SUMMARY: This article reveals how vendors, credit card companies, and some banks are ripping off many customers by hiding extra charges in their “terms of use” agreements, and not openly revealing this information to the customers. Customer can be loosing 10% to 15% of their incomes each month. In my Article I show the customers how to catch and stop this unethical conduct, get their money back, and put the scammers out of business. _____________________________________________ Scammers in Your Face – Are you being scammed and not even know it? by: Louten Hedgpeth How would you like to find out you were loosing 10% to 15% of your hard-earned income every month to scams? To make things worse, the scammers are sending you a printed statement of their dirty deeds each month, and you still don’t know about it. Do you have a business and use credit or debit cards, as well as your bank to pay your expenses? Then you too may be a victim and just haven’t found out yet. I first became aware of this situation back in January of 2006 when I got a call from one of my credit card companies asking if I had authorized a $300 charge against my account. My answer was an emphatic “No”. I was asked to look at my statement and get back in touch with the lady who called. I did. I ripped open my statement and what I saw astonished me. Two people or companies had been charging $9.99 and $12.95 to that credit card for nine months without me catching it. But then they got greedy, and tried get $300 at one time. That was a mistake, I called the credit card company back. They credited me with all of the unauthorized charges and turned the problem over to their fraud division. I wondered how much more money have I lost to other scammers that I don’t know about? After that event, I got out my last bank statement, and guess what? I was getting ripped off there too, but worse. I found six unauthorized charges totaling over $200 in just one month by using my debit card. I use a debit card also, because it is tied directly to my bank account, which makes it easier to check all of the debits and credits of my accounts. Good idea? NO. If you are getting ripped off through your bank debit card, the scammers have access to your Bank account too!. Then you have to change your debit card for a new debit card number, and that poses more problems for you and venders you want to debit that card each month. Do you always read the tiny legalize “terms of service” agreement that these so called “reputable companies” provide? Most, probably not. They have earned your trust over the years and in doing so have made it easy to rip you off. Here is one way they do it. They advertise a product or service for several weeks, lets say at $34.50. You see the ad over and over, and would like to order the product or service, but not for $34.50. Then one day you see the ad with the $34.50 with a big red line struck through it, and a big FREE now advertised. The company is going to give it to you for FREE. All you have to do is pay the $5.95 shipping and handling cost. You receive the order and are delighted with your purchase. However, on your next bank or credit card statement you see a charge from the “reputable” company for $34.50. You think, this must be a mistake. You contact the company and they tell you to read the “terms of service” agreement. You do, and here is what is says, in effect. “If you do not return the item you purchased within 14 days, you will be charged $34.50“. Some companies have that charge set to be repeated monthly for some number of months. They told you about this in their “terms of service, so technically they are not breaking the law. What can I do to stop being ripped off like this? Here is the good news. If you are willing to spend a few minutes a month and make a few phone calls, you can probably get most your money back and maybe put the scammers out of business. This doesn’t mean you have to go to court or anything like of that. The scammers cannot harm you, so don’t worry about that. I have been doing this for a full year now and have about a 90% success recovery rate, and have saved ( or recovered ) over $2600 on a $2000 a month account. Here is what you should do. First, don’t assume that everybody on the Internet is honest. Look for these red flags before you join anything or buy anything on the Internet. Does the vender have a phone, so that you can contact them? Most legitimate venders will have their name or phone number on your statement from them. However, don’t think that just because they have a phone number that it is goes to where you think it will. Call the number. You may be surprised to find that the number is “out of orders” you get, redirected to another number, like a “900 number,” or a message that says we don’t respond to voice messages on this line. Can you contact them through an email address? Try it. In short, satisfy yourself they are legitimate before you send any money. And be careful about monthly reoccurring charges, which are not advertised very boldly. Next, as I have done, you can establish a bank account, or use the account you now have. Deposit enough money to pay for your monthly expenses, Put a certain amount, say $1000 in that account the first of each month. If you use a bank debit card, or a low balance credit card…say $300 to $500…it will allow you to notice any unusual changes in your normal balances more easily than a larger account. If you see a charge in your account that is not familiar, contact that vender as soon as possible. Ask them to check the charge. If it is just an honest error, the vender will usually correct it immediately, apologize, and refund your money. However if you hadn’t contacted them, you would have paid for the “honest mistake”. If a “bad” charge was made by an “honest reputable” company purposely, they will realize you are on to them, and they will reimburse you, to avoid the bad publicity. If not, call your bank or credit card issuer and tell them about your problem. Most will be helpful. Well, what if they are real crooks scamming me? What do I do then? The short answer is, put them out of business. If they are not legitimate, contact the State Attorney General of the state in which the scammers are working. Additionally, you can call the State Attorney General of your state. Tell them your problem and they will take it from there. Good luck. Don’t forget to read “ the terms of agreements” as well as any other “small print” items. Louten Hedgpeth _______________ If you would like to receive your own articles and reports FREE, just send a blank email to Lou10@pxmb.com and put “Subscribe” in the subject line. Be sure to include your name. Your email address will only be used to contact you. It will not be sold, swapped or disposed of in any other way. ________________________________ Article Re-print Rights Information You may re-print this article and circulate it, as long as you comply with following terms. The article must be published "as is" (unedited). It must be published with the author's bio paragraph (resource box) and copyright information included. URL in the resource box should be set as hyperlinks. The article cannot be used in spam communications. The article must not be sold, but may be given away freely. _________________________________ Bio paragraph (resource box) below: ----------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THE AUTHOR: _________________________ Louten Hedgpeth writes about and provides Solutions to Problems, whose answers are not readily found in books or the Internet ( if at all ). Most of the problems Louten writes about Problems that affect millions. You may receive your FREE copy as they are written, if you send a blank email to Be sure to include your name. I am currently modifying my website to add this FREE benefit for you. My website link is >copyright 2006 – All rights reserved. __________________________________________________ Why don't visit my site to see some of the problems I have finished and others I am working on ? Just go to Http://Books@LRHJR.com __________________________________________________ Keywords: scam, money, business, your money, venders, private label, private, label, credit, credit cards, bank, debit, debit cards, scammers credit, attorney, attorney general, personal solutions, personal