Complaint Review: WPI Friends

We are unable to locate an account matching the details related by Kelly. However, the scenario described by her is not one that, in practical fact, could have occurred in connection with any of our web-based services. Our customer service department is a very active 24/7 operation, and Kelly can always reach us directly at 1-800-243-9726. (If charges truly are being made on Kelly's debit or credit card by our company, that phone number is likely to have appeared on her monthly account statements.) It's simply not possible, at any time whatsoever, that a customer representative of our company would not be eager and available to speak to her on the phone.

In addition, we cannot, and will not, bill any credit card unless an authorized cardholder with extensive knowledge of the credit and billing information first registers an account with our service. All charges incurred by any viewer on our service are clearly and conspicuously disclosed in advance -- including use of a prominent icon and multiple clickthroughs in any instance in which a customer will incur charges. No customer could possibly incur thousands in charges on our service without advance disclosure of such charges and numerous multiple click-throughs by the customer to indicate their affirmative consent (and acknowledgment of their consent) to such charges.

Based on the limited information provided by Kelly in her post, we have the impression that she may have been victimzed by internet credit card fraud. We regularly encounter two types of such fraud:

1. True Person Fraud (also known as Friendly Fraud), in which a cardholder falsely denies ordering products and services online, is one of the fastest-growing forms of credit card fraud, according to credit-card industry executives. In this form of fraud, cardholders are perpetrators and merchants are victims.
2. Identity Theft, in which the criminal gains access to sensitive personal information, including credit-card details, and uses that information to defraud cardholders and merchants. In this form of fraud, individual thieves are the perpetrators, and cardholders, merchants, and the parent credit-card associations are collectively victims.

We are unable to determine from Kelly's post whether this is a case of true credit card fraud or simply a case of a family member being embarrassed to discuss the spending of such a large amount of money on the internet. We therefore encourage Kelly or her husband to contact our office so that we can cancel the account established with her credit card, refund the charges incurred, block any further charges from being incurred with our service, and investigate the circumstances surrounding the creation of this account. For privacy reasons, our customer service center is only allowed to discuss credit card account information with an authorized signer of the credit card in question. Our Customer Service Department can be reached 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week at (800) 243-9726.

We sincerely regret any misimpression that Kelly or her husband may have about our services and our company. Our company has a spotless 10-year-record with all of the leading consumer protection agencies, and is well-recognized as an industry leader in the development of model consumer best practices in its internet business segment. Every one of our web services is verified by TRUSTe to be on its sealholder list of "the most trustworthy online businesses" (https://www.truste.org/about/member_list.php). The members of the iFriends online community are very important stakeholders in that service, and we place enormous value on making sure they feel satisfied with our service.

We are unable to locate an account matching the details related by Kelly. However, the scenario described by her is not one that, in practical fact, could have occurred in connection with any of our web-based services. Our customer service department is a very active 24/7 operation, and Kelly can always reach us directly at 1-800-243-9726. (If charges truly are being made on Kelly's debit or credit card by our company, that phone number is likely to have appeared on her monthly account statements.) It's simply not possible, at any time whatsoever, that a customer representative of our company would not be eager and available to speak to her on the phone.

In addition, we cannot, and will not, bill any credit card unless an authorized cardholder with extensive knowledge of the credit and billing information first registers an account with our service. All charges incurred by any viewer on our service are clearly and conspicuously disclosed in advance -- including use of a prominent icon and multiple clickthroughs in any instance in which a customer will incur charges. No customer could possibly incur thousands in charges on our service without advance disclosure of such charges and numerous multiple click-throughs by the customer to indicate their affirmative consent (and acknowledgment of their consent) to such charges.

Based on the limited information provided by Kelly in her post, we have the impression that she may have been victimzed by internet credit card fraud. We regularly encounter two types of such fraud:

1. True Person Fraud (also known as Friendly Fraud), in which a cardholder falsely denies ordering products and services online, is one of the fastest-growing forms of credit card fraud, according to credit-card industry executives. In this form of fraud, cardholders are perpetrators and merchants are victims.
2. Identity Theft, in which the criminal gains access to sensitive personal information, including credit-card details, and uses that information to defraud cardholders and merchants. In this form of fraud, individual thieves are the perpetrators, and cardholders, merchants, and the parent credit-card associations are collectively victims.

