I have been reading recently about Elite Excursions and the billing practices and ways they get business, for example 1-800-FLOWERS has sent out a check for $9.25 according to Dvorak Uncensored and if you cash it you automatically signup for Elite Excursions services at $19.99 a month and your credit card will be charged that is on file with 1-800-Flowers. Wait, 1-800-Flowers is going to share my credit card information with someone else? This is why I do not like shopping online with any company that stores my credit card, the hard part about that is….we do not know who does and who does not.

1-800-Flowers Credit Card Sharing

Elite Excursions is apparently with the Trilegiant Corporation who also run things like Privacy Guard but yet they use methods against my privacy and deceptive acts to get my money with other services? Then I would bet it all lines up to sell you this protection. There have been reports as well of Bank of America doing some work with Elite Excursions by providing a MP3 player but you have to fill out a card and send it in the mail which signs you up for this service.

Trilegiant Corporation has had some legal troubles and in 2008 they settled a class action lawsuit for $25M. This settlement resolves nationwide litigation against Trilegiant for allegedly billing and collecting unauthorized charges from consumers for products or memberships that consumers never requested or consented to receive. It also resolves disputes over alleged refusals to cancel memberships upon consumer request. This is not a good company to be doing business with and shows that you have to be careful these days with everything you do.

Here are some domains known to be run by Elite Excursions or the Trilegiant Corporation

www.nationalcardregistry.com
www.netmarket.com
www.nhpaonline.com
www.ourcompletehome.com
www.pcprotectionplus.co.uk
www.pcprotectionplus.de
www.pcprotectionplus.fr
www.pcsafetyplus.com
www.privacyguard.co.uk
www.privacyguard.com
www.selectidtheftprotection.com
www.shoppersadvantage.com
www.travellersadvantage.co.uk
www.yourdiscountshoppingservice.com
gmac.completehome.com
gmfamily.completehome.com
www.100pour100loisirs.fr
www.53identityalert.com
www.AffinionGroup.com
www.AvisTravelersAdvantage.com
www.CheapTicketsGold.com
www.GreatOptions.com
www.OffDutyTravelersAdvantage.com
www.TravelersAdvantage.com
www.autovantage.com
www.bankofamericaprivacysource.com
www.buyersadvantage.com
www.charteroneprivacyguard.com
www.citizensbankprivacyguard.com
www.cleverclubhouse.com
www.completehome.com
www.coolextras.com
www.creditreportplace.com
www.datafrog.com
www.eliteexcursions.com
www.entertainmentplus.de
www.everydayprivilegesgold.com
www.everydayvaluesclub.com
www.everydayvaluesgold.com
www.evgold.com
www.goodsamidentityprotectionplus.com
www.greatfunonline.com
www.greatfunsite.com
www.healthsaver.com
www.identityforcegold.com
www.identitysecure.com
www.idsecure.com
www.idtheftprotectionbasic.com
www.justformeonline.com
www.leisureforall.com
www.mybuysmart.com
www.mycompletehome.com
www.mycreditkeeper.com
www.mygreatfun.com
www.myidentityprotectionplan.com
www.RCITravelOnline.com
www.idforcegold.com
www.IDPNC.com
www.1800hotline.com
www.FAToolbox.com
www.singleidentity.net
www.PremierTravelforChase.com
www.ServicesInSync.com
www.ProtectYourPurchase.com
www.BackstagePassVIPClub.com
www.Gamecrazymvpplus.com
www.DealOrNoDealClub.com
www.everydaycookingathome.com
www.mymembersmarketplace.com
www.destinationguard.com

If you are alive you have heard the catchy jingle from FreeCreditReport.com in fact my daughter has it for a ring tone on her iPhone, its catchy but there is more behind it than you think. The FTC has received many reports from consumers who thought they where ordering the free annual credit report mandated by law, turns out they where getting unwanted services and had agreed to pay hidden fees.

The Times is reporting that nine million people are spending a total of $650-700 million dollars a year on these services. In the last 5 years Experian has paid $1.25 million dollars to settle charges with the FTC, read my post FTC Fail and you will see once again they pay the fees and keep moving.

If you want your credit report then go to AnnualCreditReport.com and get it free with no hidden charges or fees. See the video below its great.

World of Warcraft Phishing Attempts

With World of Warcraft having such a large audience phishing attempts abound. Normally I do not see them but today I had first hand chance to see them happen. I promise that people are going and logging in to the point that I bet a couple hundred accounts get taken today.

When you see attempts like this you must take a screen shot and send them to support@blizzard.com. They probably wont be able to do anything about it but at least they know about it.

Whois Record

Domain name: wowblizz-usbattle.net

Registrant Contact:
wangchao
chao wang
86-02146523646 fax: 86-02146523646
sichuanbeilu
Shanghai Shanghai 021000
cn

Administrative Contact:
chao wang
86-02146523646 fax: 86-02146523646
sichuanbeilu
Shanghai Shanghai 021000
cn

Technical Contact:
chao wang
86-02146523646 fax: 86-02146523646
sichuanbeilu
Shanghai Shanghai 021000
cn

Billing Contact:
chao wang
86-02146523646 fax: 86-02146523646
sichuanbeilu
Shanghai Shanghai 021000
cn

DNS:
ns5.cnmsn.net
ns6.cnmsn.net

Created: 2009-09-27
Expires: 2010-09-27

If you know of other phishing attempts in this game lets out them now.

