Class Action Blog : Consumer Fraud, Consumer Protection, Securities and Antitrust Lawyer & Attorney : Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz

As the computer becomes more ubiquitous in everyday life, consumers are increasingly requested to conduct their personal and professional business on the Internet. When consumers use their computers at home or at work, they reasonably expect that their Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) is not spying on them, cataloging their personal buying or web surfing habits, or selling that information to third-party marketers. Unfortunately, for many Americans, those expectations may have been frustrated in 2007 and 2008.

In fact, many ISPs contracted with a company called NebuAd during that time period. NebuAd was a marketing company that used sophisticated behavioral analysis that enabled ISPs to analyze their customer's Internet usage to provide targeted advertisements. Such actions are a severe violation of consumers’ privacy and may be a violation of state and federal laws.

The ISPs that apparently contracted with NebuAd are:

If you or someone you know is concerned about online privacy and used one of these ISPs in 2007 or 2008, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

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Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz P.C. is currently investigating a potential class action against the websites Classmates.com and Memory Lane for charging unauthorized fees to customers.  Many consumers claim to have been victimized by this scam.

Getting in touch with old friends is fun and the Internet has made reconnecting easier than ever.  Unfortunately, some companies have been taking advantage of people who are just trying to reconnect with their past.  Several customers have reported that the websites Classmates.com and Memory Lane have charged them for unauthorized fees.  These customers report that they agreed to pay a certain amount of money, and then found that their credit cards were charged for a higher amount.

If you gave money to Classmates.com and Memory Lane or a similar website and were then treated unfairly, you may have been a victim of fraud.  Please contact us immediately to discuss your legal options.

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Credit scores play a big role in today's economy.  Your credit rating determines the interest rate your will pay on loans and it can even determine whether you can buy a house or a car.  It's a very good idea to closely monitor your credit rating and to promptly deal with any credit-related issues.

However, many unscrupulous companies lure people to their website by offering "free" credit reports, when, in fact, the companies charge consumers a monthly fee.  Credit reports that come with a monthly fee are not "free".  The companies that falsely advertise "free" credit reports usually force consumers to unwittingly agree to arbitration clauses.  These arbitration clauses can limit a consumers' rights to take legal action.  The arbitration clauses are usually hidden in website fine print and many people don't know what they are signing., so be very careful before you sign up to receive yourcredit report.

Don't be fooled by these scams.  If you truly want a free credit report, go to:  https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/requestformfinal.pdf and download the request form.  Print and complete the form, then mail the completed form to:   Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA  30348-5281.  Alternatively, you can call 1-877-322-8228 to request a free credit report.  Truly free credit reports take two to three weeks for delivery.

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Meiselman, Denela, Packman, Carton & Eberz P.C. is currently investigating a potential class action against LawCrossing.com, Employmentcrossing.com, AccountingCrossing.com, and other job-hunting websites for misleading consumers by getting people to sign up for memberships that are billed monthly and then making cancellation very difficult.  Many consumers have complained about this "scam".

In these difficult economic times, many people are looking for jobs.  Unfortunately, some websites promise that they can help and then do not deliver.  Worse, these companies charge high monthly fees and make it virtually impossible to cancel, so that people get charged for the website long after they have stopped using it.  LawCrossing.com and related websites are very easy to join -- just click the prominently placed link and give your credit card.  However, cancellation is difficult.  These sites only let you cancel via a phone number, which is very difficult to find.  Some consumers have reported that, even when they call the number, they cannot reach a person or their attempts to cancel are unsuccessful.  Because many people using these websites are unemployed, the victims of this scam are losing their hard-earned money at a time when they can least afford to be ripped off.

If you gave money to LawCrossing.com or a similar job-hunting website and were then treated unfairly, you may have been a victim of fraud.  Please contact us immediately to discuss your legal options.

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The internet seemingly provides a more convenient way to purchase almost anything, including a used car. Used cars are legitimately sold on eBay, Craigslist and countless other internet sites. But, not surprisingly, not all online car sellers and websites are legitimate. Online car shoppers are routinely falling prey to fraudulent vehicle sales and false claims of vehicle protection programs.

