Hello everyone,

Today we have a shocking tale of disrespect, so stay with me!! Have you ever heard of or done business online with any of these big, wonderful, well known companies?

1-800-Flowers, ShutterFly, eHarmony

Buy.com, U.S. Airways, Yahoo

Classmates.com, Fandango, Tiger Direct

Columbia House, FTD, Barnes & Noble

Expedia, Hotwire, Victoria’s Secret

Hotels.com, Priceline, Pizza Hut

Intellius, Travelocity, Movietickets.com

Orbitz, Vistaprint, Continental Airlines

Like me I’m sure you have not only heard of, but probably done business with these “reputable” companies/retailers. Well these wonderful companies are making millions of dollars scamming you (nineteen of these companies made more than $10 million in 2009). They are giving your credit card information to third party marketers (Webloyalty,Vertrue, Affinion), which allows them to charge your credit card anywhere from $9 to $12 every month. How could this be? It’s all done under the guise of simply getting you to give them your email address.

Here is how the scam “goes down” :

1) You go to the website to buy.
2) After your purchase or right before you confirm the purchase,
3) You see an offer for cash back or a discount coupon for your next visit.
4) All you have to do is give your email address – no credit card info. Cool huh?
5) You fill in your email address and finalize the purchase.
6) You have just been scammed ($9 to $12 charged from your credit card every month)!!

This is unbelievable, appalling, but true. How is this possible? How did this happen?

You thought that the retailer was offering cash back and discount coupons. You thought that your trusted online merchant was asking for your email but you have been betrayed!! You didn’t read the tiny, tiny, fine print that says this:

“By entering your email address, you agree to join a loyalty program and allow the store to authorize marketers (Webloyalty,Vertrue, Affinion), to charge your credit card every month!”

Incredible right? When you shop online you should expect the store that you are doing business with not to share your credit card and personal information. But you have been purposely mislead all because your trusted store gets a cut of the profits from this scam.

You might want to check to see if you see any tiny little charges appearing on your monthly credit card statement that contain the words “rewards,” or “club”. These are from the marketing companies Webloyalty,Vertrue, Affinion which have been given a “green light” because your online retailer gave your information to them by fooling you into innocently filling in your email address!

Professor Randy says: How can we trust these companies anymore? Don’t use them anymore! They have played us for a fool! Boycott them!!