Did you get a credit card charge from duecreds.com?
Did you know that you gave your credit card to a guy named Narek in Cyprus?
More charges are on the way. You might have been scammed. You need to act quickly.
A charge from duecreds.com is a problem whether unauthorized, known, or unknown. This article will cover:
- What duecreds.com is and how it ended up on your credit card
- The Risk of Identity Theft
- Why more charges are on the way
- 5 Things to do now to Protect Yourself
You need to act quickly. Other people have been scammed from duecreds.com. It depends how you got there. After reading this article, I encourage you to verify this information for yourself.
Lets review what might have happened…
What is duecreds.com?
duecreds.com is the billing and customer service site for an adult oriented site. The short gibberish name is used for discreet billing. The charge usually appears with the customer service number such as: duecreds.com 833-405-8013.
When I first found duecreds.com it was associated with an adult entertainment site. That site name is too graphic for this website. I also found it with an adult oriented dating site. The dating site changes on some sort of rotating basis. Some of the dating site names are not suitable for this web site either. A few that are suitable include:
- FreeLocalDates.com
- summerswipe.com
- members-dating.com
The owners of the above sites have dozens of similar sites.
Is duecreds.com Legitimate?
The dating sites are real, but use fake profiles to “stimulate conversation”. You can judge for yourself. Here is a snip from the Terms:
The adult entertainment site is real. Beyond that, I do not know anything about the content.
The right question is…
How did duecreds.com end up on Your Credit Card Statement?
… or How did you get signed up? If you did not knowingly sign up for an adult oriented site, then you probably signed up for something that advertised as free, but in reality there were hidden or hard to find charges. Here are some of the ways this odd looking, strange credit card charge ends up on your statement:
- Get Verified Scam – Signing up for an Age or Date Verification service that advertised as “free”.
- Free Adult Game – When signing up for the game, you provide a credit card to prove you are 18 years old
- Cam Scam – Signing up for a cam site or other adult oriented, you provide a credit card to prove you are 18 years old
- Free iPhone Scam – Signing up to register to win an iPhone, typically by responding or clicking to an ad that said you win an iPhone.
Behind each one of these scams, are trial-periods for dating and other sites, that turn in to expensive monthly subscription charges.
The Get Verified Scam
I found duecreds.com by purposefully clicking thru a scam site that a reader sent me. His “date” had asked him to verify. For this article we will focus on the “get verified” scam.
Your Date
You meet someone online, and they express interest in you. They tell you they want to meet in person, but first you must verify to prove you are “safe” or something along those lines.
Your “date” is really just a fake profile. They send you to a facade website that advertised as a “free” verification service. The site asks for your credit card to verify you.
Charges are deliberately hidden or hard to find. These charges are from signing up to services that have a free trial period. When the Trial period ends, you are charged around $49.95/month. Since these scams often sign you up for multiple sites, charges can be as much as $150 per month.
How They Trick You
In these scams the charges could be completely hidden, or just hard to find. Because it is the internet, there are an infinite number of ways to get there. I found duecreds.com by knowingly clicking thru one of the Get Verified scams.
There are two primary ways the scammers pull it off:
- iFrame: A web programming command that displays content from, and directs your information to another site without you knowing.
- Too Big for the Smart Phone: Web Pages designed to hide information when you are on a small screen (your smart phone).
The Billing Site Changes
Billing sites constantly rotate. The date verification scam site connects to dating web site, that sends you to a central registration and payment server that assigns a billing site. In your case it was duecreds.com.
Did you see how the rotation works in the video?
Confused?
The operators of these sites do that on purpose. It is a complex network of facade websites, obfuscating servers, and shell companies. The obfuscation provides plausible deniability – and – makes finding the responsible party difficult. This chart will help you.
The details and depth of the scam are too much to get into in this article. You can read more at this website:
In Depth: The complex network of Age and Date Verification Scams.
And We Have Added Bonuses!
When I found duecreds.com, there were “Bonus Offers” to more adult entertainment. (In addition to the other hidden charges.) Here is what the hidden section looks like; I call this the three-site-whammy:
Your free 2 day trial to freehookuptonight-VIP renews at the same calendar day at a fixed $49.95/month after the trial ends unless cancelled. To avoid being charged, simply cancel your membership before the trial period ends.
Any charges made to your credit card will appear under duecreds.com.
Please upgrade me to a VIP Membership +
+VIP Membership Includes The Following Offers:
-MaxHD***.com – 7 Days Free Trial, membership renews same calendar day at a fixed $49.61/monthly, after the trial period ends unless cancelled
-Exclusive***Videos.com – 10 Days Free Trial, membership renews same calendar day at a fixed $49.87/monthly, after the trial period ends unless cancelled
WHAM!!! Thats almost $150 PER MONTH!!! Notice how they pre-fill the check box for you. HOW AWESOME IS THAT !!!