One such scam involves sellers advertising used cars for sale on the internet that they do not own. These cars are often advertised for prices below book value with an explanation as to why the seller needs to get sell the car fast (e.g. military deployment or relocation). The sellers then refuse to meet interested buyers in person or allow inspection of the vehicle, sometimes claiming that they have already moved or that the vehicle is in a shipping yard. In an attempt to make the transaction seem more legitimate, the buyers are told to make payment to a third-party agent by wire transfer. Once the payment is made, the seller pockets the payment and never delivers the car. 

These scams often include reference to legitimate companies and programs like eBay Motors’ Vehicle Protection Plan, which provides protection for cars purchased through eBay up to $50,000 for certain losses incurred as a result of certain types of fraud. If an online auto seller, other than eBay, promises eBay vehicle protection plan coverage, it’s a sure sign of a scam. These fraudulent sellers even have gone so far as to add a live chat feature where they answer victims’ questions and assure them that the deals are safe and covered by liability insurance up to $50,000.

While the likelihood of a scam may be evident to many, innocent purchasers are nevertheless falling victim to these false promises. Buyers should beware of sellers who refuse to meet in person or to allow inspection of the vehicle, transactions where the seller and vehicle are in different locations, and vehicles that are advertised for sale at prices well-below their book value. 

If you or someone you know has fallen victim to this type of scam, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

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All of our loyal readers know that MDPCE is diligently prosecuting claims against Vertrue and Adaptive Marketing for their unfair and deceptive post-transactional marketing practices (just one of the ways unscrupulous marketers “cram” unwanted services onto unsuspecting consumers). As alleged in various filings in federal district courts in several states, Vertrue and Adaptive’s scheme, known as post-transactional marketing, works by deceiving consumers into entering an email address to claim what appears to be a simple reward for filling out a consumer survey or an offer of cash back as a “thank you” for an otherwise legitimate Internet purchase. Only in out of the way fine print do they disclose that entering an email address will result in the transfer to Vertrue of a consumer’s credit card information, which was provided in connection with a completely separate and unrelated purchase with a different Internet retailer.

Unfortunately, Vertrue and Adaptive are not the only solicitors consumers need to watch out for. Another prominent practice that appears to be unfair and deceptive involves unauthorized charges to consumers’ credit cards, or even unauthorized debits from their checking accounts, for “online discount” programs that go under various names (below) but appear to be the same company:

Online Discount Membership
Liberty Discount Club
Freedom Subscription
Freedom Royal
Uniguard

The scam seems to work a few different ways. Some consumers, who try to cancel, report that their credit card companies were told that they were “sold” the programs on the telephone, usually in conjunction with an intentional purchase. For example, a consumer might be offered a credit card, or a credit line increase or upgrade on an existing card, and at the end of the call, a new telemarketer will come on the line offering a “free reward.” However, nothing is free, and in this case, consumers are surreptitiously enrolled in the discount program that comes with recurring, and expensive, monthly fees. The scam can also take the form of a “free trial” offered in the mail or on the Internet that can be cancelled at any time, but the cancellation information comes disguised as junk mail that is usually thrown out. And of course, many companies seem to be following Adaptive’s lead in using deceptive Internet marketing to trick consumers into enrolling in worthless programs.

If you or anyone you know has been the victim of unauthorized credit card or checking account charges for “discount programs,” please contact us to discuss your legal options. 

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Here at MDPCE, we have written a number of times about the need to be careful to catch unauthorized charges that may appear on consumers’ credit card and checking account statements. Unfortunately, the number of unfair and deceptive “cramming” schemes about which consumers must be wary are legion. One such scheme appears to be run by Stonebridge Benefit Services, Inc., headquartered in Plano, Texas. Stonebridge appears to use at least two tactics to deceive consumers into paying its unauthorized monthly charges for bogus membership programs. The first involves post-transactional marketing, whereby Stonebridge entices consumers with “free gift” or “cash back” offers that appear to be a reward for an otherwise legitimate Internet transaction with another company. Stonebridge also appears to be using deceptive telemarketing, tricking consumers who are making a legitimate purchase over the phone into signing up for “free” trial memberships whose unfair terms are not adequately disclosed.

