I scoff at people who send money away to those Nigerian scam organisations and who send money away to collect bogus lottery wins but today I just threw away about $200 signing up to Swipe Auctions (www.swipeauctions.com). I was in a rush and careless. I have been getting a lot of unsolicited e-mails from this site tempting me with very cheap new goods sold on auction (i-pads for $12 etc.). I checked it out today and saw that it is a speedy auction site kind of like Trade Me. I put all of my details in to join as you do with Trade Me so that I could check out the auction deals as a member. I assumed that I would only pay anything if I actually bid for something, how wrong I was. As soon as I had confirmed my credit card number a message of 'confirmed sale' came up. What the fuck? It seems that by joining there was an automatic charge of USD151 (about NZ $200) to 'buy' bids - 300 to be precise meaning that if I bid for an item every time I click the bid button counts down that number. Now normally when you buy something via internet with a credit card there is the amount you are paying right next to where you put the credit card details. Not on this site. The commitment to USD151 is in a totally different panel (amongst dozens of other busy, flashing panels. What a fuckwit! Once I realised this I sought to do a reversal. Surprise surprise. This cannot be done on-line. You have to download a claim form and post it in to start the long convoluted process. I can kiss goodbye to that money I think. What worries me is that I'm not convinced that this is not the total charge. It might be a monthly;y fee but the site is so bloody complicated. If you are tempted by this site just remind yourself of how bloody stupid I was and keep away from it.
6 comments:
I (probably Sue really) would get in touch my credit card. They probably have an 0800 number and tell them what is happening.
No, you're not bloody stupid, see the website
http://bloggerboon.com/2010/06/23/how-swipe-bids-scam-works/
and especially this one, which seems to show a method to get your money back quickly
http://nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100917212213AA5EnSj
Swipe seems to be set up to grab your money, and it may well have a deliberate fraudulent intent.
Actually having seen the swipe website, it really looks dodgy, so maybe you were right the first time.:=)
Sorry to hear about this, old friend.
Thanks TSB, most helpful. Normally I check out these bloody things properly by doing a google search but I've been a bit unwell (swine flu?) and in my weakened state did a stupid thing. I've been in touch with the FBI (a first).
Thanks Richard. Hope things are good with you ( and you've washed those sheets and towels).
Thanks Second. I've contacted the credit card company.
How can I be so bloody stupid? (OK, old age it is)
At the end of the day it's only money. A trival compared to how much you pay on GST , rates, petrol, ciggys , beer...
Yes, second's right (for once), you could have done something really bloody stupid, like forgetting your partner's Anniversary or Birthday.
Much worse, the effects would last a lot longer.
Ha Ha Ha....the confirming word is "foolo"
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