AmericanSingles.com and Fraudulent Charges

Published on January 24, 2008

In August of 2006, I had my first experience with a fraudulent charge on a credit card. The charge was for service at AmericanSingles.com and was labeled “VISA CHECK CARD PURCHASE SPR*AMERICANSINGLES.COM 888-8543803 CA”. While I had visited AmericanSingles and had used the free services they provide for a short time, I never provided them with a credit card.

I contacted American Singles and they were very easy to work with. They said that the account opened with my credit card was registered as a 49 year-old divorced woman in Washington (clearly not me). The phone call lasted less than a few minutes and my card was credited the $59.97 I had been charged. I then cancelled the card just to be safe. Later that day, I found this post describing someone else going through the same situation. The comments also had many people stating that went through the same thing with the same company. I’ve checked back at this post from time-to-time and the problem seems to persist: people continue to leave comments stating that they have had a false charge for AmericanSingles.com.

Thinking back on it, I’m a little bothered by how rapidly the problem was resolved when I called American Singles. I was very happy to have the problem corrected quickly at the time but now I have to wonder: was my situation corrected so quickly because of how frequently it is happening? The woman I talked to gave no impression that she was surprised at a false charge. In some ways, it seemed far too routine.

Also, why American Singles? If someone had my credit card number, why not use it in some way where they could actually gain something? In this case, they had an open account at American Singles for about 20 hours, which seems to be a waste of having acquired my card (not that I’m complaining). I’m not familiar with the workings of making fraudulent charges but I have a few thoughts on why American Singles might be a popular place to make fraudulent charges.

They need to determine if the account is monitored
My first thought is that perhaps in credit card number stealing business, it is wise to first determine if the person monitors their account before trying to make some “real” purchase. This is concerning in some ways because, if this is the case, many of these thieves see American Singles as a good place to check – suggesting they are confident the dating site will not be looking into the fraudulent charges.

They want to find a date but plan to behave poorly
This one is actually a little scary. If credit cards are being stolen to create an account that the thief wants to use, well, what do they plan on doing that they don’t want to be able to be traced back to them? It could just be a married man or woman looking to cheat but even then, it isn’t good for the other people dating online.

I don’t know that either of the scenarios I presented are actually happening…but someone is making these fraudulent charges for some reason. Also, I don’t want to suggest that American Singles is the only site where this is happening. It just happens to be the only one I am aware of. A few simple suggestions just in case one of my two scenarios is actually happening:

• First, if you have had a fraudulent charge, report it. You can report the charge at Fraud.org (see their form here) or at the Internet Crime Complaint Center. This may not accomplish much on its own but if there is a pattern of repeated fraudulent charges going on at a particular site, this is probably one of the best ways to improve the situation.
• Second, for those dating online: be wary of contact from any members marked as “new”, especially if they are anxious to meet right away. I’m not suggesting you need to give that new guy or girl the third-degree (especially since they might have signed up just to talk to you). Instead, just put off meeting them for a week if they are flagged as new. If their account disappears during that week, cancel any dates you may have been planning. Again, I believe this approach would only be needed with members flagged as “new”. In other words, don’t become so paranoid you end up scaring off dates just because they happen to have just signed up!

Finally, if you’ve experienced this kind of fraudulent charge, feel free to leave a comment on what you experience. It could help others going through the same thing!

Author: Brad

Brad initially struggled with online dating but over time became quite successful using it. He met his wife using online dating and has been giving advice and helping people improve their results since 2007. He has written a Free Online Dating Guide to help others find success with online dating. You can learn more about his personal experience using online dating and running this website here.

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