Tag: scam

Bleh. I got scammed.

So I tried out this website, mint.com – you hook it to your bank and credit card accounts, it downloads and categorizes your transaction histories so you can see how much you spend on what. There’s also an iPhone app that goes with it. Of course, I’m anal about data, so went through and manually categorized the items that mint couldn’t match to a category.

Good thing I did.

Mint showed me a number of $40 transactions over the past two months, listed as “GMA soft”, “Trustedbillers.com”, and “Netschelp.com”.

I called the contact number on the transaction, they are porn sites.
So someone’s stolen my credit card number. Great.

Now I have to stop at Bank of America on the way home, contest the charges, and cancel the card and get a new card. Which will probably take a week or two, and since BoA uses card number as login on their site, I probably won’t be able to access my account online for a week or two.

Sigh. Why do people have to suck?

I guess I should look on the bright side, it will make me be more mindful of card security, I’m going to update all my passwords tonight. And at least it was small amounts and not my whole bank account.

I wouldn’t have even noticed if I hadn’t tried out mint.com. Yay, mint!

Cellphone Scammers

Out of the blue today, I got 2 text messages from some cell phone gaming company called predicto.

I looked at their website and found the customer service number, and called them up to ask to be taken off their list.

I also asked how they got my number, since it’s on the national do not call list, they claimed i entered it on their website, even though i’d never heard of them before…

I asked if they maybe purchased my number from some partner or list vendor, they claimed, no, the only place they get numbers is people who submit on the web site.

Sounds like bullshit to me…

If I had responded to the text message, they would have signed me up for their “service” for $9.99/month.

During the call they proudly pointed out the terms were included in the text message.
This is the illegible text they consider “terms of service”:

Svc:800.360.0518 9.99/m txt stop2cxl T&C-predicto.com

Scummy scammers!

I’m concerned, because it’s the first time I’ve gotten spam text messages, and it could mean that now my number is out there on some spam-targetting list, despite the fact that it’s on the national “do not call” list.

Maybe the “do not call” list doesn’t cover text messaging, and companies are exploiting that loophole…