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.
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On 11/21/2007, a $20 charge to my VISA account was posted from “YAPON CALGARY AB”. Since this is an error (I don’t have an account with YAPON), why did YAPON charge this fee? My cell phone account is with AT&T.
The same thing happened to me. A Charge of $20 to my VISA account from Yapon Calgary AB. I don’t have an account with Yapon either. I’m a happy T-Moblie user. Beware of Yapon Calgary AB.
I just discovered a $20 charge on my Visa bill dated 1/24/08. I have never dealt with this company. I googled “Yapon Calgary AB” and found this page.
I just saw the same thing on my account. what in the world is this and how are they getting our account details in order to charge it. they must be using a company that we are purchasing from. I made an online purchase a few weeks ago for a product i have never ordered, maybe they are the culprit. i have never had any problems ordering online before. my bank said they would take the charges off. i would love to stop these people….anybody know anything?
YapOn is an e-commerce merchant that provides pre-paid long distance telephone service to customers globally. We provide a mobile VoIP gateway allowing users to realize significant savings on long distance rates. The YapOn service caters to cell phone users and provides a low cost option for making long distance calls from cell phones. Our technology can also be used on land lines to take advantage of the low long distance rates offered through YapOn.
YapOn is concerned about fraudulent activity and takes this issue very seriously. Through communication with our partner Moneris, and our efforts, YapOn has placed a tremendous effort on fraud reduction and from our perspective; we have become highly successful at deterring fraud in our business. YapOn monitors payment transaction activity on a daily basis that is reported to key resources within the company. YapOn has implemented many fraud prevention filters, such as the Verified by Visa process and CVV checks, and is continually improving upon and implementing new filters. All YapOn accounts suspected of fraudulent activity are suspended immediately until the customer can prove they are a legitimate user and an authorized user of the card on the account.
YapOn responds individually to all complaints of fraudulent activity on our system. Our partner, Moneris, notifies us in the form of sales draft requests and charge backs on our accounts when a cardholder is questioning a transaction on their account. Concerned customers and/or cardholders can reach a YapOn representative through our customer contact center, at 866-585-8057, which is equipped with trained professionals to answer any questions or concerns. We can also be contacted through email at support@yaponmail.net. This email account is monitored throughout the day and a response is sent within 24 hours. Both of these methods of contact are prominently displayed on our website at http://www.Yapon.net.
We encourage cardholders to immediately contact their issuing bank and cancel any credit cards they feel have been used fraudulently. YapOn is a participant in the Verified by Visa program and therefore relies on the Verified by Visa process to authenticate a cardholder making a purchase. The Verified by VISA policy, as per VISA Corporate regulations, states that fraudulent transactions on cards from issuing banks that do not subscribe to verified by VISA are the issuing bank’s responsibility to refund to the card holder. With Verified by Visa, cardholder identity is confirmed with the use of a personalized password during the checkout process, as the cardholder’s bank validates the password, ensuring that only authorized users of the account can use it to shop online. We only process payment transactions that have been authenticated through the Verified by VISA process and then subsequently authorized by the card issuing bank. We must rely on the Verified by VISA authentication process when accepting payments to ensure authenticity. Because we are not involved in and have no control over the Verified by VISA authentication process, the card issuer will need to be contacted in order to take the necessary steps to resolve the issue.
YAPON CALGARY AB charged $20 twice to my credit card. It is fraud & I am furious!
YAPON CALGARY charged $20 3 times in 2 days to my account and like everyone else, I’ve never heard of this company. This is fraud and I too am FURIOUS!! It caused me to have to cancel my debit card, file dispute charges and lots of wasted time. This is something that needs to be taken care of NOW!
Recently charged $20.00 to my VISA. Will contact the attorney general for Washington State to report fraud.
YAPON GALGARY charged me $20 on 15.02.08. this is FRAUD. Guys, stop and replace your VISA cards IMMEDIATELY. I am reporting it to VISA and I already reported my bank.
Same thing happened to me…$20 on my credit card from YapOn today. Never heard of them until I googled and found this site. I find it hard to believe that this company uses the Verified by Visa process that requires a password at checkout. I had to cancel my card and will spend the day tomorrow changing all my automatic billing. Thanks YapOn. Appreciate ya.
I got a charge for $20, too. My bank is sending me a new card. I ordered something online from another Canadian company & this is what I get. I am sending an e-mail to Yapon & the company I bought something from.
I had two charges ($20 & & $17.90)on March 3,2008. Mad and want to know who is going to pay me for my time to cancel cards.
