Intellectual Property Law

Congress Probes ?Deceptive? Credit Card Charges

By David Kravets

The Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday opened an investigation into so-called “mystery charges” that appear on consumers’ credit cards.

The charges, up to $12 monthly, stem from what the committee labeled “deceptive” e-commerce marketing practices connected to pop-up adds on popular sites like Fandango.com and Orbitz.com. Thousands of consumers have complained, the committee said.

“If consumers accept the offer by providing an e-mail address and clicking a ‘yes’ button, their credit card or debit card account information is automatically forwarded to the company and they are automatically enrolled in the service,” the committee said. “And unless the consumer cancels this online membership service, their credit card or debit card is indefinitely charged $9-$12 on a monthly basis.”

Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, sent letters to pop-up companies Vertrue (.pdf) and Webloyalty.com (.pdf) “to extract more information about these controversial practices.” The letters inform the companies that the Better Business Bureau has received consumer complaints that “your company charges their credit card or debit card on a monthly basis for services they are not aware they have purchased.”

See Also:

• NSA Whistleblower: Wiretaps Were Combined with Credit Card Records …
• Washington D.C. Restaurants Become Credit Card Cloning Hot Spots …
• Video: Inside a Credit Card Fraud Factory
• Card Processor Admits to Large Data Breach
• PIN Crackers Nab Holy Grail of Bank Card Security
• Mac Users Get A Credit Card Stealing Trojan for Halloween …

Full post as published by Threat Level on May 28, 2009 (boomark / email).