Stonebridge’s memberships claim to offer savings on consumer goods, health products, and entertainment. Stonebridge’s membership clubs include:

Savings2Go
LeisurePlus/Select
PlanPlus/Select
Savings Solution
BackPorch Home and Garden
Everyday Bargains
Experts-on-Call
Fun Family Rewards/Select
Home & Auto Protection Plan
MotorPlus
Perfect Home Rewards/Select
Pet Club

If you or someone you know has been charged for these or other monthly membership programs without consent or authorization, please contact us to discuss your legal options. 

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Shopping for travel on the Internet has become the norm. It offers consumers a direct, convenient and efficient way to comparison shop for the most desirable travel options at the best price for airfare, hotel rates and the like. Travelocity is a popular online travel agency. Recent reports suggest that after completing a travel purchased on Travelocity, consumers may have unwittingly become a paid member of the discount club Savings Ace.

Savings Ace, is one of Adaptive Marketing LLC’s stable of discount membership programs to which Travelocity consumers are unknowingly directed as or just after they complete a transaction. For instance, while making flight reservations, Travelocity customers are invited to click on a "pop up" offering a $20 rebate, which appears to be a nice way for them to recoup the $20 travel booking fee charged by Travelocity. Not so. This is actually a confusing link to Savings Ace, and a pathway for Savings Ace to poach the consumer’s credit card information from Travelocity and begin charging a $19.95 monthly membership fee to the same card account. Scores of consumers have reported being charged multiple $19.95 monthly charges by Savings Ace on their credit cards when they have no knowledge of having enrolled or of what Savings Ace is or why they would want it at that price or at any price. Logically, one would have to make significant use of the Savings Ace coupon program in order to save enough to offset its $19.95 monthly fee. Thus, ironically Savings Ace becomes a very expensive way to possibly save a few dollars. Moreover, Adaptive Marketing, of which Savings Ace is a part, is notoriously good at making it so difficult to get a refund of unwanted membership fees that most people just give up.

Besides the post-transaction enrollment via Travelocity, other primary websites such as the people finder website, My Life, the vitamin discounter, Vitacost.com, and the clothing store site, Chadwicks.com, offer a link to a free, seven-day, trial membership to Savings Ace. Consumers of these sites reported knowingly agreeing to a free trial of the Savings Ace discount and rewards program, but because they did not read the very finest print, they were unaware that unless they cancelled the trial within the seven-day period they would be charged $19.95 to the credit card used on the primary website, without ever directly authorizing Savings Ace to charge them anything.

First, it is critical that Internet consumers carefully check their credit card statements monthly to insure that these parasitic, post-transaction marketeers are not adding unwanted sums to their debt.

Second, if you believe you have a been enrolled in the Savings Ace online membership program without your consent and that based on deception, you have been charged unwanted enrollment and monthly fees for which you did not try or could not get a refund, please contact Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz P.C. to discuss your legal rights.

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Just as consumers’ use of the Internet for recreational purposes has increased, so has the proliferation of on-line scams targeting consumers and their credit cards. Among these scammers is the Internet auction site Bidrack.

Bidrack touts itself as “the fun way to save”. According to its site, a consumer must register, and then buy a package of “bids”, which range in price from $27 to $150. Once the consumer has used his credit card to buy a bid package, he may submit bids on products ranging from Kindles and Wii consoles to Louis Vuitton handbags through the on-line auction. If his is the last bid entered on a product, he “wins” that product for only the price of the bid. Seems like fun, until the credit card bill arrives that is.

Numerous customers have reported complaints against Bidrack for unauthorized credit card charges and for failing to deliver the merchandise the consumer allegedly “won.”

If you have registered with Bidrack and noticedunauthorized charges on your credit card, or failed to receive merchandise that you “won,” please contact us to discuss your legal rights.

