Universal Fun Pass Scam

That's what we're here for.

It's great to know we helped and stopped these people getting at least one payment. Two actually, as I know someone was alerted by a message on another forum.

Thanks for the lead about facebook.

Don't tell them my picture's here as I think they've put a bounty on my head.

Nothing will stop them quicker than everyone knowing what their game is and, of course, they're nothing to do with THE Universal Studios.

Lying is all this company does well.

Copy of post here http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=14249#p14249

by Jade on Thu Sep 24, 2009 3:42 pm

I fell for this scam yesterday. A couple hours later, after thinking that giving my info was incredibly stupid, I googled five star universal and found all these posts about what a scam it is. I only wish i'd had the computer turned on while I was still on the phone! I called my cc company right away and they told me they couldn't see that the transaction had gone through yet, and canceled my card right away. They did tell me that it's not impossible that the payment could still be pushed through even though the card is no longer active, and if it does I can call them back and try to dispute the charge which I will certainly do if I must. Just wanted to let everyone know that if you call your cc company RIGHT AWAY and cancel the card there is a chance that these con artists will not be able to access your money. Thanks to everyone for your helpful posts and advice : )

Under UK law if you can argue to your card company that the matter falls under Direct Selling Regulations, then you have 7 days after the call to cancel, for any reason. You just need to send an e-mail to the company/person that called you, telling them that you've cancelled (and keep a hard copy), and I would recommend that you just refer to it as the matter discussed in your conversation.

DSR strictly don't apply to leisure, and accomodation where dates are 'booked', but my research indicates that you are offered the holiday as a gift and no dates or period during which you can take the holiday are mentioned. That being the case, you have 7 days to cancel for any reason, and don't have to get into trying to persuade the card company it's a scam. You just need to retain evidence that you cancelled within that period and the company must pay you back within 30 days. Certainly I'd try the credit card company first, but if they insist you try the company, then after 30 days, the card company must pay up if the company ignore you.

I'm hoping that the same applies in Canadian law, and supect that it will. I just need to do some more research.

I'll attempt to draw up a course of action for victims to handle this scam, legally and effectively, no charge.

Great news Gomer,

I have an idea of how much time you have devoted to preventing victims of this scam, well done on the research

Once the banks begin to feel the pinch they might actually begin to do more about it.

Lets hope

They got me on Sept 26th I feel so stupid as there were so many signs that it was a scam but for some insane reason I couldn't say no. The took the disney angle with me with no mention of Universal so nothing came up when I did a search. They actually told me they worked for Disney. Once I got the real name of the company (after giving my CC info) I found this website.

Called my CC company right away and the told that that they called me and that I think I was scammed and my card number has be "compromised". They gave me a new card number - cancelling the card is not going to prevent the transaction from occuring. The charges hadn't gone through when I called and they won't complete any transactions. As of now it has not been processed - 36hrs later.

I will post later when I find out for sure.

If you call you CC company right away make sure that you say they called you and you did not initiate the call. Hopefully they will be as understanding - it was a BMO MC.

If you are trying to dispute the charges here are some things that I have put together for if it comes up.

I only gave my CC to reserve my spot - not to charge the card - upon which the full T&C would be sent to me within 24hrs for me to confirm the purchase and book the travel - like when you make a reservation at a hotel.

In the call with me they never mentioned any income thresholds but it is in the T&C that they send. This limits the fully transferable benefit that they mention on the phone. Therefore they have lied about what they are offering.

I didn't get my confirmation and full T&C within the 24hrs another component of the verbal agreement.

If they play a recording for the CC company say that it was doctored - anybody and there dog can edit audio these days - say you said the words but not in that order do not waver and stick to your guns with this.

Whatever you do do not give up - keep pushing it up the line eventually your CC company will relent - bring up your history with them and how you don't dispute charges all the time and this is a totally illegitimate charge.

Here is the definition of fraud for fighting your CC company to dispute the charges.Common law fraud has nine elements:

a representation of an existing fact;
its materiality;
its falsity;
the speaker's knowledge of its falsity;
the speaker's intent that it shall be acted upon by the plaintiff;
plaintiff's ignorance of its falsity;
plaintiff's reliance on the truth of the representation;
plaintiff's right to rely upon it; and
consequent damages suffered by plaintiff

Hi 5star

Welcome to Scamwarners

thank you for posting your account of this scam

It will help others to avoid losing money to these scammers

Good luck with the bank, I do hope you get a full refund

Thanks for the encouragement Ralph.

What sucks is it is hard to fall asleep at night because I can't stop thinking about so many of the reasons i should have said no thanks and hung up. I know better but for some reason I just didn't do it,

Hi 5star,

Each and everyone of us have made errors of judgement, more often than we care to admit.

You are doing the right thing now - and, even more worthy in my eyes, helping alert others.

<hugs>

I was taken in on sept.23, and until today the $550.00 charge could not been seen as going through on my now canceled card. Today (sept.28) I called to see if anything had gone through and it had. There is also a payment of $535.00 pending that I certainly did not authorize, but the cc company is not able to see the merchant name until it goes through, and i'm not able to dispute it until it does go through. I talked to a woman named Stella in billing at 5 star who told me the usual, the 550.00 is non refundable, they do have an audio recording of me agreeing to this (BS) but she did say that they only took that amount, not the extra 535.00. Seems to me perhaps they've given my info to some other company under the same umbrella who are now using my card. Once that payment has gone through and I start the process of disputing it i'll post again and let you all know what company is listed as taking the second payment. Like the last person who posted, I just keep thinking that even though I knew something was not right even when i was on the phone, i still gave them my info!! My husband keeps telling not to be so hard on myself for falling for the scam, it's what these people do, trick innocent, hardworking people into thinking that maybe they've actually won something. So try not to feel dumb, we were all taken in by a pretty well thought out con.