We are unable to determine from Kelly's post whether this is a case of true credit card fraud or simply a case of a family member being embarrassed to discuss the spending of such a large amount of money on the internet. We therefore encourage Kelly or her husband to contact our office so that we can cancel the account established with her credit card, refund the charges incurred, block any further charges from being incurred with our service, and investigate the circumstances surrounding the creation of this account. For privacy reasons, our customer service center is only allowed to discuss credit card account information with an authorized signer of the credit card in question. Our Customer Service Department can be reached 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week at (800) 243-9726.

We sincerely regret any misimpression that Kelly or her husband may have about our services and our company. Our company has a spotless 10-year-record with all of the leading consumer protection agencies, and is well-recognized as an industry leader in the development of model consumer best practices in its internet business segment. Every one of our web services is verified by TRUSTe to be on its sealholder list of "the most trustworthy online businesses" (https://www.truste.org/about/member_list.php). The members of the iFriends online community are very important stakeholders in that service, and we place enormous value on making sure they feel satisfied with our service.

We are unable to locate an account matching the details related by Kelly. However, the scenario described by her is not one that, in practical fact, could have occurred in connection with any of our web-based services. Our customer service department is a very active 24/7 operation, and Kelly can always reach us directly at 1-800-243-9726. (If charges truly are being made on Kelly's debit or credit card by our company, that phone number is likely to have appeared on her monthly account statements.) It's simply not possible, at any time whatsoever, that a customer representative of our company would not be eager and available to speak to her on the phone.

In addition, we cannot, and will not, bill any credit card unless an authorized cardholder with extensive knowledge of the credit and billing information first registers an account with our service. All charges incurred by any viewer on our service are clearly and conspicuously disclosed in advance -- including use of a prominent icon and multiple clickthroughs in any instance in which a customer will incur charges. No customer could possibly incur thousands in charges on our service without advance disclosure of such charges and numerous multiple click-throughs by the customer to indicate their affirmative consent (and acknowledgment of their consent) to such charges.

Based on the limited information provided by Kelly in her post, we have the impression that she may have been victimzed by internet credit card fraud. We regularly encounter two types of such fraud:

1. True Person Fraud (also known as Friendly Fraud), in which a cardholder falsely denies ordering products and services online, is one of the fastest-growing forms of credit card fraud, according to credit-card industry executives. In this form of fraud, cardholders are perpetrators and merchants are victims.
2. Identity Theft, in which the criminal gains access to sensitive personal information, including credit-card details, and uses that information to defraud cardholders and merchants. In this form of fraud, individual thieves are the perpetrators, and cardholders, merchants, and the parent credit-card associations are collectively victims.

We are unable to determine from Kelly's post whether this is a case of true credit card fraud or simply a case of a family member being embarrassed to discuss the spending of such a large amount of money on the internet. We therefore encourage Kelly or her husband to contact our office so that we can cancel the account established with her credit card, refund the charges incurred, block any further charges from being incurred with our service, and investigate the circumstances surrounding the creation of this account. For privacy reasons, our customer service center is only allowed to discuss credit card account information with an authorized signer of the credit card in question. Our Customer Service Department can be reached 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week at (800) 243-9726.

We sincerely regret any misimpression that Kelly or her husband may have about our services and our company. Our company has a spotless 10-year-record with all of the leading consumer protection agencies, and is well-recognized as an industry leader in the development of model consumer best practices in its internet business segment. Every one of our web services is verified by TRUSTe to be on its sealholder list of "the most trustworthy online businesses" (https://www.truste.org/about/member_list.php). The members of the iFriends online community are very important stakeholders in that service, and we place enormous value on making sure they feel satisfied with our service.