I was contacted via email in December from Canterbury Who's Who with an exclusive invitation to join their exclusive Who's Who network. Registration was free and they only asked for name, address, and phone. After completing this, two weeks later, I was contacted by Stanford Who's Who. After asking me quite a few questions to "verify my eligibility", I was told congratulations I was accepted. Then came the hard sell, I was given several options for membership which included platinum and gold. When I deferred, I was offered a one timespecial limited membership and could decide at the end of five years (or sooner) if I wished to upgrade to another package. Unfortunately, I fell for it. Sounded good, be able to network with other professionals, put the information on business cards, etc. They wasted no time in billing my debit card for $498. I did not receive the promised welcome package, but I figured with the holidays, it was just late. At the end of December, I tried to call the number that I was given and all the number did was ring and ring. No answer. Thinking that I may have written the number down incorrectly, I went to look up the information on line. To my surprise, I discovered that there were several mentions of this company as being a scam. Finally, after searching, I found a working number and left a message for someone to contact me. No one did. I then contacted the FBI and changed by debit card. Finally, I did receive a welcome package kit on January 7th, which contained a bio for review. No surprise, the information was incorrect. Now I am receiving several phone calls from them a day. Yesterday, I was told from their accounting department that they could not bill the card. I responded that they could not as it was canceled and explained my issues. The gentleman asked if I had contacted the Customer Service Department. I replied yes, but I had received no response and felt that they were a scam. He then became very defensive and somewhat threatening. I hung up. Please, if you have also been scammed, make sure to change your credit/debit card right away and also report the company to the FBI fraud division.
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