Streamate credit card scam

[starsign]

Right. I recently joined Streamate thinking it would be nice to try something new for a change (I've been MFC premium for 3 years now). Bad idea I suppose, now it appears that Streamate has been selling my cc information to god knows who... Here's what's happened so far: on the second day I logged in I contacted the support for some Q about my charges. Not only they couldn't answer my questions but they also "froze" my account and a text appeared asking me to call their US based tel. number. As I didn't want to make an overseas call I checked my email just in case and true enough there was an email from Streamate. Except it was an email to join some third party dating website but it was sent under Streamate subject. At first I didn't realize this, so I clicked on it and it automatically registered me as their member. Wtf?

So now Streamate is distributing my cc info to other parties, in this case something called Erotic.net dating website. Not only that, but there is a 3-day "free period" after which they'll start charging 24.95 per month. I immediately tried to cancel both membership accounts, but SM refused to even discuss the dating website. I emailed their "support" and tried to cancel the membership but they just kept replying with another advertisement and a link to unsubscribe for which I didn't even have a password. Finally I got a manual response but it was already over the 3-day mark.

Just wanted to let you guys know, giving Streamate your cc info nowadays is just asking for trouble. Now I'm checking my internet banking every couple of days for any charges. Of course I won't pay lol.

And that's not all. I did some reading on Streamate and there is a performer who found out after she stopped working for Streamate how they created a new account and used their recordings of her private chats as a loop. I'm not sure if I can mention her "stage name" here but I think you guys know her… Such a nice little website they are running.

 

[The Insider]

I've had associations with all of the cam sites out there at one point or another and it used to be that you'd never hear of crap like this going on.
That has changed over the years to the point where nothing surprises me anymore.

These sites rely on the fact that they are based in Malta, or special free trade zones in Portugal, the Azores, Caymans, hong kong etc to protect them.
Because what is joe blow in Montana really gonna do ? They figure they can get away with it because most people are not gonna go to their bank and say "i got ripped off by assfuckers.com"
So stealing a dollar each from a million people makes few waves, where if someone steals 1 million from one person everyone knows

The root cause of the change is the elephant in the room no model wants to mention as it's where their bread & butter earnings are made. But it was the tail that wagged the dog to them become the dog itself

 

[zippypinhead]

They automatically signed me up for that erotic dating site when I became a member of Streamate, too. When I contacted customer service about it, they canceled the membership to it and reversed the charges immediately. They were nice about it, too, so I chalked it up as an honest mistake. This is good to know. I don't think I like SM, anyway. I can't get the hang of it, and it just feels a little shifty to me. That this behavior is an issue for other people might mean I'll be canceling my membership there. I don't have enough money to risk incurring charges I didn't authorize, even temporarily.

 

[The Insider]

Aside from your bad experience Streamate has always been one of the best sites to work for. It's not a bare bones site where when a model emails support they get back to her maybe in 3 days, that have a staff. You send them a message you get a receipt that they got it and if the issue is urgent you get a pm in your room, taken to pvt with that cust support rep & they deal with the issue.
If you are from a country where porn can be problematic (like the recent mia milan fiasco) they'll politely tell you that they aren't accepting models from that region at the moment

They are also the only site I've seen advertise on semi mainstream tv. You can catch a commercial of theirs (with porn star lupe fuentes) for a dating site on SpikeTV sometimes, but it's like "dating.streamate.com" so it's not a great leap for someone to be curious enough to try plain "streamate.com" plus that dating site is loaded with regular streamate ads. Overall a high conversion site

p.s. kudos for your recognition of zippy the pinhead

 

[Crumb]

nothing like this has happened to me when I signed up
I use a prepaid card tho, so there's not much to take (if anything) if they do try something

 

[zippypinhead]

Aside from your bad experience Streamate has always been one of the best sites to work for. It's not a bare bones site where when a model emails support they get back to her maybe in 3 days, that have a staff. You send them a message you get a receipt that they got it and if the issue is urgent you get a pm in your room, taken to pvt with that cust support rep & they deal with the issue.
If you are from a country where porn can be problematic (like the recent mia milan fiasco) they'll politely tell you that they aren't accepting models from that region at the moment

They are also the only site I've seen advertise on semi mainstream tv. You can catch a commercial of theirs (with porn star lupe fuentes) for a dating site on SpikeTV sometimes, but it's like "dating.streamate.com" so it's not a great leap for someone to be curious enough to try plain "streamate.com" plus that dating site is loaded with regular streamate ads. Overall a high conversion site

p.s. kudos for your recognition of zippy the pinhead

I would hope that their aim is legitimacy. I know that a lot of models here seem happy with the performer-side services they provide, and that's why I had gone there in the first place; their reputation seemed good. And when I raised the issue of the unwanted membership and charge from their affiliate, it was taken care of immediately for me.

