I was called in the late afternoon one day by a company calling themselves "Mountain Area Communications". I was in a good mood at the time which left me vulnerable to their scheme.
They claimed themselves to be a company associated with my credit card company and that I won a $500 credit to my account for having good credit. I like to think of myself as being a responsible spender, so this reasoning held water for me. Then they popped the question.
My credit card number? Why would they need that? Since they're associated with my credit card company, they should already have the information, no? Well apparently that isn't the case. Yet still I refused to give it to them. But then they shot me a deceptive lie.
I was told that if even they were to obtain my credit card number, they wouldn't be able to charge it without my card's security number. That made sense at the time, since why would it be there if not for that purpose? My ignorance of the truth was my downfall. I gave them my number for 'confirmation' purposes, and they proceeded to bring me into a completely unrelated deal that comes with the $500 prize.
They said I would be receiving some number of magazine subscriptions for free, but that I only need to pay shipping. At the moment I was thinking, "I don't ever read magazines in the first place. I just want the prize and to go on with my day." So I requested that the magazines not be sent. Then almost immediately, in the kindest tone imaginable the lady asked if it was too much for me. I agreed and she suggested a slightly smaller package.
In the midst of this conversation I had lost sight of the entire reason I was even interested in this call in ght first place. If I had won $500, shouldn' that be the end of it? But no, in an effort to speed up the call, I accepted the smaller package. She proceeded to transfer me over to her supervisor, where I was asked to answer some questions while she recorded my voice.
I was told to recite the amount I am agreeing to pay. Which involved the lump sum of all the shipping costs combined over a certain course of time. Which added up to a large sum money somehow. I didn't keep the numbers in mind, I just wanted my hard earned $500.
After the call ended, I had a bad feeling. I searched up their company name, and found that many people have been ripped off by these people. I proceeded to cancel my credit card immediately and requested that the charge they made to the card be refuted as well. My credit card company was very helpful, but couldn't remove the pending charge and suggested that I call them back and have them cancel it. I attempted to do so, to which they responded that they couldn't cancel anything until it was posted to my card.
Well, some time passed. My old credit card got charged roughly $40. Some time after that charge, they started calling me again, requesting that I pay them $192.00 or so. I haven't even received the magazines yet, but they pointed out an obviously underhanded loophole that says that the delivery will take over a month or more to reach me.
I will admit, it was unwise of me to be so gullible. But this kind of business is just not ethical. It's like telling someone that they won a new motorcycle, and then sneak in that it'll only cost your car. Except way less obvious, and ten times more deceptive.
I don't know what they tell you at Mountain Area Communications, but this is not an honest way to make money. Period.
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