Pacific WebWorks, Inc started as Asphalt Associates back in 1999 and are now a publicly traded company which is another scam in the penny markets. This is one of the stocks I would consider a lifestyle stock as they are selling or diluting stock to support the lifestyle they want. Asphalt Associates was founded in 1987.

According to Yahoo Kenneth W. Bell age 59 is the Chairman, CEO, PAO, and Treasurer. With Christian R. Larsen age 34 being the President and Robert Brett Bell age 33 being the CFO and VP of Finance. Seems like I see two names the same so maybe a father son type business. The salaries these people are bringing home is pretty nice as well you can find them at the Yahoo Finance.

“We reserve the right to transfer your billing to a third party Merchant of Record. This authority will remain in effect until revoked by me.  This agreement will remain in effect each month until cancelled by me. You may cancel at anytime by writing to 230 West 400 South, First Floor Salt Lake City, UT 84101 or calling 1-800-497-4988 (International customers please call 1-866-321-2728).”

Until canceled by me? Should that not be canceled by You? They also claim that charge backs and reversals will be reported to the local authorities for theft of services. Thats a joke.

The real scary part to me is that all credit card processing is done by a company called IntelliPay, Inc. IntelliPay is a company of PacificWeb Works and they are hawking merchant accounts. This means that the same people running these scams may already have your credit card information. There are reports of people being charged without ever ordering but that can not be verified. I recommend checking all SSL certificates when you are placing an order for anyone and if its owned by IntelliPay more than likely you are about to have problems. Read all terms and conditions for every single site you pay on.

If you Google the 800 numbers you will find many people upset because of these scams and all of them are Pacific WebWorks . Further searches says they are also doing a “Yahoo Success Center” and are pushing a lot of these ads through affiliate networks with high payouts which means people who are doing affiliate marketing who do not pay attention to whats really going on are pushing even more people with the hopes of high conversion rates. This one also claims the same type information. We will charge you a buck or two for a few days than hit you hard with a $60 dollar monthly fee. You can find more about them using affiliate marketing and what they will hit you with here.
Now many people have been hit with this and I recommend anyone who has had this happen contact

Mark Shurtleff
uag@utah.gov
Office of the Attorney General
Utah State Capitol Complex
350 North State Street Suite 230
SLC UT 84114-2320

and let him know what has gone on and lets try to put an end to this fraud. I also recommend immediately canceling your credit card and getting a new number issued to you. This the first in a series of posts and if you have more information please post a comment with any information you have.

Anthony Morrison tells you

“Forget everything you have ever been told and any of your preconceived ideas about making money online. Whether you have money, are completely broke and in debt, or you’re someone in between, this is the book that will show you how you can make money online using the simple techniques Anthony has been using for years. If you want a blueprint to financial success in today’s economy, you have the perfect book in your hand.”

Adrian Twitter

One of the first testimonials is from “Adrian M” talking about how much he has made from “Advertising Profits from Home” and that its changed his life. What is not told is that Adrian M is actually Adrian Morrison his brother. Who also gets his money from the conferences and speaking engagements.  You can find Adrian Morrison on twitter at http://twitter.com/AdrianMX24 you can see a screenshot of this twitter from a time ago.

This infomercial says he will also build you a website within 48 hours that will let you start making money. This website will cost you 40 dollars a month and you have to drive the traffic yourself. If you really want to get into affiliate marketing than why not just go find affiliates yourself do it. You do not need someone to sell you a concept and how to do it when its not that hard.  Anthony is making money off you without breaking a sweat. Think about it he is going to get 40 dollars residual income from you.

Anthony Morrison also has the “Hidden Millionaires”  which seems to be about buying ads for keywords and placing ads from your affiliate network in order to become profitable.  Here is some more information from someone who went to the conference. These are the conferences that “Adrian M” is making money on.

“I just attended the Hidden Millionaires seminar today. I believe that it is a scam. I spent 90 minutes listening to the front guy trying to sell a concept that seemed to make sense until he said that for the bargain price of 3995.00, Anthony would teach me how to buy ad words on search engines to drive people to a credit card site that would pay me big bucks for applications and approvals. I do not believe that this business is legitimate. If it were, Anthony would not need to charge 3995.00 “today”. Anthony also makes money off of you on an ongoing basis based on your success. If this system is so good at generating income for it’s signees, then Anthony would not need to charge 3995.00 to begin with. There is no record of this business being recorded. The only business associated with Anthony is an auto repair/parts business.” (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080225100324AA9Yb2f)

If you really want to read more about it you can always do so here which “MrMorrison” replys to a few comments which really what millionaire would stop to post this type of garbage. I have yet to see Bill or Steve (Microsoft/Apple) post information correcting supposed misinformation. (http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20611890-Scam-Anthony-MorrisonHidden-Millionaires-Infomercial)

This is the begining of a long line of posts. I will be digging more and more information up as I can. Including the supposed relationship between Donald Barrett and Mr Morrison. I will be looking for more information and keeping you up to date.

Please feel free to post your comments and concerns about this and other posts on Scam Times

UPDATE: We now have a product worth promoting, check out Niche Blitzkrieg as it will show you everything you need to know about setting up niche websites to make a constant income stream, To good to be true? I have been using it now for a while check out the review of Niche Blitzkrieg