That stated, being charged for a product or service that I didn't actively authorize is disturbing. It's situations like this -- especially now that it seems not to be an isolated incident -- that cause the sex industry to have the sleazy and untrustworthy reputation that it does. Whether it was a mistake or not, it shouldn't have happened in the first place. If Streamate's aim is legitimacy, they should take steps to see that it doesn't happen again.

P.S. Thanks!

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

I had the same exact experience when I signed up for streammates. I was immediately signed up for the dating site. I think some where in the several "click here to agree to our TOC", there was sign up for a our free dating site. The fine print talked about the recurring charge in something I didn't read.

When I noticed and complained SM immediately refunded my money, on the porn site sleezy rating scale I think it is about 5.

 

[emptiedglass]

nothing like this has happened to me when I signed up
I use a prepaid card tho, so there's not much to take (if anything) if they do try something

I've had problems in the past with other sites, so now I'll only use the disposable prepaid cards for my adult purchases.
Plus, because I know most of the tellers at my bank, I don't have to worry about them pulling up my account and instantly knowing what my, er, vices are.

 

[AllisonWilder]

I've been a member (and model) of Streamate since April of 2012 and I have never had any instance where my credit/debit card has been charged for services I didn't specifically purchase.

Also, if you're a member of Streamate, you are automatically a member of all of their white label sites. For example, I can log in with my username and password on streamate, cammodels, cam.com, cambabeshows, etc., even though I only signed up for Streamate.

 

[Lintilla]

I had the same exact experience when I signed up for streammates. I was immediately signed up for the dating site. I think some where in the several "click here to agree to our TOC", there was sign up for a our free dating site. The fine print talked about the recurring charge in something I didn't read.

I have a SM member account that I made just a few months ago and I'm fairly certain I do remember something of this nature somewhere in the signup process. A checkbox or button that had to be avoided so that you wouldn't be automatically signed up. I can't say I'm 100% sure it was there because I'm so used to scanning for that kind of trickery when installing things or signing up for accounts online that it doesn't seem that notable to me anymore when I run into it.

 

[MyCamgirl]

You guys may be facing a cross-sale. If that is the case, then this is not an unauthorized charge. The thing is, if you don't pay attention, you won't notice that you are also subscribing a third site. It is common on some Streamate White Label, but I don't remember seeing it in the main Streamate. Many porn sites do that and if you contact them on time, they will cancel the membership right away because they know that most of the people join the cross sites by mistake. If you don't say anything, well, they will charge your card every month.

Edit: What Lintilla said. It is a checkbox that is checked by default and says something like "I also want to join site_x for $xx". Sometimes it a free-trial with paid membership starting after 3 days. The checkbox is normally placed near the checkbox that says "I confirm that I am at least 18...", so you may overlook thinking it is one of those legal things you have to check. I am talking about porn sites in general, not specific on Streamate.

 

[Jupiter551]

I had the same exact experience when I signed up for streammates. I was immediately signed up for the dating site. I think some where in the several "click here to agree to our TOC", there was sign up for a our free dating site. The fine print talked about the recurring charge in something I didn't read.

I have a SM member account that I made just a few months ago and I'm fairly certain I do remember something of this nature somewhere in the signup process. A checkbox or button that had to be avoided so that you wouldn't be automatically signed up. I can't say I'm 100% sure it was there because I'm so used to scanning for that kind of trickery when installing things or signing up for accounts online that it doesn't seem that notable to me anymore when I run into it.

That makes sense, because I have gotten really good at avoiding those and I just checked my bank statements streamate have never charged me incorrectly and I don't know of any dating site.

 

[starsign]

Hmmm found also this, looks they have a variety of tricks under their sleeve:

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complain ... 44119.html

Complaintsboard gives rating: Stay away. :?

