Did you get an unknown, unauthorized credit card charge from techsbus.com? More charges are on the way. Someone might be scamming you. You need to act quickly.
Did you know you gave your credit card to someone named Martin in The UK?
A charge from techsbus.com is a problem. This article will cover:
- What techsbus.com is and how it ended up on your credit card
- The Risk of Identity Theft
- Why More Charges are coming
- 5 Things to do now to Protect Yourself
You need to act quickly. Other people have been scammed from techsbus.com. It depends how you got there. After reading this article, I encourage you to verify this information for yourself. Let’s review what might have happened…
What is techsbus.com?
techsbus.com is the billing name and customer service site for an adult entertainment site. (The site name is not appropriate for this website.)
The short gibberish name provides discreet billing. The charge usually appears with the customer service number such as: techsbus.com 844-690-9861.
The adult site is a private label or branded site. What that means is that there is a single “white label” operating company behind many sites. Here is how it works:
- An entrepreneurial person works with the white label company and sets up a website – whatever theme they choose.
- The entrepreneur promotes and sends people to their website.
- The white label company runs the website, collects the payments, takes their service charge, and pays the entrepreneur the rest.
Is techsbus.com Legitimate?
Some would consider it a scam. The adult site is real, but I have never signed up for it, and know nothing about its content.
The question really is…
How did techsbus.com end up on Your Credit Card Statement?
… or How did you get signed up? Assuming that you did not sign up for an adult oriented site, then you signed up for something that advertised as free, but had hidden charges. Here are some of the ways this odd looking, strange credit card charge ends up on your statement:
- The Get Verified Scam – Signing up for an Age or Date Verification service that advertised as “free”
- The Free Adult Game – When signing up for the game, you provide a credit card to prove you are 18 years old
- The Cam Scam – Signing up for a cam site or other adult oriented site that used your credit card to to prove you are 18 years old
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 techsbus.com by purposefully clicking thru a scam site that a reader sent me. His “date” had asked him to get verified. 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 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. In your case it was techsbus.com.
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. The terms are not always easy to see or find.
Who owns the facade date verification sites?
Sites are usually registered anonymously – usually in Panama. Occasionally, the sites belong to an identifiable person (men) in Bangladesh. I have found them in the Philippines as well. Because it is not possible for me to know how you got there, I cannot speak to your specific situation.
How They Trick You
The charges are completely hidden, or hard to find. Because it is the internet, there are an infinite number of ways to get there. I found techsbus.com by knowingly clicking thru one of the Get Verified scam facade websites, until I found techsbus.com.
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).
I found techsbus.com by finding the iFrame and purposefully clicking thru the scam.
Another trick is in this snip from one of the scams:
Scammers make money on the fact that enough people will just glance at it, and not see the 39.95 charge from techsbus.com.
The Billing Site Changes
The site you sign up for continually rotates. The date verification scam site connects to a controlling server, that assigns a billing site. In your case it was techsbus.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 diagram will give you an idea of what is happening.
example techsbus.com Network
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.
A Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Privacy Policy
There are many sites like techsbus.com. The white label site manager appears to be in the process of updating privacy policy to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards. Some have been updated, some have not. Therefore, by the time you read this, they might have changed the policy.
Usually you will need to go to the adult oriented site to find the privacy policy. Here is an example of one that has not been updated, and my major concern.
techsbus.com Privacy Policy
A note about techsbus.com and GDPR Privacy:
- 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.
Who Owns techsbus.com?
The owner of techsbus.com is Protofy Limited, Atlantic House, Imperial Way, Reading, RG2 0TD, UK. The contact number is: 844-690-9861.
Martin Creak is the registered director.
With any of these companies, you need to find the shareholder(s) to determine the real owner.
For more information, research companies in The UK at https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/.
Risk of Identity Theft
Track with me on this. Your date was a dude in a faraway country. He sent you to a facade website. Then there is Protofy, a shell company operating in The UK.
From reading the Terms of Use, they do not view themselves bound by U.S. law and regulations.
Combine the bad privacy policy, unknown companies with unknown security practices, and you have a great recipe for Identity Theft.
Who Has Your Credit Card and Personal Information?
I have no idea. When you entered your credit card, you gave it to a white label service company. That company is well hidden. An unknown payment processing company handles all credit card transactions. There are trustworthy payment processors, and there are untrustworthy payment processors. In addition, Protofy will legally have access to it. An outsourcing company handles customer service.
… not equipped to handle your personal and financial information
Bottom Line: A shell company 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. In conclusion, there is no reason to believe, that any person or company in your transaction is equipped to handle your personal and financial information.
Google Eventually Flags the Date Verification Site
Internet service companies will a flag facade get verified site after they receive enough complaints from the public. Here is an email from a reader that ended up in my spam folder:
- This is what it looked like in my spam folder
More Charges are Coming
The charge to your credit card account from techsbus.com is a monthly (recurring) charge. Subsequently, there can be charges from “bonus” offers, in the form of more trial memberships. I hear from readers quite often that they have 2, 3, or more charges on their account.
Hard to Cancel
Many of my 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. In addition, some of the sites require advance notice of 3-7 days before the next billing cycle. 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 techsbus.com
844-690-9861 – 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 need to provide a partial credit card number. That is O.K., you will be cancelling your credit card (Here is why).
Most importantly, do not provide them a full credit card number.
What You Should Do About a Credit Card Charge From techsbus.com:
Remember, only you will be able to determine how you got there and assess if it was a scam or not.
What to do next depends on why you think the charge is on your credit card. This is a serious situation, but as long as you keep cool 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 reading and good luck.
Ronin Eternales
Important - Stop That Charge and Ronin Eternales provide advice to help you get out of a bad situation. We are not associated with any of the sites and companies mentioned in this article and we do not provide financial advice.