Brazen Credit Card Scam Uncovered

Earlier this month charges were filed against four Pennsylvania men who have been running a brazen credit card scam for the past three years. Their targets were unsuspecting consumers who had recently applied for short term pay day loans. Those who could least afford to lose money were found to be the easiest targets because of their stressful financial situations.

The scam entailed telemarketer style calls from the company, offering consumers an interest free "Platinum Trust Card" or "Express Platinum Card" for an upfront fee of $89. With an egregious $19-per-month fee, customers were told they could enjoy a credit line of $10,000. For those down on their luck, this offer appeared too good to pass up. With the promise of a real credit card, and the ability to pay off debt or be able to afford to live more comfortably day to day, many customers unsuspectingly jumped on the deal.

Essentially the credit cards were junk, only able to be used at a limited number of online retailers.  If customers were lucky enough to find something they could buy with the card, they found that the money for the purchases was taken directly from their checking accounts, rather than the line of credit from the card, causing many to overdraft, which resulted in more fees for them to cover. Even with declined offers or returned merchandise, the money was still withdrawn from the customer's checking accounts, leaving quite a mess for the victims to make sense of.

Apparently, the men running this scam and the managers in their offices were having a good laugh at the unsuspecting customers. One email obtained from court documents quoted one manager as saying, "these customers are so stupid we could sell them anything." 

After several fraud reports were received, the FTC investigated and brought charges against them and effectively stopping their immoral profiteering. Court dates will be held later this year.

If any credit offers seem too good to be true they probably are. Consumers need to be aware and protect their personal information from the masses of scammers and con artists lurking behind every corner.