Universal Fun Pass Scam

/\/\/\ Sorry to hear that you got scammed, but it sounds like you have the right attitude!

Thanks for posting about it. It may help save others from losing money if they do a search.

I am a victim of five star universal scam, I experienced exactly what you guys reported. Now I'm fighting for getting back my money. I did some research, there is a website may help us: www.crimes-of-persuasion.com

If you can do a "whois" search by their domain name, you may have more important information about this company.

Another remark: Stella, manager of customer service, she did pull out the audio, but it has been recorded AFTER your cc had been debited. She doesn't have the whole conversation between you and their Rep. Even she had it, she dare not show, because that will be the perfect proof of their scam.

Hi Fighter and welcome to Scamwarners.

We are aware of that website and even direct people to it when it may be helpful.

I do however have serious concerns about getting peoples hopes up about their money being returned as the odds of that happening are virtually zero, yes, I have heard of isolated cases where people have had some of their money returned but the circumstances have been very unusual in each of those cases.

The criminals are in most cases scamming from another country
The countries they predominantly operate from are generally plagued by bribery and corruption
The criminals use fake or stolen identity
They normally operate from from the cover of an internet cafe
Your police will usually have no jurisdicton in the location the scammers are operating from

I could go on but the point is that recovery scams are much more prominant than people getting their money back and having people thinking their money is going to be returned is just setting them up to be stolen from again.

I do wish you luck in getting your money returned but please remember, do not send money to anybody for any reason and please, dont get your hopes up

they called me today, and were very very persistent in "verifying" my visa number after giving me the great sales pitch (in which I was one of 3% of contestants that were approved, trip values at over $3000, small registration fee of $498 U.S for two people...blah blah blah). She was kinda pretending she already had my cc info "I know it starts with a 4 and has 16 digits" to which I replied all Visa cards are 16 digits and start with a 4....eventually I had to hang up as she would not give up and refused to mail me anything in advance of me giving out my cc info, and she called back twice (I let the machine handle it from there).....They get an A for effort, and a big fat F for morals and ethics. DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAM - never ever give your personal information to someone who phones you, even if they already know your address and dob!

on the side, i signed up for freestuffcanada a few days before the calls started, and I think that's where they got my information.

I just received a call from this dishonest company this morning at 11am, Sept 5, 2009. The lady also laughed cheerily about sending her a postcard from Florida while I'm away on the trip. Haha, glad to know they follow their script so well.

I detected a scam and took notes on the trip details throughout the conversation. Luckily, I was in front of my computer, and quickly googled "Universal Studios fraud". Unfortunately, this page was not one of the top hits, but I did find it while the con artist was still blabbing away.

I quickly matched the details from my notes to that of the original post. And my suspicion was confirmed.

Hung up as soon as the next lady incessantly requested my credit card number.

Good luck to everyone else when confronted with a similar situation!

Thanks for taking the trouble to tell us that you avoided being scammed.

We hear so many sad stories that it gives encouragement to know our work can make a difference.

I wish I had seen this a week ago.

I got a nice call from this company on the weekend and stupidly fell for their scheme. I was at work, had no internet access and so I wasn't able to quickly do a search. I am always so cautious about this sort of thing, but I guess it was the whole "winning" speech they give. I guess that's why they do it, you're so focused on the part where you won something that you forget anything else.

Unfortunately since I willingly gave over my cc number, Visa can't do much about it.

Funny thing is, for so many years I refused to get a Visa card, happy with my Mastercard. Then, 2 weeks after getting the card, I get scammed. I've told Visa this, because it is really suspicious that this happened.

Hi Cynara

Welcome to Scamwarners

Sorry to hear you have been scammed by these "people", if you have not already done so, please contact your bank and have the credit card cancelled.

It will cause you some inconvenience but far less than having these people continue to drain your card

Do not reply to any further correspondance, they will try threats to make you pay more, ignore these.

