Secured Online Seekers Scam in Brief…

Secured Online Seekers is a get verified / date verification scam that signs you up for a dating website without your knowledge.   Although the site promotes itself as free, It can cost $40 per month.

Site Name: Secured Online Seekers

Site URL: 

securedonlineseekers93c .bitballoon  .com/

Note that sites tend to copy similar sites so the URL might not be the same as the above.  If you find a different URL that looks similar (see website pic at the end), please leave a comment below.

Type of Scam

Get Verified / Date Verification with hidden credit card charges

What happens if you sign up?

You are signed up for membership to a rotating set of branded dating sites, run by a white labeled service company.   After a 2 day trial period your credit card is charged.  Also ” Membership to CamSiteOnline will be Free for Lifetime. You will also receive a free membership to InboxPartners.”

Cost of “getting verified”

$39.99 recurring Monthly Charge.  The charges are NOT visible in the fine print.

* Tested with Chrome on Windows 10 and an Android. Different browsers might have different results.

Redirect 

Yes – Your entry and credit card are redirected without your knowledge.  The redirect acts as a controller, and rotates to different branded dating sites.

Who Owns Secured Online Seekers

The site is a subdomain of bitballon.com.  That means the URL is prefixed by a custom name.  Bitballon is a web hosting company.   Who owns this subdomain is not public knowledge.

What Controls the Redirect:

It could vary depending upon the user (the last part of the URL) that sent you the link.  Observed:

• Joincheckout.com  – registered anonymously.

Where does the redirect go:

A rotating set of white label dating sites.  See Get Verified: Tinder, Badoo, and Craigslist – Matrix of a Scam for more information how this works.  You can also watch this video.

The Fine Print

By pressing ‘Click Here For Access’, I certify that I have read and agree to the complete terms of membership and billing and that the card entered above is my credit card. Your access to CamSiteOnline includes a 2 day free trial promo to Provocative Matchmaking. If you choose to remain a member of Provocative Matchmaking beyond the trial period, your membership will renew at thirty nine dollars and ninety nine cents. Your membership to CamSiteOnline will be Free for Lifetime. You will also receive a free membership to InboxPartners.

Your IP Address has been logged for fraud protection.

Charges made to your credit card will appear under “pvcech.com (866)798-4540”, operated by Tullus Enterprises Limited, an eCommerce Merchant located in the United Kingdom.

Note that the pvcech.com is the billing and customer service site for this  branded dating site for the instance that I clicked on the site.  This site will rotate on each new click in secured online seekers.

How Date Verification scams work

This is a high level summary of how the scam works.  There are variations, but all are essentially the same.   

1. Contact

You make contact with a person of your desire on a dating website or forum. Although Craigslist is polluted with these scams, they appear on any website or service.

2. Email or Direct Message

The response includes an email or a phone number to text and continue a conversation

3. A fabricated conversation

Usually, there will be a response that simulates conversation. This conversation will seem klunky. The reason is that by contacting the email or the phone number a robotic script is behind the conversation, not a real person. The conversation is designed to build interest.

4. A “Free” Date Verification service

Your “date” wants to meet you but she wants to make sure you are safe, and asks you to verify yourself on a website she provides. She notes that it is free.

5. The Date Verification Website – a Façade 

The Date Verification website reinforces the verification to stay safe theme, and touts a free service.  The site asks for an email and a credit card, saying there is no charge.  In fact, this site is nothing more than a shell that redirects you to another website without your knowledge.  There is no verification website.

6. Charges

Your credit card is charged for access to a dating or a pornography site after a short trial period.  Charges run from $39.99 to >$160.00 per month.  Some sites show fine print that reveals the charges, some sites completely hide it.  Often the consumer doesn’t know they have been signed up for these sites until it shows up on their credit card, long after the free trial period has ended.

7. The Real website

The facade website you go to uses an internet programming command called iFrame.   Inside the iFrame is the controller website that directs the traffic.  This routes or redirects your credit card and email to another website without your knowledge. The hidden website is a dating or pornography site. Often the hard-to-find or hidden charges include multiple dating or pornography services.

The Branded White Label Site

The site where your credit card is entered is usually a gibberish name which you cannot see.  The name is short for the dating site name. For instance fntrlve.com might equal Find True love. These are branded white label dating sites. That is there is a very large dating site service company (white label company) that runs many (hundreds) of similar dating sites. The white label company provides which includes the servers, aggregated membership, and billing services. They all have the same format, but use different pictures, fonts and names, and themes (branding).

The pornography sites are also in the same model. The billing name is innocuous – perhaps an independent billing service that you will see on your credit card. Something like debitdesk.com which has association with the xxx site.

Why do they get away with this?

The people who create the date verification websites are usually from far corners of the world. Bangladesh, China, etc. The dating and pornography sites are companies incorporated in the UK, Spain, Cypress or the Bahamas.  In between are click generating sites (“who does the redirect” above).   This middleman give plausible deniability to the White Label Dating site owners.  It is unlikely that the Dating site owners know who the Shell Site owners are.

What to do if you are being charged

Each of the dating or pornography sites has a billing site that you can call who will stop your subscription. Removing the charges can be a challenge. These companies are not known for their superior customer service.

If you did not know you were going to be charged, then this is a case to dispute the charges with your credit card company.

If you knew you were getting the charge, then you owe the amount billed.

See my Unauthorized Credit Card Charges post for a more complete answer

Website Picture

Early Warning Signs

1. Anytime you are asked to leave the communications you are on, and go to another form you should be suspicious
2. Klunky conversation or cannot answer a direct and simple question, such as what part of town are you in?
3. Anytime you are asked to verify it is a scam.

See the full video that shows proof positive of the scam

Video

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