I too have an unauthorized charge made with my debit card, however I am an Operations Manager for a financial institution and deal with fraud claims daily. I receive claims for charges made for many reputable companies, as well as fraudulant companies created for the sole purpose of scamming people. Although I have never heard of YapOn (I live in the states) this does not mean that the Co. itself is intending to defraud the public. Individuals can steal your card information by various means, then use them to pay their own bills. I’m not saying YaPon is legitimate either – I have not done enough research to make a determination. What I am saying is: EDUCATE YOURSELVES! Read up on internet fraud to see how to protect yourselves. For example, do you know how many of my customers actually fall for phishing emails!?!? Geeze. If you don’t know what phishing is, go find out. The internet is not the only place that your personal info can be obtained. Add up how many places you use your card in ONE day, then try to guess how many employees each of those places has… That figure represents a SLIVER of the population that has access to that card info. I’m not trying to scare you into never using your card again. Just don’t assume that “The Company” is stealing your money. Yah, they might be. But I get just as many fraud claims from Verizon, ATT, T-Mobil etc… and guess who usually ends up being the “bad guy”? Family members (kids mostly, significant others and ex-significant others. Hide your wallet/purse when you go home at night is better advice.
I have just been ripped off by YapOn for $20. The YapOn post above is self-serving, obviously inaccurate, entirely disingenuous, and arrogant as hell.
“We encourage cardholders to immediately contact their issuing bank and cancel any credit cards they feel have been used fraudulently.” Of course; easy to say but an incredible inconvenience if the card is linked to online accounts, which all require a new card.
“With Verified by Visa, cardholder identity is confirmed with the use of a personalized password during the checkout process, as the cardholder’s bank validates the password, ensuring that only authorized users of the account can use it to shop online. We only process payment transactions that have been authenticated through the Verified by VISA process and then subsequently authorized by the card issuing bank.” Uh, I guess not! My card is issued by one of the top five major money center banks in the U.S. by assets. The expiration date used in the fraudulent transaction was wrong. There is no way that charge was authorized in real time by the card issuing institution. In fact, the BANK called ME within 24 hours of the fraud. YapOn Inc. is lying, incompetent or both.
Canadian authorities need to investigate YapOn ASAP.
I thank Profectio for keeping this thread alive — it appears that people are being ripped off by fraud on YapOn daily.
An unauthorized charge of $20 was made via my card to Yapon on 2/21/08. My money was refunded almost immediately, and the process only took a few minutes with my bank Wachovia. It did take about four days to receive my new card, but other than that I was lucky.
Good luck to all others affected. Thanks to this site for being a good source of info.
Just received my VISA monthly statement. Yapon, Calgary, AB, charged me $20 on 2/14 and 2 charges of $19.83 @ on 2/16/08 and I never heard of them. Have already disputed charges w/my bank and I live in the States – so it looks like who ever is involved in this scam is extended its tentacles south of the border. Any further advice? JET
Yep! It happened to me too!! A $20 charge to my VISA account was posted from “YAPON CALGARY CA”. As well as some other transactions from a CCBill.com. This is not good. I’m not happy and filed a complaint with my local police department. I used my card at a restaurant on Monday. On Tuesday I was wasn’t able to use my card at the gas station nor the grocery store. It was demagnatized. I checked my account this morning and found 7 fraudulent uses of my card. I cancelled my card and headed to the police station. My friend told of a fraudulent credit card “ring” of people who do this kind of thing. Someone in one state steals the card number and the card number could be used by someone else clear across the country. I want my money back!!!
I have been charged by them too- on a Visa cc. Posted on 3/10/08.
I have disputed these charges with Bank of America.
Just found two fraudulent charges on my Visa card today from Yapon Calgary AB.
Really furiuos! This issue happened to me on 3/10/08. A $20 charge to my VISA account was flagged from “YAPON CALGARY AB” This is a fraudulent activity and it should be investigated. I just reported to the FBI and they are now indentifing WHO IS YAPON !
Thanks to profectio for keeping this thread alive!
Yapon isn’t a fraud company, I’ve ever used their service to call because it’s much cheaper than other International phone service, and haven’t had any billing problem with them. The problem is your VISA was disclosed, fraudulent used your card to order with Yapon, that’s true. Yapon, they can’t bill you if they don’t have your credit card number and your information. So the first you must report your bank and credit card company to stop your card, then have a retrevial where and when your VISA was disclosed.