Did you know you gave your credit card to someone in Cyprus?
Who Owns duecreds.com?
The owner of duecreds.com is Dalecliff Limited, Nearchou Kliridi, 16 Flat Office 101 Nicosia Cyprus 1087. The contact number is: 833-405-8013.
Loukia Charalampous is the registered director.
The concern with Cyprus is that companies can be registered anonymously, through a lawyer. The persons named, might not be the owners of the company. There are many shell companies in Cyprus.
With any of these companies, you need to find the shareholder(s) to determine the real owner. Good luck with that!
For more information, research companies in Cyprus at https://i-cyprus.com/.
Nautell Capital Limited is the owner of most of the adult themed dating sites. Nautell is a shell company in Cyprus. Narek Melkonian is the registered director. Melkonian is an Albanian surname. It is not possible for me to determine if this is a real name of a person associated with the company. You can read more about Nautell here: Nautell Capital Company Information.
Ulria Limited is another company, but is found much less. Ulria is also a small shell company in Cyprus. Elini Xeni is the registered director.
Nautell, Ulria, and other companies in Cypress can be researched here.
Risk of Identity Theft
Track with me on this. So your date, was probably some dude in a far away country, they sent you to a facade website, that was owned by an Albanian guy named Narek, who runs a company in Cyprus, and runs your credit card thru an unknown company, and then there is Dalecliff, a shell company operating in Cyprus.
Who Has Your Credit Card and Personal Information?
I have no idea. When you entered your credit card, it was given to a site that handles subscription checkouts for adult sites. JoinOurWebsite.com and joinpage.com are two that I know of. They are registered anonymously. In order to process a credit card transaction, they will use a payment processing company. There are trustworthy payment processors, and there are untrustworthy payment processors. I do not know what company is used. Nautell or Ulria, and Dalecliff will legally have access to it. There is an outsourced customer service company as well.
… not equipped to handle your personal and financial information
Bottom Line: A set of shell companies that are using a services with unknown origin, sharing your information as they see fit, with unknown security measures, has your credit card and personal information. I have no idea who is really involved here. Even if you knowingly signed up, there is no reason to believe, that any person or company in your transaction is equipped to handle your personal and financial information.
The Laws of Cyprus
In the Terms of the dating sites, you will find that the transaction and use of the site is governed under the laws of Cyprus.
“Agreement shall be construed, interpreted and enforced in accordance with the laws of Cyprus”…
“shall be resolved by binding arbitration in Cyprus”
Good luck with that.
More Charges are Coming
The charge to your credit card account is a monthly (recurring) charge. Additionally, there will probably be charges from “bonus” offers, in the form of additional trial memberships. I hear from readers quite often that they have with 2, 3, or more charges on their account.
Did You Get an Error?
Several readers have sent me this horror story: When they signed up and tried to register, they received an error. They sent an email back to their “date”, who sent them to a new site to try again. The other variation is they clicked on the website error button that looks something like this:
What is Really Happening is that the victim is signing up for another trial period for another adult or dating site. One reader wrote to me and stated that 6 different unknown credit card charges appeared on his bank statement. Can you say OUCH?
Hard to Cancel
My readers have reported that the subscription is hard to cancel in these types of sites. Often there is a delay between when you contact them, and when the cancel is applied. Some sites require advance notice (3-7 days) to apply a cancel to the next month. These are just some of the many reasons I recommend canceling your credit card.
But Wait! There is More!
…he said with a tip of the hat to Billy Mays…
Added Bonus: Free Spam and Phishing
If you have given your email to a scammer who then referred you to a date verification site, the scammer will sell your email on the dark web. This will result in a high rate of spam and sooner or later, phishing attempts.
How to Cancel duecreds.com
833-405-8013 – If you are going to seek a full refund, you might need to call them. Before you contact them, you will want to read and follow the instructions in the next section …
If you simply wish to cancel, there is a cancel function and other contact information at their website. You will probably need to provide a partial credit card number. That is O.K. (Here is why). Besides, you will be cancelling your credit card anyway.
Never again provide them a full credit card number.
What You Should Do About a Credit Card Charge From duecreds.com:
There are 5 things you need to do now to protect yourself. What you do depends your circumstance – why you think the charge is on your credit card.
Important: Only you can make the determination: Did you know? Should you have known? Were you scammed? This is a serious situation, but as long as you keep calm and act quickly, you will be fine. Click one of the options below and we will take it from there…
You remember signing up for a free service, such as a Date / ID verification or cam site, but it was free.
None of the above is familiar
Someone else in my Household did this.
Thank you for visiting, and good luck.
Ronin Eternales