AmericanSingles.com and Fraudulent Charges
In August of 2006, I had my first experience with a fraudulent charge on a credit card. The charge was for service at AmericanSingles.com and was labeled “VISA CHECK CARD PURCHASE SPR*AMERICANSINGLES.COM 888-8543803 CA”. While I had visited AmericanSingles and had used the free services they provide for a short time, I never provided them with a credit card.
I contacted American Singles and they were very easy to work with. They said that the account opened with my credit card was registered as a 49 year-old divorced woman in Washington (clearly not me). The phone call lasted less than a few minutes and my card was credited the $59.97 I had been charged. I then cancelled the card just to be safe. Later that day, I found this post describing someone else going through the same situation. The comments also had many people stating that went through the same thing with the same company. I’ve checked back at this post from time-to-time and the problem seems to persist: people continue to leave comments stating that they have had a false charge for AmericanSingles.com.
Thinking back on it, I’m a little bothered by how rapidly the problem was resolved when I called American Singles. I was very happy to have the problem corrected quickly at the time but now I have to wonder: was my situation corrected so quickly because of how frequently it is happening? The woman I talked to gave no impression that she was surprised at a false charge. In some ways, it seemed far too routine.
Also, why American Singles? If someone had my credit card number, why not use it in some way where they could actually gain something? In this case, they had an open account at American Singles for about 20 hours, which seems to be a waste of having acquired my card (not that I’m complaining). I’m not familiar with the workings of making fraudulent charges but I have a few thoughts on why American Singles might be a popular place to make fraudulent charges.
They need to determine if the account is monitored
My first thought is that perhaps in credit card number stealing business, it is wise to first determine if the person monitors their account before trying to make some “real” purchase. This is concerning in some ways because, if this is the case, many of these thieves see American Singles as a good place to check – suggesting they are confident the dating site will not be looking into the fraudulent charges.
They want to find a date but plan to behave poorly
This one is actually a little scary. If credit cards are being stolen to create an account that the thief wants to use, well, what do they plan on doing that they don’t want to be able to be traced back to them? It could just be a married man or woman looking to cheat but even then, it isn’t good for the other people dating online.
I don’t know that either of the scenarios I presented are actually happening…but someone is making these fraudulent charges for some reason. Also, I don’t want to suggest that American Singles is the only site where this is happening. It just happens to be the only one I am aware of. A few simple suggestions just in case one of my two scenarios is actually happening:
- First, if you have had a fraudulent charge, report it. You can report the charge at Fraud.org (see their form here) or at the Internet Crime Complaint Center. This may not accomplish much on its own but if there is a pattern of repeated fraudulent charges going on at a particular site, this is probably one of the best ways to improve the situation.
- Second, for those dating online: be wary of contact from any members marked as “new”, especially if they are anxious to meet right away. I’m not suggesting you need to give that new guy or girl the third-degree (especially since they might have signed up just to talk to you). Instead, just put off meeting them for a week if they are flagged as new. If their account disappears during that week, cancel any dates you may have been planning. Again, I believe this approach would only be needed with members flagged as “new”. In other words, don’t become so paranoid you end up scaring off dates just because they happen to have just signed up!
Finally, if you’ve experienced this kind of fraudulent charge, feel free to leave a comment on what you experience. It could help others going through the same thing!
Brad is a happily married man that found great success (and his wife!) using online dating. He now shares his thoughts and experiences, on this site and in his free online dating guide, to assist others in finding success. 
Yep, the same thing just happened to me this morning! It was a $29.99 charge, and I got the phone number from googling it. When I called the 888 phone number they had me tell them my credit card # (which I was reluctant to do, but I figured they already had it…) and he said that the charge was already being reversed by their fraud dept.
Yeah, $79.99 for me.
Happened to me. $79.99. I think AmericanSingles must be catching on to the spike in this activity, they had advice ready and handled it very quickly. In fact, they had already refunded my account it seems.
No good old man in Toledo OH.
Happened to me today…scary thing was they had signed me up at AmericanSingles.com, match.com and singlesnet.com–and had MY email address correct and my street address correct….must have gotten all that info somewhere!
Same thing happened to me a few days ago. After talking to match.com and my credit card company, I came up with a theory. When I talked with the Fraud Dept. at my credit card company, they, too, acted as if this was a rather routine occurrence and immediately took the charges off. The rep then went into a well-rehearsed sales pitch for their Identity Theft Protection which i could have for a mere $13 a month! That got me thinking–what a great way to drum up business for Identity Theft Protection–charge fraudulent charges, cardholder freaks out, charges are deducted–nobody gets hurt! But for $13 a month, they can protect you from future “identity theft”! Only problem is, there is no identity theft, it’s your credit card company scamming you and sharing the take with companies like match.com. I know it sounds far-fetched, but the things I found out through this experience (too many to go into here) sure seem to fit this theory. By the way, if you have to call match.com about fraudulent charges, don’t choose the “speak to a representative” option, you’ll be on hold for 30 minutes (they’ve either got too many calls or they’re hoping you’ll give up). Choose the “I want to sign up” option, and they’ll answer right away!