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The Internet continues to grow as an important commercial channel for American consumers. More than half of American adults have either made an online purchase or travel reservation, and e-commerce revenue in the United States accounted for more than $165 billion in 2010. The rapid growth of e-commerce has been immensely valuable to consumers, offering easy access to a wide variety of goods and services, and it has led to valuable business innovations. The Internet offers significant consumer efficiencies; where a shopping trip to a brick and mortar store might take hours and entail substantial travel expenses, consumers can make quick and easy online purchases from the comforts of their own homes.

However, the Internet as a safe and secure channel of commerce is under siege by marketers such as United Marketing Group, who engage in what is known as “post-transaction marketing.” This scheme often begins with an offer of “free” rewards or “cash back” made to consumers after they have completed a transaction with a separate company. At the conclusion of that initial transaction (signified by a consumer’s submission of a credit or debit card number), United Marketing Group transfers the consumer to its own web page (which often includes logos and other cues from the original page that likely confuse consumers into thinking they are still dealing with the original company). United Marketing Group’s web page confuses consumers into thinking that they are merely being offered a free reward as a “thank you” for the prior transaction, and that entering an email address is only for the purpose of receiving that reward. Only in the small, out of the way print does United Marketing Group disclose that doing so will result in enrollment in membership programs with monthly charges. United Marketing Group does not in most instances ask consumers to enter a credit card number for enrolling in membership programs, because that would alert reasonable consumers that they are entering into a separate transaction (which they would most likely decline).

Unfortunately, tens of thousands of consumers have been unknowingly enrolled in United Marketing Group’s membership programs, and Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz, P.C. is investigating a potential consumer class action on behalf of such consumers. United Marketing Group’s membership programs include, among others:

·         Simply Mine

·         Buyer’s Edge

·         Dental Protector

·         ESPN The Magazine Club

·         Field & Stream Club

·         Hi-Tech Auto Hotline

·         Money Ahead Now

·         MyAdvisor

·        OneCall Credit Card Security Plan

·         Perfect Home

·         Prescription Savings Plan

·         Prevention Healthy Rewards

·         TechXperts for Consumer

·         Travel & Entertainment

If you or someone you know has been enrolled in one of these programs, or any other online membership program, without consent or authorization, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

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In 1996 the United States Congress passed, and President Clinton approved, the Internet Tax Freedom Act. This federal law bars and prohibits state and local governments from imposing fees and taxes on Internet access during the period between November 1, 2003 and November 1, 2014. The law does not prohibit state or local governments from imposing taxes on property purchased over the Internet, but instead prohibits state and local governments from imposing taxes on gaining access to the Internet. It prohibits taxes on Internet access regardless of whether the taxes are imposed on a provider of the Internet access or a buyer of the Internet access. Simply stated, it prohibits state and local governments from taxing a service that enables users to connect to the Internet in order to access content, information, or other services offered over the Internet.

Although the law as it is written applies to state and local governments, some Internet providers have been accused of adding Internet access fees and taxes to their customers’ bills. For example, a federal court in Illinois recently approved a class-action settlement in a case against AT&T Mobility, in which its customers allege that the company violated the Internet Tax Freedom Act by charging the customers for taxes, fees and surcharges on Internet access for certain services, including smart-phone data features, iPhone data plans, and personal Blackberry plans. As another example, Sirius XM radio was recently sued in federal court in California by a customer who alleges that the company violated the Internet Tax Freedom Act when it charged him an extra fee when he purchased Internet radio services, alleging that the additional fee charged was an unlawful tax on his access to the Internet.

Readers may have heard of the process of cramming, which is the practice by which additional charges are crammed onto consumers bills. Many bills that people get, particularly from telecommunications companies, are difficult to understand, which makes it easy for big companies to cram the bills with unwarranted charges. People should carefully check their bills to make sure that all charges are valid, and should be aware of the fact that they cannot be charged taxes or other fees on their access to the Internet, because of the federal law which prohibits taxes on Internet access.

If you or someone you know has been charged taxes on your access to the Internet, please contact us so that we may discuss your legal options.

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We have written previously about companies, particularly on-line companies, that automatically renew persons’ subscriptions. It appears that the website www.classmates.com has a tremendous amount of consumer dissatisfaction with the way that it automatically renews memberships.

