How did pkhybm.com end up on your Credit Card Statement?
…or how did you get signed up? If you did not knowingly sign up for Peace And Real Love, then you probably signed up for something that advertised as free, but in reality there were hidden or hard to find charges.
The primary way people are signed up is thru what I call the Get Verified Scam - Signing up for an Age or Date Verification service that advertised as "free".
There are other ways that might have happened, such as when you sign up for a cam site, free online game, or a "free" smart phone - pkhybm.com is in the fine print. Behind each one of these scams, are trial-periods for dating and other sites, that turn in to expensive monthly subscription charge.
How Does The Get Verified Scam Work?
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” sends you to a website that is advertised as a “free” verification service. The site asks for your credit card to verify you.
Charges are deliberately hidden or hard to find using a program command called iframe. These charges are usually around $39.95. Since these scams often sign you up for multiple sites with “bonus offers”, charges can be as much as $170 per month.
The Date Verification scam site connects to a click-generating web site, which sends you to a rotating set of billing sites.
The terms of use have a “free trial period.” That leads to the subscription to the branded dating site and the charges. Since you did not know you signed up, you could not know to cancel the subscription before the trial period ended. You might have received an email reminder, which could easily end up in the spam folder – that is assuming you used your real email.
Who owns the facade date verification sites?
How They Trick You
There are two primary ways the scammers pull it off:
- iFrame: A web programming command that displays content from, and directs your credit card 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
The date verification scam site connects to a marketing/click generating server(s), which assigns a billing site. The marketing server rotates the billing sites. Sometimes this rotation happens with each click, and sometimes the scammers stick with a site until it is no longer effective. In your case the billing site was pkhybm.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.
It is 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.
Did you know you gave your credit card to someone in Cyprus?
Who Owns pkhybm.com?
The owner is Staffordish Limited PANAGIOTI KASPI 3 FLAT/OFFICE 202 Nicosia Cyprus 1097. The contact number is: (855) 500-0455.
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!
Companies in Cyprus can be researched at https://i-cyprus.com/.
For more information, see Staffordish Limited Company Information
A Bad Privacy Policy
They have policies that say all the right things – except they are sharing your information with unknown business partners. This is not like you gave your credit card to amazon.com and have a reasonable expectation of privacy and security. They are sharing your information internationally. Here is an example from one of their sites:
Full privacy policy can be found pkhybm.com/privacy.
These companies have changed their privacy policy. It used to be much worse. The language seems to comply with the European Union privacy law (GDPR). Things to note:
- GDPR applies to EU citizens conducting transactions in the EU. GDPR does not apply outside the EU.
- Updating the policy does not magically change the company operations. Call me a skeptic.
- GDPR does not mandate operational security audits like you would find in a reputable retailer or bank.
Is pkhybm.com Safe?
In my opinion, doing business with Staffordish is not safe. This is why:- Your “date” was a dude in a faraway country. He sent you to a facade website.
- A low quality dating site, owned by a shell company.
- The white label dating company is unknown.
- There is an unknown payment processor. That company has your credit card information, and makes the charges on behalf of these shell companies.
Risk of Identity Theft
Combine the bad privacy policy, unknown companies with unknown security practices, and you have a great recipe for Identity Theft.
More Charges are Coming
The charge to your credit card account is a monthly (recurring) charge. Additionally, there might 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. Those charges will appear under a different generic name.
Charges Can be Hard to Cancel
Many Ronin readers have reported that the subscription is hard to cancel in these types of sites. There can be a delay between when you contact them, and when the cancel is applied. If it is at the end of the trial-period or billing period, you get billed again. Some of the “Bonus” sites require advance notice of 5-7 days before the next billing cycle. These are some of the many reasons I recommend canceling your credit card.
Who Has Your Credit Card and Personal Information?
… not equipped to handle your personal and financial information
Bottom Line: A shell company that is using a service with unknown origin, sharing your information as they see fit, and high risk security policies and unknown practices. I have no idea who is really involved here. There is no reason to believe, that any person or company in your transaction is equipped to handle your personal and financial information
How to Cancel pkhybm.com
Before you call or visit pkhybm.com you will want to know what you need to do to protect yourself - read and follow the instructions in the next section ("What You Should Do..." below). Each option includes how to cancel and prevent further charges.
What You Should Do About a Credit Card Charge From pkhybm.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