This company - creditsupport.info - is a scam, and how they are allowed to continue is attributable to the fact that they are not really a company, they are just a domain name registered somewhere by people who hide behind identity protection services like the cowards they are. As is typical with these groups they are intent on defrauding children and other inexperienced internet users by impersonating trusted brands, in this case they are impersonating Argos from the UK.
Here is an excerpt from their email:
Clicking their link takes us through to: TRACK NOW (https://a-trk.h5lp.me/ga/click/2-55978638-4509-630-1262-855-f0b0678628-fceb982d0c)
From here you can be taken through to various sites, all performing the same scam. Pretending that you are receiving an iPhone 13 for £1 when you are actually paying a monthly subscription for entering some sort of competition service. You can see an example of the small print here:
You can enter the Skill Game for an iPhone 13 Pro, 6.1 inch, 128 GB for free by clicking here, or you can purchase blogquick.io without entering the Skill Game by clicking here (https://start.blogquick.io/en/c/blog-quick-signup). If you participate via this campaign, you enter the Skill Game and purchase a 3-day trial (2 GBP) to blogquick.io, after the trial you will be charged a membership fee of (65 GBP) every 30 days. No Purchase of blogquick.io is needed to enter or win the Skill Game, a purchase will not increase your chances of winning the Skill Game. This Campaign expires on the 30/06/2022.
Now this company is in Ireland, so let's send them an email and find out how they coordinate in their own head that this is fair. We have used the contact form on the website to ask them what they are offering people in Britain with that page.
They are here:
Sarong Limited
Walsh house, College street, apartment 18, house 5, Waterford
X91DF22. Republic of Ireland
Business Number: 652083
VAT Number: IE3640407HH
You see above that they are using the word campaign to mean wilful misrepresentation to defraud people, which seems odd when they have their website address and office address on the same domain as the scam. Perhaps they think that this small print is enough to protect them from a court case? Here you can see their small print in place on their website:
From the same email however, you can just as easily wind up with another affiliate. They pretend to be different people. This website uses the Argos logo again, presumably because the email used that logo, so the affiliates of that site have to as well.
This time you are taken through to: https://finolex.naturesappscom.com/r24T_Q2?5dQ_O9=ZH5zjnFocmlfn6-mknBqnGKFfnqUoXxhrGNgZHxylGiAjA/email%40domain.suffix&s3=Justin&s4=King which brings you through to this:
They then take you through to the TheWheelOfChance.com where the Argos logo is no longer featured. This is the site that will try and get your money and so they are registered somewhere, so they can no longer be seen as impersonating companies or using registered trademarks:
Once they are onto the payment site of TheWheelOfChance.com and the Argos logo is now longer in use, they can start to display the real terms and conditions that you are signing up with. As you can see from the above the terms and conditions are very different from offering prizes for a small delivery fee. Here are a few of the highlights:
- Legal Definitions:
- Site or Website: The Website for which you are purchasing a Username and Password (E-ticket) from us to access the site and its materials.
So as you can see from this, you are actually purchasing your logon as a subscription and you are not receiving anything else at all. They are somehow claiming that the suggestion of receiving an iPhone is an advertising campaign for their subscription to be sold.
Down at the bottom of the page on thewheelofchance.com it describes itself as a game with rewards. The suggestion here is that you pay the fifty euros a week and if you provide enough activity on the website you may win a prize:
What is this?
This is not just another game. Designed by game experts, it trains your mind while having fun at the same time. Improve your brain in ways you never thought possible!
How much does it cost?
It"s easy to cancel your membership. Membership has a trial period of 3 days, if membership is not terminated during the trial period, you will be billed thirty nine british pounds (depending on the product) every 30 days until you cancel your membership.
How do you win?
All participants automatically participate in a draw about the prize. We will draw a new winner per 15,000 participants. The winner will be contacted directly to arrange the delivery of the prize. If the product is out of stock, the winner will receive a similar product.
Questions?
If you have any questions or need help, we are ready to assist you at [email protected] (English Support) 10:00 to 16:00 CET Monday to Friday.
Now aside from the obvious punctuation mistakes in the above, is there a reason to believe that these people are entitled to trade this way in the UK? Claiming that their website is a game and that you are paying for a subscription to said game. In the above they are stating that the trial is actually what you are starting when you pay the one pound, ostensibly to receive an iPhone from Argos. In the below we are looking at the text that we have copied into the quote above so that you can see this really is their pitch.
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Well in the below we can see that the creditsupport.info website certificate is from R3 Let's Encrypt which is a free certificate provider that gives out certificates for three month periods and is one that many of the scammers use as it prevents them from being traceable through transaction details from any provider.
It is also a way of running a website from a free host without paying any money at all. this is common on sites that are free for public trials and other giveaways that attract scammers who can just set-up their site templates and repoint the scam URLs at a new instance when the previous one is shut down by the provider for being fraudulent.
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So what is the connection between creditsupport.info and thewheelofchance.com? Well the email contact for thewheelofchance.com is [email protected] and so they are connected by their own admission. How the blogquick.io company in Ireland is connected to them? Well one appears to redirect to the other, so at the very least they are affiliates of each other. In this case, however, it is actually the affiliates committing the greatest crime. The crime of misrepresentation and trademark infringement. The affiliates are the ones using the Argos logo to suggest that you will receive a free iPhone if you pay the postage. TheWheelOfChance.com are then using their ridiculous legal premise of being an online subscription game to complete the deal.
VERDICT: ANY UNEXPECTED IPHONE IS A SCAM !!