Credit Card Cramming

Consumer Alert: Watch Out for Credit Card Cramming

"Cramming" is the process of billing customers for unauthorized purchases. This problem has been widely reported with regard to charges included on local telephone bills from third-party vendors, but reports are now occurring that this is happening with credit cards such as Visa and MasterCard.

There are at least two scenarios reported with regard to credit card cramming:

The credit card was charged, even though the consumer never entered into a transaction with the specific merchant.
The credit card was charged after a consumer attempted to terminate subscription to a service including a "free trial with negative option", which specifies that the consumer will be charged following the trial period if the service is not canceled.

Although this article refers to "credit card" cramming, the account to which these charges are made could just as easiliy be a debit card, or possibly even a checking account.

Related links:

Random Credit Card/Check Card Fraud with Small Charges
This site is actively soliciting information from consumers encountering problems with credit card cramming. It provides detailed information on merchants that have been identified and describes how merchants are getting credit card numbers of people who have never used the services involved.

Pay Site Contact Information
Part of the "Jane's Guide to Sex" site, this area identifies sex-oriented web sites that may appear on your credit card statement.

Consumer Tips
This is also from Jane's Guide, and it provides a variety of absolutely wonderful pages explaining how some (but not all) of the porn sites operate. If you have signed up for a porn site and want to cancel, or if there's any possibility that you would ever sign up for one of these services, be sure you fully explore this area.

Porn Patrons Billed, Unfulfilled (Wired, 5/15/1998)
This article describes difficulties have attempting to cancel port services offered by Xpics.

Consumer Experience with Netfill
One consumer's series of correspondence trying to get charges from Netfill canceled.

Netfill Terms & Conditions
If you read this and you're still considering a membership, your problems probably go beyond credit card fraud.

Xpics Adult Sites Registration
This page tells you how to register, and the link you must use to cancel the service. As of 12/20/1998, this link wasn't working, so it would appear that once you sign up for this service, it's impossible to cancel.

Xpics Member Support
This page gives you some alternative ways to cancel your Xpics (or presumably other PCS-billed services) membership, including a phone call to 800-695-3494. If you call that number outside of office hours (7 a.m.- 6 p.m. PT Monday-Friday), you'll be told that you can use the automated cancellation service by pressing 2. But do this, and you'll hear "You have selected an invalid option." These people seem to have all their bases covered!

Xpics Cancellation Page
Maybe this page works, maybe not.

XBC "Bank Support Hotline" Page
This is intended to be used by banks to help resolve disputed credit card charges from XBC. Note the statement There is a 3 month minimum term for memberships. Then examinate the question about the "Free" trial month on the XBC FAQ, and you'll realize that the "free" month requires you to pay for a 3-month membership.

Comments to mantel@hotmail.com

Updated March 9, 1999