entire amount. Or... you can call your cc company or bank and ask them to get a threeway phone conversation with them, and the WLI rep will cave immediately. Either way, get a transaction number.

I haven't seen anything that has indicated WLI resells the information, but I sure don't trust them with that info.

Some of the things they offer to members are again relying on consumer ignorance, such as getting up to $250 from an airline for lost or stolen luggage (the airline does that if you call), or credit card fraud protection up to $5000 (which the cc company does if you you call them).

"Hey! Apparently I'm a member with your company. Can you call my cc company and report yourselves on my behalf?"

Yahoo! Stores has a bit on Reservation Rewards in their Store Help section. There's a walkthrough of what the customer experiences with Reservat Rewards, but it isn't what people are seeing - the walkthrough shows the customer has to enter contact and cc info on the page they're taken to when they click the discount link, and the people getting duped by this company never see such a page - that personal info is passed without their knowledge.

Do you think these people care if their parents are proud of them?

[Paeganh]

YUP!

Its happened to me numerous times to a tune of a $50 monthly charge. Guess who sold me out? One time it was my very own credit card company, and another it was my very own bank! Their excuse? "Well you can always call to cancel it."


Grrrrrrrr......

[Sinjin]

I'll skip the indignant rant, and tell you all that two things come to mind:

1. Download Firefox browser, based on Mozilla's open source code, literally bug-free (compared to IE), and blocks pop-ups with an integrated blocker. No IE security loopholes (no ActiveX, for example). When it takes MS 6 months or more to patch an IE security hole, FF's open-source nature ensures that there are literally thousands of benevolent hackers ("White Hats") out there working on and releasing a patch in 36 hours. Not making this up, this comparable situation among both browsers actually happened recently. Plus nifty tabs to open multiple pages in one window, without opening more instances (windows) of the same browser.

2. Thought about posting everything you said here to Slashdot? They have ways of making things happen.

A little background:

http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend22_20021122.htm

then:

http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend6_20021206.htm