My friend got scammed, I need your help.

[BigToque]

The situation:

My friends daughter (who is 10), recieved an email from this place called "Grab.com". Inside this email was an advertisment for Grab.com Daily Games, where you pick 6 numbers and if you get the right numbers you supposedly win some all expenses paid skiing trip.

Obviously this is a scam, but her mother didn't catch on until it was too late. She called some long distance number and got suckered into giving her credit card number and got billed for about $550.

What can she do to get this money back? I told her to dispute the charge with the credit card company. She called them but said they couldn't do anything because she gave them authorization to bill her. I told her to keep pressuring the company and raise hell until she got the money back.

Other than that, I'm out of ideas, so I come here for your help.

 

[isekii]

if she gave them authorization.. i dont think there is much that she can do..

just think of it as a 550 dollar lesson learned.. and move on...

 

[Drekce]

She needs to take lessons in not being stupid... other than that, I dont know.

 

[Viper GTS]

Who gave the numbers?

Mother or daughter?

I ask you again, who gave the numbers?



Viper GTS

 

[Phunktion]

This usually just happens to old folks, seniors, but I'm sorry to sound blatent but they're screwed.. there's not much you can do other than to avoid such things in the future..

 

[badluck]

What did she "get" for giving away $550?

I am amazed that people still do this. I have a friend who did this and is a grad med student. I thought she was smarter than this....Anyways, she called her credit card company and explained to them that the description was false and even though she gave authorization (the company taped her giving authorization) she got her $$ back because she did not get what she anticpated purchasing.

 

[TheOmegaCode]

DAMN IT! I wish I could come up with a scam like that!

 

[ikar0s]

So you're saying she knowingly gave the scammers authorization to charge $550 to her account? If yes, what was the product she was paying for. If she doesn't recieve the item, you can dispute.

If no, then she did not give them authorization to charge that amount, and can dispute the bill.

 

[Danlz]

Just dispute the monthly bill. Attach a letter with your reasons that it was a scam. But, the first thing they are going to ask you is to contact the merchant. Quote names and numbers and quote the merchants reply. Be prepared to reissue your letter every month until the merchant's bank gets tired of paying the dispute fee initiated by the credit card company. It might take 6 months to wear them down, don't give up. You don't have to pay the disputed portion of the bill. But, it's your responsibility to read and follow the dispute process.

 

[tcsenter]

Call the Attorney General or public service commission (consumer advocate) in your state and file a fraud complaint. This is probably not the first one they have received. I've seen this before where they claim that the credit card is only for collateral purposes, the same reason you usually need to have a credit card to rent a car even if you're paying cash, but they say NOTHING about charging anything on your card. If she did NOT know her credit card was going to be charged $500 because they didn't tell her, no authorization was made. You can't "authorize" charges you are not informed of.

Once you have a complaint or case number, WRITE the credit card company and inform them of the case, and request that they charge-back the $500. Do not call them. At this point, she needs to do everything in a way that is documented.

 

[dwil]

Did she authorize the $550? If not then it is illegal for them to charge it.

Rarely does anyone give permission to "charge what you want"

 

[Talon]

Notify the police. There are a couple of numbers on this site that you can call.

 

[b0mbrman]

If the daugher's 10, then obviously she can't be held accountable

 

[MustPost]

what about that "Better businness buerue"(stupid french, can't spell it) that you can call.

I wish my parents let me use a credit card for whatever I wanted