Unauthorized Withdrawals from Credit Card

Foxy9212

I was recommended to join here as you may be able to help with a serious problem.

At the beginning of October I applied for a Free 14 day Trial of a face care product from the US for which I would be charged postage and packing. We were in the middle of a Post Strike so I wasn't concerned that the product didn't arrive quickly, delivery times were stated as between 5 and 7 days although I doubt that would apply to the UK.

On 24th October I received a call from my credit card fraud department advising me that two attempts from separate sources within moments of one another had been made to withdraw a sum of £53. I confirmed that I had no knowledge of this transaction and both attempts were blocked.

Investigation led me back to the company from whom I'd order the 'Free Trial' so I telephoned them using the toll free number shown on the advertisement. My order was cancelled and I was given a cancellation number. I was also assured that no product would be sent to me in the future but that I would have to forego the postage and packing of £9 as I had blocked access to my account and, therefore, no refund could be made. (This of course was untrue).

On checking my credit card account online I noticed that the sum of £15 had been taken from my account on 2nd November. I contacted my credit card company and advised this payment too was unauthorized and I had no idea who the company was or what the money was for. I was told that the transaction traced back to a company operating out of Cyprus, as did the previous two attempts to take money from my account. I again telephoned the original company who confirmed that they had sent no goods to me neither had they taken a payment from my account. They did however tell me that the company that had taken the £15 was one of their 'affiliates' to whom they had given my card details and email address in accordance with the terms and conditions of my earlier transaction with them. As my order had been cancelled they told me I would have to telephone the company concerned and cancel further payments directly with them and ask for a refund. The number they gave me was unobtainable.

I immediastely contacted my credit card company and registered a 'dispute' with regard to the £15 and cancelled my credit card. I'm now advised however that doing this will not stop payments as the request will simply be forwarded to my new card! It seems I'm unable to protect myself at all.

It appears that there are many companies all with different names, owned by a 'cloaking company' and that these companies will continue to withdraw money from my account as and when they feel like it without supplying goods or information as to what the payments are for. There are many unfortunate people who have lost hundreds of pounds in this way having used debit cards in particular but also credit cards. Apparently if they received goods and wanted to cancel, they had to return the 'unused' product to the company's US depot before the 14th day of the 'Trial.' In most cases this was impossible from outside the US and, in any event, this would not constitute a fair 'Trial' at all. These people have now found themselves contracted to pay large monthly sums for the product plus random amounts of money to all manner of different companies for an unspecified period. I consider myself fortunate that I received nothing.

I'm advised by my credit card company that I will need to dispute any unauthorized payments as and when they occur and that nothing else can be done. They have given me a UK address to which to write; this is the only contact they can find in connection with the companies concerned and I have written today laying out my concerns and have copied this letter to my bank/card company.

Is my only sure remedy to cancel my cards, close my account and move to another bank?

If anyone has any ideas I would be most grateful as I'm finding the situation distressing in the extreme, particularly as it occurred just as I suffered a family bereavement with which I'm finding it hard to cope.

Thank you.

Fox

4743hudsonj

your in for a long fight

99% chance of never seeing a penny again

search the forums in here you will see several from the same companies and advice on what to do

rather than starting a thread in future, do try to see if anybody else has posted with your problem, in your case there are several with dealings with the same company.

Foxy9212

Firstly I would apologize for my stupidity in posting my first post in the wrong place. Secondly I did look around the forums for a suitable area/relevant subject but found nothing.

Thank you for making me feel even more negative than I do already.

Fox

HellsGranny

Hi Foxy, glad you came over. This place should be able to help in many ways.

Hudson that was a less than helpful post. New members need encouragement, not slating.


Cheers, HG

Foxy9212

Greetings HG. So far I've found nothing that directly corresponds with my dilemma although many people seem to have been caught by at least one of the so called 'affiliate' companies. The difference is that I received no goods or service from any of the three companies who've attempted/succeeded in withdrawing funds from my credit card account, I've cancelled the original, non-delivered, Trial product and received a cancellation number. I'm unable to contact the third company as the only phone number I've been given doesn't work.

My bank tells me that all three companies with which I'm currently involved all trace back to a food store in Cyprus.

This 'cloaking company' appears to be a huge organization and the only reference to legal action against one of the companies involved appears to have been in Texas which was successful.

Oh well, here's hoping.