I've noticed a considerable drop in Streamate (paying) traffic lately. I wonder if it's just a coincidence?

 

[starsign]

These sites rely on the fact that they are based in Malta, or special free trade zones in Portugal, the Azores, Caymans, hong kong etc to protect them.
Because what is joe blow in Montana really gonna do ? They figure they can get away with it because most people are not gonna go to their bank and say "i got ripped off by assfuckers.com"
So stealing a dollar each from a million people makes few waves, where if someone steals 1 million from one person everyone knows

LiveJasmin is from Portugal and Streamate from Cyprus, which is the only tax haven in EU. This of course used to work for them, but now they're being investigated for money laundering ever since they asked for the bail-out package. A lot of Russian & Ukrainian money keeps running out of the country so they even had to freeze all the bank accounts. It's interesting to see how this one will pan out.

 

[onesocklost]

Right. I recently joined Streamate thinking it would be nice to try something new for a change (I've been MFC premium for 3 years now). Bad idea I suppose, now it appears that Streamate has been selling my cc information to god knows who... Here's what's happened so far: on the second day I logged in I contacted the support for some Q about my charges. Not only they couldn't answer my questions but they also "froze" my account and a text appeared asking me to call their US based tel. number. As I didn't want to make an overseas call I checked my email just in case and true enough there was an email from Streamate. Except it was an email to join some third party dating website but it was sent under Streamate subject. At first I didn't realize this, so I clicked on it and it automatically registered me as their member. Wtf?

So now Streamate is distributing my cc info to other parties, in this case something called Erotic.net dating website. Not only that, but there is a 3-day "free period" after which they'll start charging 24.95 per month. I immediately tried to cancel both membership accounts, but SM refused to even discuss the dating website. I emailed their "support" and tried to cancel the membership but they just kept replying with another advertisement and a link to unsubscribe for which I didn't even have a password. Finally I got a manual response but it was already over the 3-day mark.

Just wanted to let you guys know, giving Streamate your cc info nowadays is just asking for trouble. Now I'm checking my internet banking every couple of days for any charges. Of course I won't pay lol.

And that's not all. I did some reading on Streamate and there is a performer who found out after she stopped working for Streamate how they created a new account and used their recordings of her private chats as a loop. I'm not sure if I can mention her "stage name" here but I think you guys know her… Such a nice little website they are running.

Sorry to say but I am sure that you are wrong. Just image: Streamate is one of the largest adult webcam sites in the world with serious income. Why would they risk their fame with stealing some of the cleints" credit card data??? Did you hear about PCI system? Streamate and most sites need to meet the serious requirements of this system, no way and no chance for any of them to use your information. What's more the sites are unable to see the card number, CVV, expiry date of the members' card, it is only the acquire bank that sees those. Just FYI....

 

[The Insider]

[/quote]
LiveJasmin is from Portugal and Streamate from Cyprus, which is the only tax haven in EU. This of course used to work for them, but now they're being investigated for money laundering ever since they asked for the bail-out package. A lot of Russian & Ukrainian money keeps running out of the country so they even had to freeze all the bank accounts. It's interesting to see how this one will pan out.[/quote]

Yeah I'm interested to see as well how this goes. LJ/AWE/llaib (i think that's their other moniker) are in that free trade zone. I remember signing up at streamate & wondering why they chose Cyprus. Simple, as much as they or others want to think they are some dissident subversives on the cutting edge of porn for the masses they are no diff then some Connecticut hedge fund manager. It's all about dodging the law & the tax man & keeping as much as they can.
Capitalists in Che shirts

 

[starsign]

I had the same exact experience when I signed up for streammates. I was immediately signed up for the dating site. I think some where in the several "click here to agree to our TOC", there was sign up for a our free dating site. The fine print talked about the recurring charge in something I didn't read.

I have a SM member account that I made just a few months ago and I'm fairly certain I do remember something of this nature somewhere in the signup process. A checkbox or button that had to be avoided so that you wouldn't be automatically signed up. I can't say I'm 100% sure it was there because I'm so used to scanning for that kind of trickery when installing things or signing up for accounts online that it doesn't seem that notable to me anymore when I run into it.

That makes sense, because I have gotten really good at avoiding those and I just checked my bank statements streamate have never charged me incorrectly and I don't know of any dating site.

Can I check with you when was it when you registered? It appears that most of these issues started only very recently, for new members registering this year.

