Prescription Assistance Services: Is it a scam?

Background: 
In the mail recently, I received a letter and pharmacy discount cards for a company called Prescription Assistance Services. The letter spells out the terms of these cards as pre-activated, and no fee discount cards. We've seen something very similar before with RX Relief Pharmacy Discount Card / Healthcare Alliance.

My words of caution still hold true as I mentioned in the RX Relief Pharmacy Discount Card / Healthcare Alliance article, be weary of how your information is being used. Companies don't spend a lot of money marketing these for nothing.

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Email: Center Security (noreply@facebookalert.com) Scam

Scam Score: 85 (Severe Risk)

Background: While reviewing emails in my inbox, I came across an email that was intended to look like Facebook warning me that a charge had been made on my account for 22.34 USD.

The link provided for me to login to "Facebook" actually resolves to http://74.7.88.163/aboutes.php which is obviously not Facebook. This server also appears to be hosting the websites: websiteincomesuccess.com, www.leidschdagblad.nl, and www.tweetprocesor.com which are obviously not owned by Facebook and seem sketchy themselves.

This email fails our tests by first, not identifying me personally. If anyone knows my name, it is Facebook (or at least the name I provide them). Second, the grammar and punctuation in the email are not professional. Third, the email is supposed to be from Facebook but the message ends with a reference to PayPal Security. PayPal and Facebook are not the same company. Purchases notifications from PayPal will never be from a Facebook email.

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Net-Scams Scam Scores

New Scam Scores!

To quickly summarize the legitimacy of scam, we will now be supplying a Net-Scams Scam Score. This score builds on top of the existing rules we previously established and sums a score from those rules.

50 pts ~ Responsible Party

In all legit offers and giveaways, there will always a person or company held responsible for fulfillment of the prize. This company may or may not also handle inquires of possible participants. This responsible party must uphold their end of the agreement.

20 pts ~ Regulations and Tax Requirements

Do not account for US tax requirements and regulations

10 pts ~ Professional Conduct

Poor grammar used through out the site

10 pts ~ Server Location

Servers located outside the United States are not able to be governed by US law. This applies a sense of distrust.

10 pts ~ Other

This includes usage of Non-English languages in an English

Russian language used on the site

By adding points of each qualifying rule, we can derive a risk score of each potential scam:

 0 - 20 pts - Low risk

20 - 40 pts - Medium risk

40 - 60 pts - High risk

60 - 80 pts - Extreme risk

80 - 100 pts - Severe risk, extreme caution advised!

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Facebook: 2014 Chevrolet Camaro SS Scam

Scam Score: 80 (High risk)

With the progressing popularity of social website, there has also been an increase in social scams.

One such scam is this one:

2014 Chevrolet Camaro SS Facebook

This page fails to provide a responsible party who will be fulfilling the offer. In addition, they make no reference to regulations (i.e. excluded regions, etc.) or tax requirements. Prizes over $600 in value must be reported to the IRS for tax purposes (the winner will be required to pay taxes on the value car).

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Check.me Website Review

Recently, my dear mother went to pay a bill online to pay her internet bill and ended up on Check.me, a website that appears to pay your bills for you. Knowing that sometimes companies will intentionally redirect their eCommerce transactions to be handled by a third-party site, my mom completed their forms and supplied her credit card number. Afterward she realized that she may have made a mistake and asked me to find out more. With a little research in her browser history, I realized that she had clicked a link from a Google search page.

Looking at their cancellation policy and their BBB rating with 52 complaints in the last 12 months. I realized what this company was actually doing.

Their Game: 
This company makes their money on convenience fees and short cancellation windows. Their website is set up wizard style, where they guide you through the process one question as a time with each question asking for more and more sensitive information by asking you the billing number and then credit card information. Up until now, you don't know that they are going to want to charge you a convenience fee until the next screen which shows you the totals and payment methods. They will default select the "fastest" payment speed which costs a little more and then bill your card once you click to submit the order.

The Fine Print:
This company does not make it obvious that it is an independent third-party service not directly tied to the payee. In fact, you will only notice this if you read the fine print at the bottom of the web page or dig through pages on their website.

Cancellation Nightmare:
They don't want to refund your money so they make cancellation next-to-impossible. In fact if you don't cancel before 10:00 AM or 4:30 PM the same day (depending on the next time after completing the order), you can't cancel at all. They might say this is because your bill payment is being transacted and can't be halted, but I doubt the company has that quick of a turn-around time (hence why they have to payment speeds; neither one being same-day or next-day). With the situation with my mother, she tried to contact someone to cancel within that window and wasn't able to get a hold of anyone. I've encouraged her to talk with the credit card issuer about a reversal as they did not uphold their cancellation policy.

Honest Business? Sure, by somebody's standards...:
This site does not appear to be a scam or illegal, but I wouldn't call their practices ethical either. Just like with your bank or credit-union, it is a bill-pay service. They cut and mail the checks on your behalf and you pay a little more for it. And regardless of tactics, it is the user's responsibility to do their research when using any website including understanding their terms and conditions.