Hi Jade! Welcome to ScamWarners and thank you for posting. Your husband is right, it's a slick scam and you're not alone. Please do update with more information when you have it. Good luck to you.

Well just heard from my cc company - charge went through and unless I have a recording of our conversation or try to book and they don't provide what is in the written T&C I am out of luck.

I have been thinking of making my own tape with some good stuff on it and submitting it.

Anyone actually try and book a trip with them? Or get anyluck getting a recording of their call? Thinking that I should be record my own version to submit to the CC Company. Going to try and see if I can get a copy of our conversation for 5 star.

This totally sucks.

I got involved with victims in a similar scam to this that was perpetrated in the UK last year, This one is even worse as there are so many 'copycat' scammers at work, and it's even being performed by scammers in India on their own citizens.

I've got a lot of information on some of the scammers involved, though I'm not sure how muh good that will do. You wouldn't believe some of the people who are lurking behind these operations.

The best we can manage, for now, is to warn and try to spread the word about this scam. I even got a phone call from someone purporting to be my isp saying that my contract was up for renewal. I could tell it was someone from the Indian sub-continent and my isp do use a call centre there, but it seemed mighty strange for them to call me. Their response to some of my questions didn't make me feel easier so I told them to write to me. It was either pushy marketing or a scammer.

I'll endeavour to draw up a guide as to the best course of action to take, but it depends on you being firm but polite with your card company and knowing your rights. It's still only going to be successful for a few people, but the main way to stamp out this scam is to get the word out and stop them earning money.

The centre of this scam is Florida.

However, apart from companies and people involved in this getting heaps of lawsuit from other states, there is also a law in Florida that provides consumers with a 30 day cancellation period. For that reason a lot of these companies/people are running the telemarketing part of their operations outside the state, in Georgia and Texas. The benefit for the scammers is that they dodge the ability for victims to make claims within 30 days (unless local laws give them another period as in UK law) but the risk they take is that any wrongdoing becomes an FBI issue.

Texas law is not very consumer friendly, but as I say, it's a risky move, and I am seeking to accumulate any information that may suggest that this is merely a front for what remains a Florida business.

What specifically interests me is the name of any bank and/or company that appears on your statements as I believe that money is possibly being funnelled through another company - perhaps a Florida company.

If you have any information please pm it to me, as there's no sense letting the scammers know what we know.

This is going to do my brain serious harm

I just picked up on a comment from another forum about Five Star Universal in response to my request for information about where the money's going

When they called me the girl said she was calling from 5 star universal but the payment went to universal tickets, hope this info helps.

Okay, and this was my reply

The information provided by your card company is not acceptable wxx jxx. First - that's not the name of the company you dealt with and secondly the name supplied by your card company is already copywrighted by Universal Studios. This appears on all Universal websites and any competent and lawful corporation would take care not to infringe that copywright.

"Universal elements and all related indicia TM & © 2009 Universal Studios. © 2009 Universal Orlando . All rights reserved."

I would politely insist that you are given the CORRECT name of the company who have withdrawn your funds and the name of the financial institution involved.

Ask to see the claim from the other bank otherwise you must assume that they have allowed another party to remove your funds.

I can guess what's going on, and we need to know the link to where the money is going. If your card company won't tell you, make them pay up. They can only pass a charge from the company you authorised.

These people are playing fast and loose with the card system and it's not acceptable to allow the card company to tolerate it. I wish Universal could be prompted into shooting all these bugs down, but I seriously doubt it would be easy to get them involved. Nonetheless these companies are infringeing the Universal copywright left right and centre.

Allowing them to use a description rather than a company name to pass the charges is useful to the scammer and is appalling practice. I think some banks need me to give them a once over and kick them into some order.

The good thing is - it gives you more grounds on which to reject the charge to your account. You are within your rights to know the name of the Merchant Trader Facility through which your payment was processed - and I want it too - 'cause I'm hunting after them.

Hi,

I have been following the thread on the other site Gomer is referring to above, so thought I would put the same information here you you guys ...

Hi, FYI

The information that came through on my statement is INT'L 0071880342 FIVESTARUNIVERSAL.

As 5 Star Universal claim to be part of/partnered with/affiliated with (depending who you speak to) Universal Studios, Orlando; I contact them and have received an e-mail back stating that 5 Star Universal are in no way associated with Universal Studios, Orlando and are not authorised to re-distribute park tickets.

I have also completed the booking forms and sent them to 5 Star Universal, as my bank have suggested (as I see 'feelingextremelyfoolish' has also been advised). This was a month ago and have not received a response.

Finally I requested full telephone transcripts for the conversations I had with ALL 3 members of staff on the day of purchase, to be received with 30 days; in accordance with UK and FCC regulations. 36 days later these have, unsurprisingly, not been received.

I have passed all this information on to my bank who are going to process this as a returned payment on the basis of all the items mentioned above. Seems to be the best option at the moment, but will know more at the end of the week.

Hope this is of help.

Incidentally, when I spoke to Universal Studios, Orlando; they did mention that I was not the first person to speak to them about this company (speaking to Guest Services), I have e-mail them 5 Star Universal's URL. They seemed quite interested in looking at it, especially when I mentioned the logo in the site and documents they send through is extremely similar to the Universal Pictures Logo