A few days ago I received an email from [email protected] about a recurring charge to my credit card for $29.95 on behalf of "Blazingebooks". I had recently been purchasing books for school, so it didn't seem odd at first. But, confused by the fact that the charge was "recurring", I searched all of my recent transactions for any mention of "Blazingebooks".
When I didn't find anything, I searched online for Blazingebooks, which took me to http://www.blazingebooks.com / (not too hard to find). The website is obviously fraudulent. They have no real way to contact them. There is a "support" form and when you happen to click on "Log in", a "contact" tab appears which links to the same "support" form. I assumed that I would get some help here. I filled out the form, hit submit... Nothing happened. At the very least, I expected a error.
So, being a web professional, I cracked open the source of the HTML file (right click, view source). And come to know that it's not a real form at all. It's just made to look like it is. It's not so much poor coding, as some of these sites have, but blatant fraud.
So, then I contacted BillingHLP.com. I emailed them back at [email protected] and I called the number on their site. They asked for a "transaction ID", which does not exist. I "searched" for my transaction id via all of my phone numbers. They couldn't find any records of it, of course, since I've never purchased anything from them. I, then, left a message in the voicemail. I haven't yet gotten a response yet. I don't expect to get one.
After some more searching, I came across this site which confirmed that this is completely bogus. So, I then filed a report with Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). I urge others to do the same at ic3. Gov. I am going to call my credit card company later today and see if I can have this resolved.
Hopefully all ends up well, but judging my other's reports, I'm under no illusions that it will.
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