Steve
Lake Worth,#2UPDATE Employee
Fri, December 08, 2006
Due to the anonymous nature and limited amount of information provided in this complaint, we are unable to locate an account matching the details provided by Maggie. From the amounts that Maggie said she was charged, it would appear that someone using Maggie's information created a premium VIP membership on the iFriends website. While the standard iFriends membership is free, some premium services are fee-based. Any fees for premium use are always clearly and conspicuously disclosed in advance. No user could incur charges as specified in Maggie's complaint without advance disclosure of such charges and numerous multiple click-throughs by the customer to indicate his or her acknowledgement and affirmative consent to such charges. We have encountered two distinct forms of internet credit card fraud in some internet transactions that we have processed: 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. Judging by Maggie's post, we are unable to determine whether this is a case of true identity theft and credit card fraud or perhaps simply a case of a joint cardholder failing to recall a visit to our web site. If she has not already done so, we encourage Maggie to contact our office so that we can cancel the account that may have been established, refund any charges incurred, block any further charges from being incurred with our service, and investigate the circumstances surrounding the creation of this account. Our Customer Service Department can be reached 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week at 1-800-243-9726. We sincerely regret any misimpression that Maggie may have about our services and our company. Our company has a spotless 11-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." 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.