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AG sounds alarm on credit-card fraud
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Posted on Feb 17 1999
The Office of the Attorney General has warned the public against the purchase of a fake credit card from a Texas-based company which has victimized a number of people since 1996.
Credicorp.Inc. of Dallas, Texas has been offering consumers a pre-approved solicitation for a 12 percent gold card with a credit line of $10,000 or more for only $30.
“It is a rip-off. It is not a master card, a visa card or an American Express card, just a gold card. You cannot use it unless the supermarket has some kind of an agreement with the company,” said Assistant Attorney General David Lochabey.
What made the Credicorp offer questionable was the fact that it even accepted consumers who are on the verge of bankruptcy, according to Lochabey, who handles consumer issues at the Attorney General’s Office.
US-based RAM Research which has received numerous phone calls and letters regarding the gold card has one piece of advice to the public: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Most of the companies offering these so-called gold cards are actually offering catalog shopping card. However, the catalog merchandise offers excessively overpriced goods forcing consumers to make 40 to 50 percent down payment before these can be charged to the gold card.
For example, a table lamp may be listed for $100 in the catalog with a required $50 down payment. But the same lamp may be purchased in a local discount store for $50.
Lochabey said consumers who want to establish a good credit reference are often disappointed to find out that most of these so-called gold cards do not report the payment record to credit bureaus.
Earlier, the Department of Commerce has cautioned the public against buying insurance policies of two companies which have pending cases in the United States.
But the department later on cleared — Fidelity Life Insurance Co. and Trans World Assurance — after these have been cleared of charges.
