Credit Card Refund

[Eclipse]

FYI ... for world-cruisers / spenders.

http://ccfsettlement.com/ is about the price cardholders of Visa-, MasterCard-, or Diners Club-branded payment cards were charged to make transactions (ATM incl.) in a foreign currency, or with a foreign merchant, between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006.

To claim a refund, click: Submit Claim Form (top right of page) ... it requests but does not require a Refund ID (that would have been sent to you by mail).

No ID, no problem - Click: I do not have a Refund ID - it takes you to the same Claim Form.

There are 3 options and no, it's not a scam, but I'm not holding my breath for any considerable sum to arrive.

The deadline is May 30th 2008.

[Hud3]

I feel a bit reluctant to give my credit card number to a website I don't know anything about. How do you know this is real?

[Aussiesuede]

Be very careful guys. The site above is simply http://ccfsettlement.com/ whereas the site listed in the Reuters article is

http://www.ccfsettlement.com/ a lot of "Spoof" sites act in this manner. Usually if you don't type the www first, your browser simply fills it in for you AS LONG AS THERE ISN'T AN ACTUAL SITE WHICH DOESN'T CONTAIN the www. The question that popped into my mind is why didn't it forward me to the site with www in it? Doesn't make sense that it would be hosted on TWO separate servers when the normal, and easiest, practice is to just let your browser act as it normally would. The case is real, that I can confirm. I would type in the http://www.ccfsettlement.com/ as opposed to the way it's linked above. Try typing in any website you know without www and when it appears on the screen look up at the address displayed in your browser and you'll see that the www was added for you. Now type in the link above and you'll notice it doesn't add the www - a typical trick of the spoofers... It might be legit, but I'd preference manually typing in the link from Reuters that includes the www in the link......

I also think it's worth saying : The deadline isn't until May 30th. I'd suggest waiting until May 20th just to see if any news of fake websites being used pops up on the web. Theres a lot of money out there in this claim, so that would make it an attractive target for the scammers. Hate to say it, but since there is no hurry - let someone else be the guinea pig that rushes in first....

[Hud3]

It seems that the two sites are identical. And the sites have a security certificate from GoDaddy.

Edit: the Better Business Bureau in Massachusetts has determined that this is legitimate:

BBB link

[Aussiesuede]

Originally Posted by Hud3

It seems that the two sites are identical. And the sites have a security certificate from GoDaddy.

Edit: the Better Business Bureau in Massachusetts has determined that this is legitimate:

BBB link

Yes the 2 sites are identical in content, but look to be hosted on two different servers. I'll try to be as brief as possible in explaining how a potential scammer works in this manner (Not that that's the case here, I don't know). If a scammer were to post the EXACT same site on a different server, and you accessed that site without the (WWW) as I previously indicated, he is able to collect all the data which travels through that site. ALL of the links can then be exactly as they are on the original site, and will be appropiately fowarded. YOU'D NEVER know any different as your claim would be processed as it should. The problem is if the site without the (WWW) is indeed a scam, then what you've done is provided your credit card details to that 3rd party. If it were a scam, they aren't trying to prevent you from filing a claim. They simply want your data and this is a way to get it.

If you noticed in the BBB link you provided, they told you to make sure to go to the address which included the (WWW) as I suggested.

(If responding online, be sure you are at the correct website, www.ccfsettlement.com

,

I hope that makes the potential problem a little bit clearer. I KNOW for CERTAIN that the lawsuit status is legitimate. There is no question at this point as it was finally reported in local news this week. I'm simply trying to make sure people are safe since it is as exceedingly easy as I've described for a scamster to grab your data and you'd never know it! They sell that data on the underground market for ten's of thousands and it requires about 5 minutes of total effort on their part.

Below is the registration information without the www. (Someone in Germany)

Registrant:

Luca Mueller

Feringastr. 6

85774 Unterfoehring

Germany

+49 (0) 89 99216 476 (v)

+49 (0) 89 99216 170 (f)

Domain Name: ccfsetttlement.com

Created on: 2007-12-06 11:20:48

Expires on: 2008-12-06 11:20:48

Administrative Contact:

Mueller, Luca luca.mueller1@gmail.com

Feringastr. 6

85774 Unterfoehring

Germany

+49 (0) 89 99216 476 (v)

+49 (0) 89 99216 170 (f)

Technical Contact:

Mueller, Luca luca.mueller1@gmail.com

Feringastr. 6

85774 Unterfoehring

Germany

+49 (0) 89 99216 476 (v)

+49 (0) 89 99216 170 (f)

Here is the registration information with the WWW

Registrant:

Heffler, Radetich & Saitta LLP

1515 Market Street

Suite 1700

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102

United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)

Domain Name: CCFSETTLEMENT.COM

Created on: 07-Jul-06

Expires on: 07-Jul-08

Last Updated on: 30-Oct-07

Administrative Contact:

Settlement Administrator, Foreign Currency Litigation webmaster@heffler.com

Heffler, Radetich & Saitta LLP

1515 Market Street

Suite 1700

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102

United States

8009459890

Technical Contact:

Settlement Administrator, Foreign Currency Litigation webmaster@heffler.com

Heffler, Radetich & Saitta LLP

1515 Market Street

Suite 1700

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102

United States

8009459890

The one with the WWW looks completely as it should and was created on July 6th 2007. The one without the WWW was created the day the information was first publicly released on December 6, 2007 and begs the question - Who is this Luca Mueller in Germany???

[Lighthouse]

Thank you for the really good information.

Just to add: The fact that Luca Mueller has used a free email address (gmail - untraceable) in his domain registration MUST ALWAYS raise the red flag. The registrant SHOULD use a contact email at his own domain when registering. Not to say that this will always be so but, BE CAREFUL!

Ask the team at www.419eater.com to have a look into this.

Stay safe on the Net!

[Hud3]

Aussiesuede,

Thanks for digging into this! I wish I know more about the intracacies of the Internet. I'm interested in this case, because my wife and I spent quite a bit of time in the Caribbean during the period of interest.

May I ask how you came up with the German registration information? I plugged the domain name (with and without the www) into a Network Solutions "WHOIS" search, and both returned the Philadelphia law firm as registrants.

Thanks,