Amp-Games.com is it a front for accepting fraudulent credit card purchases of 4.95 Dollar?
A friend recently found that his credit card was already used on a existing PayPal account. Thus he could not add this credit card to his existing account. Upon review of his credit card bill several purchases for approximately 5 dollars appear randomly over the past year from various websites. One of the sites is Amp-Games.com. If you look up Amp-Games.com on Alexa you will see that it has no traffic numbers. In order to have no traffic numbers it has to have almost nonexistant traffic. Thus here is what I theorize is happening.
- Joe Blow sets many many websites where he can sell some stupid game software like on Amp-Games.com. The idea is to deliver an electronic product that you can claim is not bogus.
- Joe then hacks or gets a big list of credit card numbers.
- Joe uses this credit card info to set up a PayPal accounts.
- Joe goes to a coffee shop off site and makes purchases from his websites using paypal accounts. Now he can just say he receives money for a legitimate purpose. It is not HIS fault someone used a fraudulant credit card transaction.
- Since it is only 5 bucks most people will not even notice the charge on their account
- If you read the user agreement Amp-Games.com you will see: Refund Policy – We guarantee a full refund of purchase made on our website if the customer is not satisfied with the quality of the product or has additional requirements. The refund is processed within 2 business days. …………..Thus if anybody sees the charge on their credit card bill and complains they just give the money back.
If I was a scoundrel this is how I would do it. Its low on the radar. The scam may go on for years or forever for that matter.
Addendum: This scam looks alot like something mentioned in this story: FTC Says Scammers Stole Millions, Using Virtual Companies
March 5th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
I got hit by this scam with three charges over the last two months from 'Amp Games Com'
On the same card, I also noticed 4 changes for 4.95 from 'Electronic Business Re' every three months in 2009.
I'm reluctant to call my bank because I don't want to go through the effort of changing credit card number.
March 5th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
It appears when you read the site that they readily refund. This is part of their scam. That way they are much less likely to run afoul of Johnny law or of their credit card company. You should definitely call your credit card company and see what money amp games will cough back up for you if you make enough noise. You might be able to threaten them with law enforcement such as saying “I am going straight to the police and filling out a credit card fraud report”
Even if you do that you will end up needing to change your credit card number. After studying credit cards I have come to the conclusion that changing the number periodically is a damned good idea!
If you do anything like this make sure you come back and update me on what happened. I would REALLY like to know who is behind it etc…….
March 6th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Well I called my credit card company and decided to opt for a new number. Then I emailed amp-games support and told them I refuse to fund their bogus games that I did NOT purchase……
March 7th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Did Amp Games respond ????
Its important for my story to find out because if they are smart they refund easily so as to not run afoul of the law or CC company.
…..if that is true I want to say so with the article as it would be good to inform EVERYONE!!!!
Definitely keep me up to date!!!!
March 8th, 2010 at 9:45 am
A person who had been charged by Amp Games got back to me regarding what happened with their Amp Games situation: Here is what they forwarded:
Regulations for further investigation. Most likely, we are dealing here
with unauthorized transaction made by somebody else on our website.
account. Thank you very much for your cooperation.
Isaac Hills, AMP Games Customer Service.
March 8th, 2010 at 9:56 am
I found some more stuff about them here:
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-407-412-9664
This number shows up on my Bank Statement after charging me $4.95, There is a web site listed also as Amp-games.com. Number is listed as FL number. I have never been to or ordered from this site. I have reported them to Bank of America. They seem to be associated with 2 other phone numbers: 520-762-7185 (AZ) Fun-games&books who charged $4.97 in Nov 09 and 478-394-4394 (GA) Hopes&dreams who charged my account $4.97 in Jan 10.
Bank of America has filed a Fraud claim and refunded my money.
I had the same companies charge me–Fun games, Hopes&Dreams and now AmpGames I just dispute them–don't really want to close my oldest credit card:
Nov 19, 2009 Nov 19, 2009 FAMILY FUN-GAMES&BOOKS
($7.97)
Jan 8, 2010 Jan 8, 2010 HOPES & DREAMS
($4.97)
Feb 3, 2010 Feb 3, 2010 AMP-GAMES.COM
($4.95)
Feb 20, 2010 Feb 20, 2010 AMP-GAMES.COM
($4.95)
March 12th, 2010 at 2:31 am
I have found 4 hits on my bank account dating back to 1/11/20010:
01/11/2010
Debit Card Transaction
MYGAMESONTHEGO.COM 07063 01/09MYGAMESON
$4.89
02/03/2010
Debit Card Transaction
FERICULGAMES.COM HOUSTON 02/01FERICULGA
$4.92
02/26/2010
Debit Card Transaction
FERICULGAMES.COM HOUSTON 02/24FERICULGA
$4.92
Pending
Misc. Debit
IPC POS DEBIT AMP-GAMES.COM ORLANDO FL
$4.95
I'm going to be giving my bank a call here in the next few days plus I have written Fericulgames.com and Amp-games.com asking for a refund and letting them know I did not purchase their games. I tried looking up Mygamesonthego.com but it seems that their site no longer exists…. imagine that. Ill let you know if I get an email back from them.
