Scammed

[Kottonmouth_420]

What is the name of your state? Iowa/Florida

I was recently the victim of a scam from a company in Florida called Universal Promotions Florida. I got a call from a guy named Mike, operator number 0126. He told me I won a vacation. He told me about the contest I signed up for at the local mall and unfortunately I have signed up for some so I thought he was legit. He said that he needed to confirm my credit card number, he said that I had a card that started with a 2 that I needed to use and that they had it on file. So being naive I went ahead a read it all off. He told me that VISA would go ahead a clear me and that he had charged my account $490. I was shocked I told him I didn't want it then, if I had to pay now to use a package I didn't want it but it was too late. He ran the card and I lost all my money. Because this was a check card not a credit card. Then I was told that the next person in the confirmation department could help me. So I talked to her. I told her I couldn't afford it and that I didn't want it. So then she told me to call the customer service number. I called that and the girl told me that I was unable to get money back because the trip is non-refundable. But I told her that there must've been a lot of participants like me and to give it to them. I didn't want it. At which time she said that she could maybe drop the price to $125. I said do that until I can figure something else out. She called back about 5-10min. later and told me that they can only credit the money back to me if I had a death in the family or had a family member with a terminal illness. So I don't know what she did but she said I should only be charged a $20 cancellation fee. Well my stepfather and mother weren't happy about this and called the bank, they have a good relationship with our local bank. They put a stop payment on that charge and any other charge relating to Universal Promotions. So far I've heard nothing. I also called the bank myself and the national branch is going to be researching my claim for a fraudulent charge. Is there any legal action that I can take against this company for the scam, even though they are supposedly a legit business? They also charged me before I authorized it. Isn't that somehow wrong? I'm in Iowa and they're located in Tampa, FL. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[pojo2]

So have you learned your lesson? Never ever,ever,ever give out your debit card number to anyone! It is a direct and rapid means of emptying your checking account. Take the lesson learned and go on with your life and count yourself VERY lucky and cross your fingers unless that account was closed down!

[BelizeBreeze]

Contact the following:
Florida Attorney General
The Capitol PL-01
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050
850-414-3300

Fraud Hotline
1-866-966-7226

and file a fraud complaint against the company. If they need to, give them your bank information (contact only) to verify the charges that were made against your account.

[Kottonmouth_420]

I'm still stuck at 0. Yeah I've definitely learned my lesson, but it's kind of hard to try to live without money, so please don't get smart with me. That's not what I need right now. I'm already extremely pissed. I continually look at my account. I'm always checking my balance.

[Who's Liable?]

Be caredul on how many times you access your account... Some banks assess a "users" or "account access" fee for telephone banking... If your account truly is $0.00 and they charge you a 3.50 fee, you just put yourself in the RED!

[Tayla]

1: dispute charge with bank
2: Ignore any poster who says "gosh did you learn your lesson"? and tells you to let it go. Its your money and fraud has been committed. Turning the other way and cutting a loss is NOT the answer.
3: A check card is still protected under certain bank policies. Review your banks policy and see what safeguards are rendered. My bank check card carries the visa logo and thereby safeguards for charges over 50 dollars that arent legitimate.
4: The bank will decide whether it goes after the entity for false charging.
5: More often then not the bank will re-credit your account when a fraud claim has been brought forth.

[pojo2]

Hmmmm did YOU hear both sides of the phone conversation in order to 100% say any fraud was committed? NO. This poster was naive enough to give a 'direct route into their bank account', were they naive enough to say yes, yes, yes to every question and then after they learned the price for their FREE item was so expensive they started crying fowl.

[pojo2]

And in addition for future reference MOST credit cards start with the same first few numbers, Visa I believe is the 4's and M/Card is 5 etc. So I can say your CC beginning with 45 and pretty much make some assume I have the rest of your CC number.

>>he said that I had a card that started with a 2 that I needed to use and that they had it on file. <<

[Tayla]

Thank you pogo , your up on catching the details. Unfortunately he asked of a procedure and how to get this matter resolved, so most of the responding posters *aided* in such request. Perhaps you can do the same sometime.

[Kottonmouth_420]

Well at this point everything is now back to normal. They did indeed take out 19.95 from my account. But they left the rest. But what he did was still unethical. I never in my life ever had a salesman from a REAL company do that kind of crap. Normally I wouldn't call someone, ask for their credit card number and charge them before they said go ahead. Maybe that's the difference between Iowa and Florida. I thought all Americans were supposed to be good people. And in business I know that THAT kind of business, doesn't get you repeat customers. I mean if you're actually running a decent business, wouldn't you want people to be honest to consumers? To those of you that are saying that I was an idiot to give out my number, yes I was, I had doubts from the beginning. But for some reason it just sounded so damn legit. Maybe it's living in a place where people don't **** you over like that, that made me give them the benefit of the doubt.

But honestly I really believe that these people have done something wrong here. At the time I had no idea that all credit cards pretty much have the same numbers at the beginning. I've tried to contact the Florida attorney general I get sent to voicemail each time, so, it's almost not worth my time, they called me back but I was in the shower. But maybe I'll try e-mailing. I just don't like companies like that.

After searching the web, I'm not the only one that has ever had to deal with those *******s at Universal Promotions. Apparently there are a few. But one thing is for sure, after the election they screwed up, the governor they have and now this I will never ever step foot in Florida. If that's how people are in that state then, I don't even want to associate with them.