>>Scams to look out for

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I've got my money back from Ramada Plasa Resorts! $898.00 or €683.00 has been credited to my Visa account by Ramada.
Just a small loss due to the rise in Euro against $. And the transaction took place in March 2004.

Am very grateful to B.B's AAM board because I only contacted Consumers Affairs having read about Ramada here.
C.A. dictated the letter which I sent pointing out all the laws they had broken with this kind of phone selling . Even though I cancelled my card immediately after the call got no advise from Visa. Neither did I receive an acknowledgement to the letter sent to Visa two weeks ago.

Apparently Visa could have done something had I known and
requested it. They don't advertise this.

Note: Ramada is not mentioned in the top ten scams link (UK site) and it should be since Ramada are still phoning people in Ireland.
 
Did anyone else get the 4 cheques from [broken link removed] One for €20,000, €35,000, €50,000 or €75,000.

They say I must ring all four 1580 numbers before I can claim my award.

Its strange that despite the cheques enclosed listed above when I ring all the numbers I'm guaranteed "to receive awards worth over €1,000".

They also say elsewhere in the same letter "Remember you are guaranteed to receive awards worth up to €75,000.

All this from a company based in London, Dublin, Madrid, Berlin and Sydney.

P.S. They also confirm in small print "Calls to each cheque information line cost €2.40/min from a landline". The question here is do they mean €2.40 a minute on a possible 4/5 minute call per cheque or do they mean minimum.

I just hope no poor OAP out there gets one of these and innocently decides to ring.
 
Re: sms.ac - Free SMS

I presume it's 2.40 per minute. All of these premium phone line based competitions/prize draws are a rip-off and people should throw this junk in the bin (or post it back to them or others who send junk and include a pre-paid return envelope).
 
These same cheques arrived in the post yesterday.
Today they cropped up for mention as a feature on Liveline.
A contributor from the European Consumer Centre office in Dublin (can't remember the official title) seemed to confirm that the Value Group were breaking a number of rules and regulations put down by RegTel, not least that the MAXIMUM cost of a call to such lines can be €8. This one costs about twice that much - each. Also, the use of a PO Box number is against regulations. There should be a real geographical address listed for the operator's of the "competition".
According to Liveline, if someone was to do as directed on the cheques and make four seperate calls for the four seperate cheques, it would cost approx €72 in calls alone.
Above all, the advice was to ignore any such good fortune which lands on your doorstep. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
 
Re: european city guide

Business people geting form from this crowd looking for you to update your details. cost €937. pure scam.





[broken link removed]



[broken link removed]
 
B&B Bookings

Just been told about this one. A contact managing a B&B received a large booking for 10-12 people coming to Ireland from England. The booking was made by a Rector...so and so...

Was made over the internet, contact made via e-mail, and eventually a cheque was received as a deposit. Which was presented to my contacts bank for payment.

Before the cheque had cleared, the good Rector sent an e-mail through with the unfortunate news that one of the party had been seriously injured in an accident and wouldn't be travelling. Total sob story.

Upshot of this mail was that the Rector was asking for 1/10th of the refund back because of the 1 person less staying.

My contact found this unusual and checked to see if check had cleared in her bank. It hadn't. And wasn't at all - it was refused.

Sneaky way of scamming money off businesses here in Ireland.
 
regarding free holidays.....this was drawn to my attention during the week...its being portraid as another network marketing biz....anyone encounter or have experiences of this.... [broken link removed]
 
Callback texts?

Got 4 identical texts over the last few days from 087 *** ****.

"Please call me back" and instructions on what buttons to press to call back.

As it's not a premium number, does anyone know what the scam will be?
 
SunKissed Travel "Free Cruise" Scam

Another one doing the rounds is from Sunkissed Travel in Florida. A pop-up appears when browsing the net stating that if you are the 4th person to click on the site you will win a Florida Cruise. Lo and behold when you click you are the lucky 4th person and they give you a number to call. A work colleague of mine was stung for €748. The only thing is that you have a 30 day cooling off period under Florida Law but the cute hoors didn't forward on her itinerary and documents until the 30 days had passed. She has complained to the Consumer Affairs department in Florida but doesn't hold out much hope of getting her cash back.
 
Just received this crap which I mistakenly opened thinking that it was a legitimate email that was incorrectly classified as spam:
 
New scam angle????

Just recieved a telephone call. An obvious pre recorded message told me i had won a cruise. Unlike other similar calls there was no premium rate telephone number given out to claim the prize. Instead the message said "press 9 now to claim your prize". Obviosly by pressing 9 i would be redirected to a premiun rate number and so it would go on.... (I assume)

My first concern is that my children (9 & 11) often answer the phone and could easily and innocently press 9, they not being quite as cynical about a free cruise as i am. Secondly if 9 is pressed and 4 weeks later the bill arrives, does the consumer have any comeback if they are redirected to a premiun number without being informed/aware of it.

Has any one else recieved this call or innocently pressed 9????

Of course this could be totally genuine and i've just missed out on a free cruise

Any thoughts
 
Re: New scam angle????

I heard of this scam , i suspect that pressing 9 if in eircom voicemail may cause a permium rate number to be dialled so its only a risk if your voicemail answers for you .

Check www.regtel.ie, they have warnings of scams there
 
Re: New scam angle????

Nothing new about that one! I received that call on two occasions recently. Hung up instead of pressing button 9. Earlier this year I wasn't so smart. A message left said that I was "the lucky winner of a prize" and, like a fool, I rang the number they gave. The call cost something like €25. After that I did phone ComReg and RegTel and learned that premium lines have to be registered with RegTel. I thought I could get the number banned but it seemed to me that the scam wouldn't be considered a scam as such since I subsequently did receive a grubby leaflet advising me that to avail of the prize (2 weeks in the Canaries) I'd have to pay for a companion plus flight costs. So, within the law, but still a scam. The easiest solution is to get premium lines blocked from your phone line; they can phone you but you can't phone them. I got it unblocked when I wanted to vote for Tabby

There's another scam doing the rounds that surfaces regularly. It's from a company called Ramada Plaza Resorts/Imperial Majesty Cruise Vacations. They tell you they are doing a survey or else that you have won a cruise in Florida. The objective is to get your credit card number and, if you fall for the speil at which they are experts, they debit your card before the call ends. You can read more about them on the web site http://www.badbusinessbureau.com Then type in the name of the company. People in Ireland, the US, Canada and even South Africa have been targeted. Carmel Foley warned consumers about them earlier this year.

PS The recent scam caller wasn't a message on my voicemail - I wasn't curious enough to press button 9 and risk a premium line charge.
 
Re: New scam angle????

My 12 year old daughter actually answered that very call this afternoon. Thankfully she had more sense than I might have had. She came in and told me she had "just hung up on that call as it was one of those mad cruise calls looking for me to press no. 9". I hadn't thought of it being redirected to premium rates
 
Based on some junk mail that arrived in the door today, I've had to dissuade an elderly relative from going to the following alleged scam

INTERNET INCOME TRAINING
Free Lunch at the Green Isle Hotel and Western Ashling Hotel.

Found the following on them also under the name Galaxy Malls:

http://badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff95121.htm
http://www.badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff161527.htm

Anyone else got the invite or know any more about them. Seems to be a very hard sell of some worthless supposed marketing training.
 
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