After registering on this dating service and apparently making contact with some people in the neighbourhood I was staying in, I found that they were soon afterwards declared non-existent on the database. Thinking that I had to subscribe in order to access other people through the site, perhaps foolishly, I then followed the invitation to verify my account, followed the links and via credit card opted for a one-month subscription for Aus$17.47 which was to be rolled over automatically if I didn't cancel at least 48 hours before the one month had elapsed. Due, I thought, to the fact that I was in a different country from that of the issue of my credit card, I was sent an email saying my subscription could not be processed until I telephoned the company to verify my details. I then did this.
After a few days of use of the site I became a little suspicious of the kinds of responses I was getting from the "participants", which all seemed to be of a pro-forma nature. However, I was unsure as to whether these were being sent by lazy or wary respondents, so I continued. Then I decided to terminate my account, but soon after doing so I was sent an email inviting me, due to the large number of contacts I was making and how I was apparently very popular with recipients of my messages, to take out a lifelong membership for a one-off fee of Aus$80 (complimentary access). Again, in retrospect, somewhat foolishly, I agreed. This time in order to proceed with payment I was given three options -1) by phone, 2) by email sending a scan of my credit card with the first 12 digits masked together with a copy of my passport or driver's licence or 3) send my contact details to facilitate the comany's contact with me.
So, foolishly, I sent photos of my credit card and passport. I received a reply saying the attachment was blank. On resending it I received a reply that the number of the passport wasn't visible. So I sent a different photo with the number both printed and hole-punched clearly visible. Finally, I received a reply saying "I can see the back of the card, but I cannot see the photo ID part of the passport", which was clearly untrue. Soon afterwards I received an email saying "As you failed to contact us to confirm your subscription with rudefinder.com your complimentary access has now ended." So I sent them an email saying I had decided to terminate my account at the end of its current paid-up period. Finally I received an email saying, "I can confirm that your order has now been cancelled and the pending charge voided. This can take up to 7 - 10 working days to show back in your account." I could now only wait to see if this would in fact eventuate. This was quite unsettling as an addendum to their email reply to attempted updating of payment states "Note: If you contact your bank and submit a wrongful chargeback instead of requesting a refund for any payments made to Rude Finder you will be submitted to the Bad Customer Database which will affect your ability to place future orders anywhere online." This should have sounded alarm bells, but, being unaware of such legal issues, I merely made a mental note of it and proceeded.
My main concern then became that the details of my credit card may be decipherable from the back via the imprints of its number, as I hadn't checked the image carefully enough before sending it as an attachment. Not all digits were visible due to print on the back of the card, but as I suspected an attempt may be made to try all the missing digits in order to defraud me of further funds via illegal credit card transactions I was forced to cancel my credit card.
On returning to the site afterwards I found that my account had been reverted to 'Unverified' status and I was no longer able to send messages of any kind. The loss of Aus$17.47 is insignificant for me, but I worry that for others it may be much more if they do not remain vigilant, and there almost certainly seem to be suspicious practices involved with the site, only some of which I have understood.
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