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CNET: Biggest Internet Scam Ever?

post #1 of 29
11/18/09 at 6:17pm
Thread Starter 
Feds: Top e-tailers profit from billion-dollar Web scam | Digital Media - CNET News

Saw this on CNET yesterday. Really blown away by how sketchy this whole thing is and how many legit companies agreed to it. They list the companies involved in this article. I think I have seen this before too, always avoided it due to lack of time, but easy to see how they could get you by only asking for an email address.

Anyway I thought this was worth posting as a heads up if nothing else. It is somewhat unclear if this is still going on or if it was shut down pending the GOVT. investigation.
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post #2 of 29
11/18/09 at 6:24pm
I've seen that page show up when I ordered from Buy.com and always wondered how something like that came up when I oredred from them. Luckily I have never filled out that email ID part and always ignored it. But man I can totally imagine how easily someone can be tempted to fill it out.
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post #3 of 29
11/18/09 at 6:30pm
Shady business practice. Charging fees where the consumer gets little to no benefit is becoming more common nowadays. They always need more revenue to increase profit and keep their shareholders happy at the expense of unsuspecting victims. Sadly, there is not much ethics in business nowadays.
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post #4 of 29
11/18/09 at 6:37pm
What I don't understand is how anyone could not look at their monthly billing statements. I mean, come on? Being charged for over a year and not knowing about it? If you're that stupid, you shouldn't be allowed to use paper money cause you might cut yourself. And please don't use coins, you might choke.

Isn't it nice to know that someone will figure out somethings not right after they scam about a billion dollars. A couple hundred million doesn't raise any red flags?

I almost made a political joke. Shame on me.
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post #5 of 29
11/18/09 at 6:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing View Post
I've seen that page show up when I ordered from Buy.com and always wondered how something like that came up when I oredred from them. Luckily I have never filled out that email ID part and always ignored it. But man I can totally imagine how easily someone can be tempted to fill it out.
That was the one I thought of too when I read this, and sort of my catalyst for posting as I know lots of members get Headphones, etc from there.
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post #6 of 29
11/18/09 at 6:59pm
Good job with the warning Pangea! I actually heard about this a few months ago before joining head-fi. I remembered just enough to avoid it. Glad someone thought to bring it forward. Practices like this need to be banned. We believe it provides value to our customers...Sure buy.com, that's believable!

Another warning about big companies abusing their position. I heard on "Security Now" (Computer security podcast with Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte) that Adobe, along with installing some of their various products they also install 2 other pieces of software that they hide. One is a tool bar (who exactly needs another toolbar?) and something else that I can't remember at the moment. They reported that there was no way to opt out of getting them. Maybe it's changed since then, but that's what was reported by creditable sources.

The software isn't exactly dangerous (well no more dangerous than Adobe's other crapware anyway. I don't use Adobe) but it is an abuse of their position and they should know better!

Also for all Firefox users of which I am one: You may not have heard but Microsoft installed, in one of their patch/security update releases, a plug-in for Firefox that allows programs to use activeX controls within Firefox. No ActiveX is one of the reasons I use Firefox in the first place. Unbelievable (well maybe not!) that Microsoft tried to install this behind everyone's back!

Again, not exactly scams, but things I think you shold be looking out for.
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post #7 of 29
11/19/09 at 1:15am
I can't believe at some of the companies that participated in this scam: Yahoo, Columbia House, Expedia, US Airways, Victoria's secret.
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post #8 of 29
11/19/09 at 1:32am
filled out infos once on a buy.com purchase but nothing happened. i didn't pay with credit card anyway.
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post #9 of 29
11/19/09 at 3:12am
people suck.
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post #10 of 29
11/19/09 at 3:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Laokid18 View Post
people suck.
x2
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post #11 of 29
11/19/09 at 4:04am
the net is a goldmind for the unethical, that's for sure.
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post #12 of 29
11/19/09 at 6:10am
Meh, my philosophy - if you're dumb enough to fill out some form without reading the fine print, you deserve it.
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post #13 of 29
11/19/09 at 6:17am
Exactly, it's not as if they didn't warn you first. People are just too lazy to do the reading.
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post #14 of 29
11/19/09 at 7:16am
It was clear though that they tried to trick the consumer and had no care for the consequences. Here is the list of companies. I think those of us that find what has happened abhorrent should avoid buying with or from them at all. They need to understand in the best possible way (losing business) that this is not on.

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post #15 of 29
11/19/09 at 7:58am
That's practically everyone! How can we possible boycott all of them?
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