With intense discontent I’d like to inform you all of one internet based credit card fraud which happened with me recently, and would like to solicit your help to get justice. For your convenience I am mentioning the case in points with chronological reporting of incidents:
I am a professor of management at amity business school- Noida, as a part of my profession sometime I browse internet to get some reference for teaching purpose. So on May 2, 2013 noon I was browsing internet and come across a website http://www.questia.com/
On the home page itself they are promoting with headlines Try us free for 1 day, and start enjoying full access to Questia!
So I clicked on the link below and then they asked me to fill one form asking my personal information like name, email, address, phone number etc. Not aware of the bad intentions of the fraudulent website www.questia.com I filled all details.
In the last stage of form they asked me my credit card number without asking other details like CVV, date of expiry or 3D PIN etc. So I just entered my card number without disclosing any other details like CVV, Date of expiry or 3D PIN, as I thought that without them they would not be able to take any money out of my card. And anyhow it was one day free trial and I was not interested at all in buying their membership or any other service further.
On Saturday, May 4, 2013, I received one phone call from SBI Card to confirm whether I’ve made any purchases or have authorized anyone to charge Rs. 5382.81/- Obviously I was shocked to hear that as I did not make any transaction from my SBI credit card on May 4, 2013. I asked them to block my card immediately to save myself from any further damage. Then I looked at my SMS alert and got shocked to read this message received on Saturday, may 4 2013 12:56pm “Transaction of Rs. 5,382.81 made on SBI card XX4233 at HB *QUESTIA on 4 may 13”
I tried to contact QUESTIA through their website page https://www.questia.com/contact-us I tried to call their customer care number[protected] many times but it appears that it is intentionally not picked up by anyone. Then on their webpage https://www.questia.com/contact-us itself I register my grievance of unauthorized billing and deduction of money without my knowledge from my SBI credit card and requested them for refund of my money. After submitting the complaint a message displayed on their webpage that thank you for sharing your concern our customer service executive will contact you with in 24 Hours to resolve your complain.
I waited for 24 hours but as I suspected no one contacted me neither through mail nor through phone. I wrote to them two more times in last two days on their webpage https://www.questia.com/contact-us as they have intentionally not provided any email adderss to contact them so that their victim can not keep track of their communication with them.
Till date I’ve not received any reply from them. I tried to investigate further about such frauds with other persons and I was surprised to know that I am not the only one many more people have been cheated by them in the similar way. Please refer to http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/questia-c150518.html for similar cases.
I am surprised how such American companies are openly cheating gullible and innocent students and academicians without being nailed till date.
Looking forward to hear further from you, as an Indian I hope you can understand my pain.
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