Fox

cinzano

Hi Foxy9212, was it a company called Clearlift Ultra? I have done exactly the same thing as you/

Foxy9212

Yes that's the one. When I originally found the product when looking around for another product entirely, it was called Pure Lift Ultra. When I later revisited the link the name had changed to Clear Lift Ultra. Following the links to Clear Lift Ultra now takes one to yet another, new, product purporting to be superior to either of the other two.

Did you receive your product?

Fox

biscit

HellsGranny wrote: »

Hudson that was a less than helpful post. New members need encouragement, not slating.

Nonsense that was helpful and constructive advice, not a slating. No wonder there is so much ill feeling with people misinterpreting peoples actions in this way.

There are ways and means of doing things on a forum. It's good manners to help people out by advising them on those ways and means. It is bad behaviour to treat people advising on forum ettiqute as if they've been rude rather than helpful.



Sorry to hear your problem Foxy, I don't know about the specific scam you're involved with sorry, I just know they're very common.


Try looking for "Acai Berry" as there are similar operations centering around that.

I think the only sure way to avoid further payments is to close your account.

cinzano

Hi Foxy 9212, within minutes of me submitting my cc details I realised this was a scam as they had signed me up to a membership of £54 per month of supplies I did not want. I contacted my cc company to cancel the initial transaction of £7 for P&P but was told it had already been accepted. I rang clearlift the following day and cancelled my membership, but last week I was charged a further £54 and I am currently going through a credit card chargeback with Tesco. If you look on Praise/Vent/Warning forum under Dazzlewhite you will find lots of people with same experience and you will also find help in what to do next. I dont no how long they will go on taking money from me but at least I have put the wheels in motion to block further transactions.

Foxy9212

@ biscit: I certainly didn't come here to cause arguments, I came here on the advice of HC to see if I could get some sensible advice regarding the 'scam' in which I find myself involved. Being extremely well versed in 'Netiquette I spent some time looking around for threads/posts regarding "Clear Lift Ultra;" why would it occur to me to search for something else. As I'm a consumer who's been mislead by some very devious advertising, I thought The Consumer Rights Resource Bar sounded about right. I'm absolutely certain that Hudson didn't intend to upset me but his response came across as brusque and left me feeling like a silly schoolgirl. For reasons mentioned in my opening post, I'm feeling very 'raw' at present and was hoping for some slightly more positive help. We can't always have what we ask for however.

@Cinzano: I'm roughly in the same place as you at present - we shouldn't really beat ourselves up about this scam; these people are very very good at what they do and all we can do is to monitor our accounts carefully and leave the hard work to the card companies. I'm very disappointed that changing my credit card will make no difference but, thinking about it, if this was the cure-all we could purchase goods by instalment, cancel the card and walk away. The card companies would then become responsible for our debts and chase us for reimbursement. That's a no-no.

Clear Lift Ultra now seems to have morphed into another product supposedly far superior to its predecessors and many of the old Clear Lift links on various sites now lead to this new 'wonder.' This 'scam' could go on until the end of time. Fortunately I kept a screen shot (bmp) of my original order that shows the single web page plus the time and date I placed my order. It also shows that the company's claim that the terms and conditions were displayed prominently on their 'Home Page' is untrue. There is no 'Home Page' and the T&C are via a tiny link at the very bottom of the page amongst several others. The screen shot also shows the the toll free phone number that I shall 'phone each time a 'hit' is made on my card.

Cold comfort but I know that I'm not alone in all of this mess.

Fox

4743hudsonj

theyre all the same people behind them, same tatics etc, i can think of one in the past week where they didnt receive goods and anothe rin the past 3-4 weeks with the same, it wasnt slating the op but a half arsed search would have found many relevant links and its true i op 99% chance of not getting a penny back, im not saying you dont deserve it back etc (well actually thats debateable also).

Im sorry if i came out harsh, i think this is more due to the briefness of my response than my attitude but as said your in for a hell of a fight, there's another thread about diet pills at the moments, same thing, then theirs the berries, teeth whiteners etc etc, the list goes on.

Issue with these cases is that in every instance the customer has agreed to allow them take this money, always unknowingly, not sue to deception but ignorance. I do believe this company should be bought down and morally they are evil, but legally they seem sound.

hope that better explains your dilemma and where i was coming from in my original post

information can be helpful no matter what, whether its wanted or well received is irrelevant, it was still helpful.