March 12th, 2010 at 6:48 am
Definitely want to hear back from you Mr MpDuck! – This is probably run by anywhere from 1 to 4 persons. I would love to get some names of who is running this!
March 12th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Well I got a response back from Amp-games… a fast response since I just wrote them last night… here is the email:
Dear XXXXXX,
The transaction has been reversed and reported further to Visa/MasterCard
Regulations for further investigation. Most likely, we are dealing here
with unauthorized transaction made by somebody else on our website.
Please, allow a few business days for a refund to post back on your
account. Thank you very much for your cooperation.
Kindest regards,
Isaac Hills, AMP Games Customer Service.
Ill let you know if I hear back from Fericulgames.com or not….
March 12th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
He coughs it up easily! … that is good strategy for him to avoid prosecution.
March 15th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Yet another fur ball coughed up. Seems like they have a customer service department consisting of 1 person.
His “name” being Isaac Hill. Makes you wonder if the mythical Isaac runs the security department. I damn well know he runs the fraud department…committing it that is. ( not investigating )
support@amp-games.com wrote:
Dear XXXXX,
Thank you for the prompt reporting and sorry for this mistaken charge.
We guarantee a full refund for you and a full investigation of the case by
our security department and Visa/MasterCard Regulations in order to
prevent any further false charges on your account.
To allow us to make a refund, please confirm your billing address and your
name as it exactly appears on your card.
Looking forward to assist you further.
Kindest regards,
Isaac Hills, AMP Games Customer Service.
March 24th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Dear Amp-games Department..
You have been unauthorized charge my account 3 times in the past. Please stopped of what you been doing and give me the refund .. thank you for you concern..
March 28th, 2010 at 8:40 am
Amp Games is a fraud – under investigation by FBI announced on March 24.
March 28th, 2010 at 10:12 am
Hey Teddy boy! …. please link me on that FBI investigation you mentioned!!! Would be great to read more…….
April 29th, 2010 at 6:40 am
I just got hit by Fericulgames.com for $4.92 to my account. I’d never been there or even heard of it until I saw that charge on my account. I googled it and found a few places (like here) describing it as a fraud.
Looks like a pretty brilliant scheme: Charge very small, forgettable amounts to frequently go unnoticed, and if someone complains that they didn’t actually buy anything from you, apologize and refund them immediately. The math can be attractive: Take the number of people who ( (either don’t notice) + (do notice but it’s too small an amount to make them act) + (or think they actually bought something) ) all multiplied by $4.92 = X. Considering how many people were targeted, X could be a nice, fat number.
I don’t know if you can actually download the games the website describes, but that would be even more clever – to write simple cheesy games and make them for sale so part of your business is actually legitimate.
I canceled my debit card and had my bank file a claim.
April 29th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Dear Sean….. I have not tried to download any games however I would be willing to wager dollars to donuts that there are cheesy games that you can download. However check the alexa ratings of the site. Numbers are negligible. That means NO traffic on the site. In turn that means no one likes the games…..
May 1st, 2010 at 2:55 am
This is upsetting, yet comforting to know I'm not alone. I literally caught the the thing tonight, and the transaction was made yesterday, April 30th. I'm happy to see others are still talking about this, but tomorrow, I'm making a call to my bank.
Stupid fericulgames.com… website and amp-games is ltierally the same, with different shitty web design. If you read the terms and conditions, they're both exactly the same.
Good luck to all who have to deal with this. At some point, these fucks will pay.
Sorry for vulgarity. I'm pissed.
May 14th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
I just viewed my on-line bank statement and saw a pending debit to fericulegames, $4.95, (I think.) drawn against my debit card.It will probably be procesed tonight so I will have to request the bank to reverse the charge. This will require paperwork and time and I would be glad too give someone $4.95 to take cafe of it, but I think we all need to stop these ****heads.
May 16th, 2010 at 9:03 am
Gah! We are being nickel and dimed to death!
May 22nd, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Domain name: FERICULGAMES.COM
Administrative Contact:
-
Daniel Grubman (grubmand@yahoo.com)
+1.4259289801
Fax: -
7621 Lakewood Dr
Houston, TX 77016
US
Technical Contact:
-
Daniel Grubman (grubmand@yahoo.com)
+1.4259289801
Fax: -
7621 Lakewood Dr
Houston, TX 77016
US
Registrant Contact:
-
Daniel Grubman ()
Fax:
7621 Lakewood Dr
Houston, TX 77016
US
May 22nd, 2010 at 5:00 pm
A common theme among these domains is that their registrar is Landis Holdings, Inc.
Domain name: AMP-GAMES.COM
Administrative Contact:
-
Joseph Haley (josphhaley@ymail.com)
+1.4073816209
Fax: -
827 Hoperita Street
Orlando, FL 32812
US
Technical Contact:
-
Joseph Haley (josphhaley@ymail.com)
+1.4073816209
Fax: -
827 Hoperita Street
Orlando, FL 32812
US
Registrant Contact:
-
Joseph Haley ()
Fax:
827 Hoperita Street
Orlando, FL 32812
US