Web Scam From Formally Honest Commerce Sites

Further proof people are out there trying to scam you out of your money. I heard about this little fiasco a while ago but never knew who sites were helping in it.

This article on CNet does a good job covering the actual scam. But to sum it up in a small bit of information it's this. When you go to a website signed up with a company called WebLoyalty a pop-up appears asking you if you want to receive a coupon for your next purchase. All they ask you to input is your e-mail address.

Well when you do that they begin charging your credit card every month. See the companies listed on the previous link give your credit card information to WebLoyalty who give that said company a cut of the monthly charge. The surprising thing are the names of the companies on this list. It's not just a series of no-name retailers. Here is a list from the article linked:

Partners Paid Over $10 Million

1-800-Flowers.com Buy.com Classmates.com Columbia House Confi-Check Expedia/Hotels.com Fandango FTD Hotwire InQ Intelius MovieTickets.com Orbitz Priceline Redcats USA Shutterfly Travelocity US Airways VistaPrint

Partners Paid Between $1 and 10 Million

1-800 PetMeds Adteractiv Airtran Airways Allegiant Air Allposters.com American Greetings Auto Parts Avon Barnes & Noble Bizrate.com Bookspan Boston Apparel Group BuySeasons/Celebrate Express Campusfood.com Cendant Intercompany Agreements Channel Advisor Cheap Tickets Choice Hotels CollectionsEtc.com Continental Airlines Currents USA (123 Prints) Custom Direct Digital River Dr. Leonard's Drugstore eHarmony eTix eToys Fareportal FragranceNet From You Flowers FTD Florists Online Gamestop/EBgames Gevalia Haband Half.com Hanover Direct Hertz HiSpeed Media Infinity Resources J.C. Whitney Joann.com Lillian Vernon Live Nation Marketworks Miles Kimball Musicnotes MyLife.com MyPoints Pizza Hut Potpourri Restaurants.com Riverdeep Shoebuy Simplexity Spirit Airlines Suresource/Americart Thompson Group Tiger Direct TimeLife True.com True Credit (True Link) Upsellit.com US Search Victoria's Secret Vitacost WayPort West Yahoo

You may ask why this scam works since the charges appears on your credit card statement every month. It works because nobody checks those. This scam here is a good lesson to always check EVERY item on your credit card bill.

Of course now there's talk of legislative action yadda yadda. Really it's another pony show by legislators to make people think they're doing something. In all honesty if you aren't checking your credit card bill every month and disputing things you didn't buy this is on your hands.