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#Fraud warning: the German "expat community" website @Internationsorg lures their members into automatically renewing membership subscription plans & charges their credit cards without prior notification for yearly membership fees. They are known #scammers https://www.trustpilot.com/review/internations.org
@Internationsorg first offers a "free trial", but demands credit card data & address when signing up for this. Once they charged the CC, they don't provide a refund - not even during #COVID19 when they can't offer services to their members due to #lockdown regulations worldwide.
If an @Internationsorg member decides not willing to accept that the Albatross membership was automatically renewed, they force their #darkpatterns on them by hiding the "downgrade" & "delete profile" options from the user interface & threat their members with debt collectors.
The @Internationsorg membership #fraud has become well-known by their members who shared their negative experience with these #scammers on review sites & by a @TechCrunch article where the #unethical business practices were described to warn others. #scam https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/21/this-subscription-social-network-is-happy-to-be-an-albatross-in-a-pandemic/
The automatically renewing membership is considered to be illegal in many countries/states, but @Internationsorg ignores the law. Their practice was reported to consumer protection authorities worldwide as #fraud & to @ftc, @bbb_us & to @FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. #scam
@Internationsorg quietly steals money from their members by using their credit card data. Their CEOs @MalteZeeck & Philipp von Plato are #thieves & #scammers. They should be targeted in a class action lawsuit for allegedly continuing to charge customers. https://www.allaboutadvertisinglaw.com/2020/05/automatic-renewal-programs-reducing-risks-during-the-covid-19-pandemic.html
" @FTC has taken notice of auto-renewal scams and has issued the “Negative Options Rule”. Businesses using auto-renewal must meet certain requirements, which include:
Obtaining the express consent of consumers before charging bank accounts or credit cards"
https://bit.ly/38PCnoo
Obtaining the express consent of consumers before charging bank accounts or credit cards"
https://bit.ly/38PCnoo
@Internationsorg violated Moratoriums during #COVID19 that would allow customers cancel their contracts & become entitled for a refund due to the pandemic as communicated by @CMAgovUK in the UK:
https://bit.ly/3nUzwip
And by @BMJV_Bund in Germany:
https://bit.ly/39ENZtM
#scam
https://bit.ly/3nUzwip
And by @BMJV_Bund in Germany:
https://bit.ly/39ENZtM
#scam
The #illegal & #unethical business practices & #darkpatterns of @Internationsorg (see the details in this thread) were already reported to many authorities:
@FTC
@bbb_us
@FBI
@EVZ_Deutschland
@ICPEN_est1992
& to many local police forces due to violating #lockdown rules
@FTC @bbb_us @FBI @EVZ_Deutschland @ICPEN_est1992& to many local police forces due to violating #lockdown rules
Please help to prevent that the @Internationsorg fraud claims more victims by the auto-renewing membership #scam.
See this thread
& DM 
.
@_scamwarner_ @ScammersWatch @ScamNewsChannel @ShieldVoC @ScamAlertGG @tsecrime @ScamDetector @ConsumerRights @ConsumerReports @CRAdvocacy
See this thread
& DM .@_scamwarner_ @ScammersWatch @ScamNewsChannel @ShieldVoC @ScamAlertGG @tsecrime @ScamDetector @ConsumerRights @ConsumerReports @CRAdvocacy
@harrybr FYI, @Internationsorg website uses #darkpatterns in case a user doesn't want to pay for the automatically renewed membership subscription. It's not possible to downgrade to "basic" membership or to delete the profile. Access to the profile is disabled. #ransom #scam
