I almost got ripped off today, 12-15-05! At about 7:30 pm EST I received a call from "Star Communications". I was offered a $500 shopping spree and told that all I had to pay was a $4.95 shipping fee. I thought to my self, "noone would give away money and expect nothing in return." There has to be a catch! There was a BIG one!
I told them I was not intrested and hung up immediately. To my surprise they called back, saying they thought we got disconnected accidently. The man I was speaking to did everything in his power to reassure me that there was absonutely no obligation and nothing to buy. He said that this was an offer supplied by local merchants to analyze where consumers where willing to spend their money. He even said that offering promotions such as this was a way that these merchants got out of paying some kinds of taxes.
Being a smart person I thought to ask all of the questions that I thought would keep me from getting trapped in a scam. The man I spoke with supplied a customer service number that I could call if I changed my mind and did not want the shopping spree. He supplied the name and company address when I asked and even gave me his name (fake I am sure) and employee number. Having worked in telemarketing/customer service myself I recognized his tactics and knew them to be typical. He explained things over and over again.
I was told that there would be no money taken form my account until I received my shopping spree (which he gave numerous details about including participating stores, and gift card instructions). At that time I would receive a call and could use my shopping spree after supplying my check information via phone. I was told that they only neede my information today to verify that I had an active checking account.
I was sceptacle and told the guy no thank you and hung up. HE CALLED ME BACK AGAIN amd said, " I think you hung up on me". I told him I wasn't intrested and was transfered to his "supervisor". He told me all of the same things I had already heard several times and even supplied more detail. He talked me into it! Against my better judgement, I gave him my name, address, and account number thinking that I was only agreeing to a $4.95 one time charge.
He then proceeded to tell me about all kinds of other things... A cable pay program, long distance calling card, and a family fun pack plan. THERES THE CATCH! I told him no thank you and to cancel the whole thing. He argued with me for a half hour, telling me that it was too late and that my information was already in the "system".
I was told that the only way to get my name and information out of the system was to proceed with the registration and agree to all of the terms. He said I would have a 10 day period to call and cancel everything and that I could even do it as soon as I got off the phone with them and never see a single charge to my account.
I was transferered to an automated sytem that requested me to repeat my information and agree to certain terms. When this was done a woman came on the line and gave me a "tracking number" and told me to expect my package in 5 days. This tracking number was only 8 digits long! I know from experience that it should have been much longer. I WAS THEN HUNG UP ON!
When I tried to call the three customer service numbers that were given to me to cancel they were bad numbers! I knew I had been SCAMMED!
I immediately called my bank and froze my account! They aren't getting a dime from me! It wasn't until I did a Google search on the internet that I realized just how scammed I could have been!
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