I too tried to download a file I had been looking for and was re-directed to the DownloadNova web site from Baydownloads after agreeing to pay a fee of 4.95 (I beleive, it may have been 4.87). After realizing that the file was not on-site and that I could get it for another fee, I exited, sent an e-mail (as instructed) to cancel my "3 day trial" membership.
At this point I felt the 3-day trial was a scam and didn't want to risk any more than the five bucks I was already out of. The story would have ended there with a good lesson learned but what happened is scary —
1—apparently within the time I was checking out the site — less than one hour, I was hit by some site from Spain for $39.95 — after they sent thru a couple test charges for something like 2cents, 4cents and then the $39.95; then it got worse —
2-a site known identified as FamilyFriendly hit me with a barrage of charges, including the initial fee of 4.87,32cents, 39.87,9.95 and more.
3-these charges caused one of my bills to bounce and I only found out I had been hit for anything when my utilities shut off two days later, in the middle of the morning of one of the coldest days in Upstate NY where I live —
4-I had to go to the bank, cancel my credit card that was tied into my bank account, then wait for the ultimate insult — because the last sets of charges were still pending, I had to wait and allow them to go thru before I could even finish contesting the charges and until these charges are investigated and reversed, I had to bear the cost of the returned check charges for a total of $58.
End result, I am now out of nearly $200 for a video that I never got and I thought I was doing the right thing by paying the $5 to download it.
Dont use these sites — they are most likely key loggers or straight front-end hack sites! I dont know how to find them as when I poked around initially I cant get a hit on where they are located, but I suspect it is not even the US because as I said their first charge originated from Spain.
If anyone knows any info could you please forward it to me — I intend to fight for my money and to get them off-line even if they are only forced to change their name.
Gloryb
Rochester, New York
U.S.A.
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