Victim Location 20814
Total money lost $5.95
Type of a scam Online Purchase
I received a UPS package containing a dietary supplement called Better Beard Club Beard Boost. Enclosed with the supplement was an invoice that contained slightly incorrect address information for me (right street address, city, and zip, but wrong state). The package had no company return address, just a fulfillment center address. The invoice likewise had no company address. The invoice did not have any information about my credit card or the means of payment for the product. Upon reading the invoice carefully, buried in several paragraphs of information was the statement that this product was part of a 15-day free trial for which I had been charged $4.95 in shipping. After the trial period, I would continue receiving the supplement monthly for $89.99 charged to original purchase card. I checked my credit card, and I had indeed been charged the $4.95 shipping fee and another $1.95 charge by something called BeManlyNow.com. I never signed up for any trial, I never provided my credit card for any such charges, I never authorized the charges or requested the product or membership, and I had never even been to either BeManlyNow.com or betterbeardclub.com. The fake invoice included a customer service email and phone number. I called the number and the representative wanted me to provide personal information, which I was unwilling to provide. They said they needed it to check my account, but I never made any account with anyone for this, so I didn’t trust the representative with my information. I asked to simply speak to a supervisor so I could learn how, when, and where my card had been fraudulently used and by whom, but the representative would not let me speak to anyone else and kept reading a script about how he was sorry I did not have faith in the product but he was willing to offer a reduced rate if I would keep my membership, etc. etc. I kept telling him I had no account and just wanted to speak to a supervisor, but he would not stop repeating scripted replies about the quality of the product, etc. Eventually he told me that he had cancelled my account (I still don’t know what account he was talking about or how he could have cancelled anything without getting my personal details) and then hung up on me. This same process happened every time I called and spoke to a new representative. I declined the charges on my card and reported them to my bank. I will monitor to see if they try charging me again later.