Don’t tell your local wireless provider but Calgary based YapOn Inc. wants you to save on your mobile long distance calls and is ready to give you 30-Day Free Trial to start yapping for free. Launched in 2006 the company offers two solutions, Text to Talk which is an offering that provides mobile subscribers across the globe the ability to access competitive long distance rates from their mobile device. Their other service is Quick Connect, which enables YapOn subscribers to initiate long-distance calls (landline and mobile) via YapOn’s web interface.
Now that number portability is here, Canadians have a lot more freedom which means we might see the market share of mobile VOIP services might increase such as Talkster which I interviewed CEO James Walker back in December 2006, who according to his blog might be acquired by Vonage.
I haven’t had a chance to check out the service yet, but if you do let me know your thoughts on the offering; you can sign up on YapOn’s website.
I just checked my bank account on 06/03/08 and there are two unauthorized charges from Yapon, for $20 each, on the same day. It’s bad enough that this happened, but I only had $40.53 to last me through the next 6 days. Thanks Yapon.
I just spoke to someone at Yapon, they told me that someone tried to use my card there and that the charges were declined because the person didn’t know my zipcode. It seems fishy that this is happening to so many people.
Hey folks, look how many months these fradulent charges are coming from Yapon. This is August 16 and I have received first a 16 cent charge, then a $1 charge, next a $20 charge. Several charges were blocked because they didn’t have the 3 digit security code on my card. So how did they get our number and what is this company doing to stop this nonsense? Interestingly several more fradulent charges appeared on my account in August same 2 days several seconds apart charged to Yahoo Voice and Yahoo Voz. The fraudlent charges appeared to start with Yapon. Yahoo was extremely helpful and said they will refund my money within 7 business days.
Interesting. I just looked on another website that stated Yapon is associated with Yahoo. Wonder why the Yahoo customer rep didn’t tell me that. Is this accurate info? Because if it is they owe me more money.
I was hit for for $20.00 also. What made me look at my account closely was a pre-authorization for $1.00 for ITunes. I have and have never had an account with either. I reported it to my bank right away and filled out a fraud report
Any and all unknown charges on your VISA can be disputed or tell the bank it as a fraudulent charge that will close your card. REG E-Provisonal credit back as bank researches….
AUGUST 29 well at least i found this thread! i just got charged POS from this
YAPON for $20 , my VISA debit card. I called and cancelled the card,
I have ordered on line a lot and have never had a problem, this is the first time,
I also had never heard of this company.
The only thing i did differently in ordering today was that i did a “one click” purchase through Amazon. Did anyone else with this YAPON problem so the same by any chance?
thanks for the thread, saved me more charges.
It has happened to me twice. I even went to my bank and cancelled my old bank cards and had new ones issued and they still found out what they were and charged another $20.00 on my account on September 2nd. WHO are these people?
Ok – I got the $20 hit too. It doesn’t matter to me if they had a CVC code or not – the charge is unauthorized. My Visa company..Regents who is EXCELLENT by the way…is refunding the charge, closing the account and re-opening with a different account number. If all these charges are occurring and Yapon is legit – then why does their weasel clause clearly state that who charges are owed regardless if made by you, someone else and with OR without your consent. It seems to me they’re a front for fishing/hacking site or source. Enron looked pretty damn legitimate before they fleeced the country, remember?
I received a call from VISA security today and they said I had a $1.00 charge from itunes and a $20 dollar charge from YAPON. I didn’t make either of these charges and I guess VISA is catching on because they denied the YAPON charge. I still had to cancel my card and I’m not very happy about it.
Sounds like the crooks really like YAPON. It probably has to do with the fact that using YAPON would allow one to stay off the grid.
They must still be up to it.. They tried to charge $20 to my Suntrust Visa on the 15th.. Had to close the card and get a new one..
The greater issue at work here is how to create better systems to prevent online fraud.
If YapON is indeed a legitimate company, it appears to be one that’s been systematically used to commit fraud by an outside party.
The bigger question is: what can companies do to ensure the safety of their online operating systems? Anyone have suggestions?
@NotImpressed -
I used to work for an e-commerce company that had the same problem. This clause would be necessary because if not stated, EVERYONE could simply say the use of their card was unauthorized even if it wasn’t, consequently bankrupting the company.
The problem is who is stealing your bank information in the first place, and this is not necessarily been done by the company in question. Believe it or not, your card information sometimes get leaked from WITHIN your bank. Scamming is a multi-million dollar industry in itself.
@Christie Adams -
As helpful as a combination of suggestions would be, being done as an open discussion would only cause an undoing to whatever awesome strategies we put out. Because all a scammer would have to do is see the openly posted “strategy of how to stop scammers” and if he/she is intelligent enough (as they would need to have some level of it to thrive at what they do) they could easily come up with a counter.
That’s kinda like going to war and openly broadcasting where your spies are going to be for the enemy to find.
In case you haven’t noticed, I hate scammers with a passion. ;(
I, too, was charged $20 by Yapon fraudulently. At first my anger was directed towards Yapon, but then I looked at some of the other fraudulent charges: two for an online game company, and one from Microsoft. I think I know what’s happening. Kids (or adult evil-doers) get a hold of your credit card number. They then make a lot of long distance cellphone calls, most likely international calls — when I was a kid, I knew kids who would do this regularly by using stolen calling card codes. My particular kid then registered with an online game, and (I think) also purchased a Vista license.
So I don’t think this is Yapon’s fault per se, unless you want to blame Yapon for providing a cheap calling option and very little security (CVV, anyone?).
@Robert B -
Everything online uses cvv otherwise they wouldn’t be protected under the verified by Visa standard act. A thing to note is that the CVV code is just one of the many information that scammers steal. IP blocking isnt that effective either as any intelligent scammer knows how to go through that (for the daft ones…I’m not giving you any ideas ;( )