For those who do not know, www.classmates.com, which is now known as Memory Lane, allows members to reunite with people from their past. It seems as if many people were enticed to enroll in the membership program with an introductory offer of $9.99 for a year long membership, not knowing that at the end of that first year, the company would automatically renew the membership for another year at the new price of $39.00. It appears to be the case that many people who signed up for www.classmates.com were dissatisfied with the service and had no intention of renewing it, and were very surprised, even angered, when their bank account or credit card was charged $39 for another membership year.

The complaints that we have heard routinely claim that the members were provided with absolutely no notice that www.classmates.com was going to renew their membership for another year. People who complain are generally told that the company does not issue refunds, and are unable to get their money back even though they are no longer using the www.classmates.com service.

The policy of automatically renewing consumer subscriptions without providing any notice to the consumer may be illegal. Many states have laws that require a company to provide notice to the consumer that his or her membership or subscription is being renewed. These states include Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin. Although the laws in these states vary somewhat, generally they require that a company remind a consumer that it will be automatically renewing a membership, so that the consumer has the opportunity to cancel before another term of the membership or subscription starts. Thus, even though many companies like www.classmates.com have some language in their terms and conditions of service that state that unless the consumer takes steps to remove himself from the automatic renewal program or cancel, the consumer’s membership will automatically be renewed, that does not relieve the company of the requirement that some states have that a reminder notice of the automatic renewal be provided to the consumer.

If you, or someone you know, has been automatically renewed for a membership of www.classmates.com and would like to discuss your legal rights, please contact us.

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We have recently reported on a number of questionable practices in which credit card companies are engaging to maintain their profits in the wake of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009.  Among these practices is the foreign transaction fee, which credit cards may assess on almost any purchase relating to a foreign entity.

While foreign transaction fees were historically charged on purchases made in foreign currencies, and thus consumers may be cognizant of the potential for such a charge, for example, when using a credit card in a foreign country while traveling, consumers are rarely advised that such a charge may result from a purchase made from the comfort of their own homes.

In fact, Internet purchases frequently result in such charges, even for purchases made in U.S. dollars.  Consumers may be especially at risk for such charges through on-line purchases because the location of the selling company is often undisclosed.  Moreover, credit card companies regularly fail to adequately disclose the nature and scope of the potential fees, which may be as high as 3% of the total transaction price.

Consumers may protect themselves from such fees by:

• Ensuring that all Internet purchases are made through companies located in the United States or offering a U.S.-based version of their websites;
• Carefully monitoring their monthly credit card statements; and
• If foreign transaction fees are assessed, contacting their credit card companies to challenge the fees.

If you are a credit card consumer who has incurred charges as a result of these or other improper practices, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

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Many popular Facebook applications transmit identifying information to advertising and Internet-tracking companies in breach of users' privacy rights.  The issue affects millions of Facebook users, even those who have their privacy settings set as strictly as possible.

An investigation conducted by the Wall Street Journal has found that companies receiving the private information build detailed databases based on people's personal information in order to track them online.  As of now, it remains unclear how long these breaches have been occurring.

The most popular Facebook applications are the very culprits that have been accused of releasing private information to outside companies.  These applications include, among others, FarmVille, Texas HoldEm, MafiaWars, and FrontierVille. All of these applications have been transmitting private information to corporations, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The information that is being taken includes the user's "Facebook ID," a unique number given to each Facebook account.  The ID number allows an account to be looked up without any knowledge of the user's name. The applications identified by the Wall Street Journal were sending ID numbers to at least 25 advertising and data firms.  Worse, the companies have not only been taking information regarding the user, but the user's Facebook "friends" as well.

Those who support the online trafficking (mainly the companies who do it) claim that the trafficking has no ill effects because it is completely anonymous.  However, according to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook expressly prohibits application software developers from transmitting information about users, including their ID numbers.  The rule provides that even if a user agrees to have his or her information transmitted, the application is unequivocally prohibited from sending any personal information to any company.

Questions abound whether Facebook knew of this infringement and simply believed itself protected because its "rule" was in place and the breaches were committed by a third party.