If you have any information not posted here could you please include it to prevent others from being scammed

If you have any questions please ask

I didn't fall for the scam 6 times but the only day my husband was home sick from work he fell for it.He gave them my cc# on the pretense that it was to hold a spot.I called my cc company 1 hr after hubbys convo and the charges were regected because I had insufficient funds...,I cancelled my cc.2 days later they put the charges through because I was told by my cc company which is not Visa....its MasterCard.....that they forced the payment which I was told by cc that the company pays an extra fee to have this service where the transacion will always go through.They also told me they had many complaints about this company but it is not fraudulant because they provide a service.The web site Universal gave me is non-existant and when I did get through to them on the phone and gave them my confermation # they hung up on me.MasterCard also provided a # for the scammers but when you phone it its like someones home phone and had a girl with a gereric message saying leave a # and we will call back.I am going to persue this through my cc company but I already know who they (cc company)are looking out for and it sure isn't us.I am sad as I could have used that money else where,and I was made well aware from cc that I am responsible till the end.
My only hope is because the site is non-existant and they didn't say they would send package info,my cc company will reverse the charges.

Sorry to hear that, SadAlbertan.

Keep after your CC company and keep going "up the ladder" if you do not receive cooperation from them. Hopefully you will be able to have them reverse the charges.

This is a widespread scam and there appears to be a major loophole in US/Canadian consumer regulations

You should lobby for implementation of regulations we have in the UK applying to what we call 'distance selling'

http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resour ... gulations/

It's not perfect, but it would certainly help curtail the operation of this type of scam

THE GOLDEN RULE

NEVER GIVE YOUR CARD DETAILS TO ANY STRANGER, OVER THE PHONE, WHO RINGS YOU UP OUT OF THE BLUE, FOR ANY REASON.

I just wanted to share with everyone that a complaint with the BBB looks like a useless action to restore "justice". I have gone through the process myself. It looks like the BBB will share everything you write them to the company. It resulted in a phone call from the company's "customer care" (yeah right) asking me to call them directly if I had a complaint, instead of going through someone else to express my lack of satisfaction. Since I had posted public complaints on internet boards and forums (other than this one) I also received an email containing threats of a law action against me should I continue to "slander them on the internet". I sent this email to the BBB and the last response from the company is that I can extend my package for 6 months for a fee. Honestly, I'm through with all this. The BBB doesn't seem to want to send the police for a criminal investigation and the "company" does not act like they have done something wrong. So pretty much it's been a waste of energy on top of a waste of money last year when I got caught in their scheme. I made peace with the event and learned greatly from it. It's just very painful to be treated with absolute no respect from people who seem to get away with it all the time. At least I can tell myself this will only happen once in my life. In other countries out there people are not living nice lives and are treated with no respect all the time.

Hi Kheten

Thank you for the report.

We have seen examples of these threats before and nothing eventuated from them.

Its a shame the BBB are not doing more to help you and actually passing on your complaints, it's probably a waste of time also but somebody or some other department must be responsible for the BBB, have you tried contacting them to explain your treatment, I cant imagine it is general practice to give and complainants details to those you have complained about, maybe you can shame them into taking some action.

I suspect that these people get your details from sites you may have signed up to for deals and discounts.

They appear to be offering discounts and deals, but are really little more than a way of getting your personal information for marketing. It becomes more sinister when it is used for sleazy purposes.

I'm not familiar with US law but it appears incredible that a company you know nothing about (name or address) can charge your card for something that you have never seen detailed in writing.

I once took on a UK company that tried the same scam, but UK law is more consumer friendly, though even so the legal battle continues.

After some research I have found a webpage here

http://universalfunpass.com/Home_Page.html

Frustratingly the registrant has hidden their identity behind a domain proxy.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/telem ... fraud.html

But police warn that if you have surrendered information or money, you may be added to a "sucker list" — a database of potential victims that is traded among fraud artists. PhoneBusters notes that telephone fraudsters who have succeeded once will continue to pursue their victims.

Authorities say consumers should also call their local police, banks, PhoneBusters, or the Competition Bureau. Online complaints can also be logged on the RECOL (Reporting Economic Crime On-Line) website (www.recol.ca). Complaints are filed, prioritized, and directed, where appropriate, to partners, including PhoneBusters, the RCMP and the U.S. Internet Fraud Complaint Center.

It's likely that I have the name and address of the indivdual behind this scam. It's appears that isn't a great secret and it's amazing that the person has been able to get away with this. I'll run the info by the mods as it may not be safe to show it openly.

I could even e-mail the local police to ask what action they're taking in view of the international fraud operation being run by this person in their town.

Okay - I've passed the information to the mods for them to take a look at.

If it's viewed as reliable I'll consider asking the local law enforcement what action they're taking, in respect of what appears to be an international scam operation, and copy it to the FBI.

My attitude is that if you can't crack a nut with nutcrackers, try a cannon.

I don't promise refunds - but maybe retribution and someone stopping this game would be some comfort.