Joni – even if your theory isn’t true everyone would still have to admit there sure is a lot of complacency going on. As has been said before, the routine-ness the reps display is almost more unnerving than anything else.
Also, it is very strange that there are people out there who are using other people’s credit cards but ONLY signing up at a dating site or three. I mean, if I had decided I was going to steal from someone, why go so small and specific? To me, it does feel like something bigger is going on here.
Oh, great advice on getting through to a rep faster too!
Happened to me today with the same three companies- I stopped the transaction within 24 hours but it just seems a little fishy to me!
Ive been to americansngles along time ago but never used there side but today I found out some one used my card for a purchase on there for $119 and I called the stop my account and giving my money back tommorow dont see why they would use it on as….com
I just got a message on my cell phone from bank of america for fraudulent activity to please call them back, so I called bank of america back, so happens the fraudulent activity was on my visa credit card, I only use this credit card for revolving bill’s paid once a month, a new account was added yesterday to pay 149.00 a month by AmericanSingles.com ,,,,,,, what set off the alert with bank of america was, AmericanSingles.com gave the wrong expiration date ,,,,,,,, how did they get my credit card number? I do not recall ever going to AmericanSingles.com ,,,,, maybe they have a organization of people working for them or some one else,,,,,,one of there servers may have nothing to do with AmericanSingles.com maybe some one is using a program to scan your computer for personal info then is sent to AmericanSingles.com
Hey Tommy, thanks for the info.
A recent news article could offer another idea to how your card (and mine) was stolen. A company called Heartland Payment Systems was recently hacked and this company does a lot of credit and debit card processing. They handle hundreds of thousands of transactions a day so chances are we’ve all passed through their system at some point.
Anyway, the fact that credit card numbers were stolen in huge quantities from the middle-man could mean that sometimes our fraudulent charges are not occurring because of how or where we are using our card or even how secure our computers are. It could simply be because the company handling the transactions behind the scenes is breached.
I’m not letting AmericanSingles off the hook here because they do appear to have a complacent attitude regarding fraudulent charges (enough so that the theives apparently know they can safely use the site as a testing ground). All I’m saying is that the more I hear about this sort of activity the less likely it seems that AmericanSingle would be directly involved.
It’s now 2009, and AmericanSingles is still committing this same crime which was discussed in 2006. Five days ago, my bank alerted me to fraudulent activity on my credit card. The fraudulent charges came from these merchants:
AEROMEDIX
FTD.COM 1 800 SEND FTD
CosmeticMall.com
KODAK AUTH 1
AMERICANSINGLES.COM
MEETIC.COM
BILLFF.COM
The bank reversed the charges and cancelled the card. It is possible that some of the crime web sites are related to AmericanSingles, such as the Meetic.com and Billff.com. I have never been to these web sites and had never heard of them before.
I received a $34.00 charge from BILFF.COM today on a credit card that I have not used in well over a year. I called the bank & they refunded the charge and I canceled the card. If you go to the BILLF.COM web site the intro is if your card has been fraudulently charged your at the right place.
JMS
Itīs good to know whatīs happening around with this fraudulent charges, I also received last March four fraudulent charges of 41.95 USD, 54.65 USD, 20.00 USD and 26.00 USD from BILFF.COM at my credit card in Mexico, this is terrible, I have never been to these web sites and had never heard of them, this kind of crime should be punished.
Today is May 5th and I’ve just had the same happen.My CC statement has a transaction from Billff for Ģ31.74.Contacted my CC provider and was informed a further 2 transactions have taken place.Only used card on one site – Adult Friend Finder so detail must have come from there.Am now going to chase Billff to get refund.Short message is : Scam is still going strong-BE WARY
Adult Friend Finder protects the perpetrators of ID Theft. They might agree that the charge was invalid and reverse it, but they will not release any information about the person that placed the charge without a court order.
Fill out and sign the form from your bank or cc company for a fraudulent charge. Have that credit/debit card immediately cancelled and a new one issued. File a police report on the incident. It is THEFT! Have a fraud alert placed on your account with all of your major credit bureaus. Request a current credit report from them as well to see if any other fraudulent financial activity has taken place.
The only way to stop this is by being proactive. The companies may be allowing the fraudulent activity, but the only way to fight it is to take the above steps. Don’t just be satisfied with a reversal of the charges. Take it all the way!!
i have just been done by billff.com
bastads.
i am cancelling those cards.
always preying on those that are most vulnerable.
Today I received a bill on my credit card for $53.99! Until I read the comments on this page, I had no idea as to whom these rats are! Never heard of them before. I’ve been experiencing a raft of unsolicited charges on my credit card so just recently I ordered a new card. It came. Now I’m getting more pseudo-billings than ever!!! How the hell do these rats get access to my credit card account?! I surely did not authorize them! Fully half my credit card bill is made up of these false charges! I think it’s time to bring this very troublesome and ongoing fraud to the attention of various states and the Federal attorney’s general! Plus, if my credit card company keeps allowing these rats access to my account, I will simply not do business with the anymore; and the sad part is, is that it is my own credit union giving them access!