If you incurred damages as a result of the alleged privacy infringement on Facebook, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

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Class action lawsuits against domain name auction site SnapNames.com have been filed over the past few weeks after the company announced that a former employee was bidding against potential customers in domain name auctions.  SnapNames -- which resells expired domain names and runs hundreds of auctions a day -- calls itself the largest resale marketplace for domain names.  The class actions filed against it include persons and/or businesses that participated in SnapNames.com's online auctions.  The lawsuits allege that a former vice president at SnapNames.com secretly bid on tens of thousands of domain name auctions over the past four years, leading to falsely inflated prices.

SnapNames.com, a subsidiary of Oversee.net, sent out notices last month that it had discovered an employee bidding on domain name auctions, and it is alleged that the employee participated in over 50,000 auctions.  In its notice, SnapNames said the shill bidding affected about 5 percent of all its auctions since 2005, with most of the activity happening between 2005 and 2007.  Some auctions in 2008 and 2009 were also affected, it said.  The former employee won the auction in less than 1 percent of the cases, but was allegedly able to drive up the purchase price of the domain names by millions of dollars.   Indeed, as a result of the internal employee bidding, the class action lawsuits allege the prices to purchase domain names were falsely inflated, leading to higher costs to buyers and greater profits for SnapNames.

If you or someone you know participated in an auction on SnapNames.com, please contact us immediately to discuss your legal options.

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A prevalent practice in the marketplace today is the use of the "FREE Trial" method to sell products.  Although this practice may have a legitimate purpose – to allow a potential customer to preview a product at no charge with the hope they will like it enough to buy it – all too often there are undisclosed strings attached to the so-called “free” offer.

For example, numerous consumer complaints have been made against GNS (now Nutra Pills Inc.), a company that sells a variety of nutritional and weight loss products online.  GNS offers consumers a "free trial" of a product and tells them they need only pay a shipping charge.  What GNS does not allegedly tell consumers is that the "free trial" only lasts for a few weeks and that they are automatically billed for the product.   In addition to billing after the trial period is over, GNS also enrolls consumers in an “Auto Ship” program where they are shipped and billed for a new supply of the product every month.  GNS has been subject to more than 1,000 complaints to the Denver/Boulder Better Business Bureau which has earned GNS an “F” rating from the bureau.

One consumer recently complained about GNS’s practices when she signed up for a so-called “free trial” of Acai Berry Edge, a weight loss product.  She was advised that all she needed to do was, “invest $3.97 s&h today then $39.95 per bottle at day 21 only if you are satisfied.”  The consumer was to receive her order in 7 to 10 business days but 17 days later it had still not arrived.  When she tried to cancel her order, GNS refused.  Instead, the consumer was told that she would need to return the product before a cancellation could be made.  Even after explaining that she had never received the product, GNS advised her that they would need to reship the product to her.  Once the consumer received the product she was trying to cancel, she would have to pay to ship it back.  Only then could the order be cancelled.

If you believe that you have been a victim of a "free" trial scam, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

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Many of us use popular websites such as eBay and Craigslist to buy and sell merchandise.  Yet even experienced sellers are being victimized by money order scams.  The way it works is that a buyer (usually from outside the county) agrees to purchase your merchandise, then sends you a money order for an amount in excess of the agreed upon price.  The seller is then told that a mistake has been made and the money order received by the seller was intended for a different purchase.  The seller is asked to deposit the money order, deduct the agreed upon price, then refund the balance to the buyer via Western Union.

While it sounds innocent enough, in reality the money order was a counterfeit.  Yet because the copied paper looks so realistic, the scam is not uncovered until the fake money order is submitted to the “Issuer” bank for collection.  By that time, the money you sent via Western Union, your merchandise, and the scammer are long gone.  Because the ultimate responsibility to know where checks and money orders are coming from rests with the consumer, one needs to be especially careful.

To avoid such scams, make sure you never send money to anyone you can’t identify.  Even if a refund is indicated, be sure the buyer’s funds clear first before transferring any money in return.  Also, beware of emails pretending to be from a known source, asking you to enter or confirm personal information.

If you have been a victim a fake check scam, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

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