 

[starsign]

[/quote]
Yeah I'm interested to see as well how this goes. LJ/AWE/llaib (i think that's their other moniker) are in that free trade zone. I remember signing up at streamate & wondering why they chose Cyprus. Simple, as much as they or others want to think they are some dissident subversives on the cutting edge of porn for the masses they are no diff then some Connecticut hedge fund manager. It's all about dodging the law & the tax man & keeping as much as they can.
Capitalists in Che shirts[/quote]

I'm also wondering how does the closure of Cyprus’ banks affect Streamate's business? I mean isn't it hard to run daily operations when all bank accounts are frozen?

 

[vlad.mazare]

Bulgaria is a tax haven as well, they have a 10% income tax and a 10% corporate tax, which is the same as Cyprus

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

I'm also wondering how does the closure of Cyprus’ banks affect Streamate's business? I mean isn't it hard to run daily operations when all bank accounts are frozen?

I am very curious about that also. The Cyprus bank crisis appears no closer to a resolution than it has been in the past. It is looking increasingly likely that if and when the Cyprus banks reopen this week,that there will be severe restrictions on banking withdrawals. Presumably the big expense Streamate's has is payment to models. Now it is possible that the money due to models is kept in an bank account outside of Cyprus which would be good news.

But if I was a SM Model I'd sure contact Streammate and see how SM is coping with this crisis and how it intends to pay models if the situation doesn't get resolved.

 

[starsign]

I think it would depend on whether the performer is using Daily Pay or Payoneer. If I'm not wrong Daily Pay is a kind of a studio so they would be able to pay performers as long as they "trust" that Streamate is able to pay them one day. If using Payoneer, then the payments will most likely be delayed at some point.

The banks will stay closed at least this week and most part next week too.

 

[Jupiter551]

BTW, I was curious whether this was a sneaky login tickbox situation as I suspected and...this is the culprit yes?

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

BTW, I was curious whether this was a sneaky login tickbox situation as I suspected and...this is the culprit yes?

Pretty sure that it was for me.

 

[starsign]

Mine was a bit different, it was activated through an email they sent after registration. And it was called Erotic.net instead of EroticMatch. Of course I know I shouldn't have clicked it but as mentioned I thought it was from customer support after they started messing with my account. It's funny I've been with 3 other webcam sites before SM and nothing like this ever happened.

 

[starsign]

Looks like Streamate and ManWin took a serious beating in Cyprus... Companies are facing forced losses up to 40 per cent of all funds they had before the accounts were frozen. The good news is that banks will reopen this week BUT overseas transactions will be limited to prevent money leaving the country:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/busin ... ilout.html

I wonder how SM will juggle through all this but I haven't heard of any late payments from SM performers so far. Coincidentally, I looked through the forums for Streamate and there seems to be an exodus of models leaving SM for MFC, is it really happening?

 

[vlad.mazare]

They will just move to Bulgaria, which has same tax rate as Cyprus. Romanians and Greeks are setting up business there like crazy(over 3,000 businesses since 2008). In fact the highest tax payer to Bulgarian government is a company owned by a Romanian living in Bucharest.

 

[Jupiter551]

In fact the highest tax payer to Bulgarian government is a company owned by a Romanian living in Bucharest.

Yes and this year his chain of borscht stands is estimated to contribute almost SEVENTY rubles in tax, and provide employment for up to 3 new people and one horse!

 

[vlad.mazare]

In fact the highest tax payer to Bulgarian government is a company owned by a Romanian living in Bucharest.

Yes and this year his chain of borscht stands is estimated to contribute almost SEVENTY rubles in tax, and provide employment for up to 3 new people and one horse!

I was actually wrong about it being highest tax payer in Bulgaria its highest in the city of Ruse, I think it was over a million euros a year, but its been a while since I saw the article that mentioned how much it was.

 

[GoddessAiren]

I'm also wondering how does the closure of Cyprus’ banks affect Streamate's business? I mean isn't it hard to run daily operations when all bank accounts are frozen?

I've been watching this unfold via the media and was waiting to see if anyone would mention it on the forum. I would think that SM would have money in other places but I can't see how this won't affect their company in some way.

 

[vlad.mazare]

No reason to not have it in a swiss bank if they are not involved in money laundering or tax evasion.