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Circumnews.com Scam (sontores.com or inqueritopro.com)

Overview
Today I learned of a web site called circumnews.com (server [46.28.65.179] also hosts sontores.com or inqueritopro.com which appear to be Russian and Portuguese versions of the same kind of thing). This site claims to pay you between $2 - $5 USD per article you read. There is no verification system to ensure users read the articles other than a (weak) bot protection system. They say that you must reach a minimum of $100 in order to get paid out and they will pay to a PayPal or Payza account. They claim that the site owners pay them and then they pay you 70% of what they make. Once you request your money, payments are supposed to be paid within 14 days. This has not been verified to actually happen.

A Potential Threat!
Personally, I have serious doubts about this kind of web site. Well it does not appear to be asking for more than your name (first and last), email, and your PayPal account, I speculate this is a system that provides them with a list of real PayPal (ecommerce)  accounts, emails, and possible passwords for those accounts if you use the same password for those accounts as you signed up with. In addition, providing your PayPal or Payza account information could put you at risk.

In addition, they also track referrals. This could provide them with a way to spam your email account as pretending to be someone you know since they know names and who referred who. They can also send you phishing emails pretending to be PayPal or Payza trying to get you to reveal additional important account information.

They also track IP addresses which can reveal more about you and the services you use (your general location, your Internet Service Provider).

Reasons for my distrust:
Don't provide company contact information
Servers hosted in Germany (or Ukraine)
Do not account for US tax requirements and regulations
Poor grammar used through out the site
Russian language used on the site
Fishy revenue model
The thought that Russians are going to pay you money to read English articles

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International Christian Followers Crusade Scam

Here is another old, but good example of a Craigslist rental scam.  This one is from the dear Nicholas Bailey at phunkyhome111@hotmail.com.

Thanks for your email and interest in renting my house..I am Nicholas Bailey, the owner of the house you are making inquiry of…Actually I resided in the house with my family, my wife and my only daughter before and presently we have moved out due to my transfer from my work now in Warsaw,Poland. Presently my house is still available for rent for $1000 (rent already includes utilities).More so Now, i am currently in the (West Africa)for an international Christian follower’s crusade..Pls i want you to note that i spent a lot on my property that i want to give to you for rent,so i will solicit for your absolute maintenance of this house and want you to treat it as your own, It is not the money that is the main problem but i want you to keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat when i come for a check up.I also want you to let me have trust in you as i always stand on my word.
 
Address of the house.. (2--- W 6-- N, Layton, UT 84041)

It has a dramatic entry foyer with ceramic floor. Extremely spacious 3 bedrooms and 2 bathroom throughout with lots of big windows…nice and light! New neutral paint and some newer carpet..Very quiet, low traffic area. New fridge I believe its absolutely a perfect home for you and your family.Utilities include Water,Trash,Sewer,Gas Etc...

SO IF YOU ARE REALLY INTERESTED I WILL WANT YOU TO FILL THE RENT APPLICATION FORM BELOW.

RENT APPLICATION FORM.
FIRST NAME:__________?
MIDDLE NAME:__________?
LAST NAME:__________?
PROFESSION:__________?
PHONE:
(CELL)PHONE__________?
(WORK)PHONE__________?
(HOME)PHONE__________?
KIDS_____ (YES/NO), HOW MANY________
PRESENT ADDRESS: _____________________
CITY: _______________
STATE:______________
ZIP CODE: ____________
HOW LONG? ___________IF RENTING
WHY ARE YOU LEAVING__________?
IF THIS HOUSE IS BEING GIVEN TO YOU,
HOW LONG DO YOU INTEND STAYING? ____________?
WHEN DO YOU INTEND MOVING IN?______________?
IF YOU HAVE A PET,
NAME OF PET: _____________?
KIND OF PETS: _____________?
HABITS
DO YOU SMOKE ______________ ?
DO YOU DRINK ______________?
DO YOU WORK LATE NIGHT?____?

Looking forward to hearing from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case of issuing the receipt for you and contacting you…Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the keys to you,please we are giving you all this based on trust and again i will want you to stick to your words,you know that we have not seen yet and only putting everything into Gods hands,so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this…The house is available for rent at the moment so you are free to move in as soon as you wish to my number..(+23480-2971-7275).…A Deposit of $700 (which happens to be the security deposit) is required before moving in…Feel free to call me for more information and arrangements on how to get the keys and other necessary documents delivered to you...The house will be available for rent for a period of 4 years so you have a choice of deciding how long you intend staying there…

Rent:  $1000 Deposit: $700
3 Bedroom 2 Bathroom
Pet Allowed.

God Bless,

Nicholas Bailey 

Remember to look for a key few points in determining a rental scam:  

• Are they answering your questions that you've asked in a previous email?
• Do they only leave an email address (usually Hotmail or Yahoo) to contact them about the rental in the original ad?
• Do they give you an out-of-the-United-States phone number to contact them at?
• Do they clearly state that they are not even in the United States right now?

Usually one yes to any of these questions can guarantee that you are dealing with someone who is working on a scam.

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