Recently charged $20.00 to my VISA. Will contact the attorney general for FBI to report fraud.
I think Yapon is Fraund company … we will report this company . Ok ?
Add me to the list. I just discovered a charge on my Visa card from YAPON for $20. The transaction was dated 2/22/08. I have notified YAPON and Bank of America. This looks like a pretty big deal!!!!
4.2.8 Ditto $20
My too…. $18.93 on April 4th. My bank called me right away questioning the transaction from Calgary. Good thing b/c who knows if I really would have noticed. Reporting to the B.B.B and A.G.
YAPON CALGARY AB 20$ on my card too. Posted 2/7/08. Had to cancel card and get a new one issued. VISA told us that a few hours before a “test” transaction was posted from “Gamehouse Unlimited” and then revoked.
I would think that YAPON is definitely guilty of something here. If anyone could use a credit card from someone else to pay a bill, then you’d expect to see all companies, not just YAPON, see this kind of trouble. Since it appears YAPON is specifically being used, then they must somehow be either especially vulnerable/negligent.
I would gladly be part of a class action suit, not for any rewards, but to get YAPON to shape up.
Add me to the list too! Just found out about the charge to my Visa cc by Yapon on 3/07/08. Husband sent me this link. I’m thankful for this thread. Otherwise I’d be scratching my head trying to figure out what was going on!
Greetings,
I, too found a transaction date of 3/14/08 from Yapon for $20 on my Visa account. Strange, because I am overseas and haven’t bought anything on the card for a long time….anyone have any updates on this situation as of 15th of April, 2008. Thanks
I just checked my account and found a $20.00 charge from YAPON CALGARY, AB dated April 15,2008.My account is connected with Mastercard Verified. I didn’t make the charge and now I have to take it up with my bank. This company lied to everyone because it looks as thou it is still happening and will continue until the authorities do something.
I had a charge of $20 on 3-24-08, then 9 more at $19.83 dated 3-25-08 thru 3-31-08. Then there were no more charges until I got my statement 2 weeks later. Does it also seem like they are all on Visa?
This is still going on…just received my VISA statement and found a $20 charge from YapOn, then googled and found this site. I am disputing the charge with Bank of America and cancelling the card. Since Bank of America/VISA have obviously been aware of this problem for months, can’t they take action to block charges by this merchant? And doesn’t Yapon collect whatever money that comes from victims who don’t check their statements and block the charge? If not, who is getting the cash? And, as others have asked, how do they (whoever they are) get away with it? It has never happened to me before.
I too found a charge on my Visa from Yapon Calgary from Mar 18. After finding all the comments on this site about them being a scam operation, I decided to show up at their office unannounced and confront them. I even brought a video camera with me to do a consumer reports type of thing that I could post on
youtube.
The address listed on their site actually turns out to be correct.
I walked into there office (very professional) and demanded to speak to whoever was in charge of Yapon. The receptionist made a call and a couple of minutes later a guy by the name of Ken (the cio) greeted me. I explained to him why I was there and he agreed to talk to me but without the video camera.
Guys, after talking with Ken for over an hour and being shown around the office, this is definitely not a scam operation. If it is, they are hiding it REALLY well.
These are some points I got from our talk:
1. He is aware of this site, has it bookmarked and visits it regularly.
2. He understands peoples frustration but made the point that online credit card fraud is a issue that affects a lot of companies. They work with their card processor to try and find ways of reducing the fraud.
3. That the fraud transactions are a small percentage of their overall transactions but because the complaints have all been placed on one list that the problem appears bigger than it really is. Nobody will ever a comment like “I’ve never been fraudulently charged by yapon”
4. Visa monitors fraud activity very closely and it they were fraudulent, Visa would have shut them down a long time ago.
5. They have to pay a fee on every chargeback so they lose money every time a thief uses a stolen card on their site.
6. They only do Visa using verified by visa but many banks don’t have it implemented.
He made the comment that blaming them for the fraud is like blaming BestBuy for the big tv the thief that stole your credit card bought.
He then gave me a demo of how the service works. Kinda cool but I don’t do much long distance calling.
After actually visiting with these guys, I’d have to say that they are a legit company that is trying to battle fraud like every other online company out there.
here is the number to call yapon clagary 1.866.585.8057 that is what i did.
The $20 Yapon charge was the first in a string of fraudulent changes on my Visa debit card. Bank of America (BoA) refunded the charges immediately and issued a new card. Since I never lost this card, BoA suggested that I don’t have my CC info stored by on-line retailers. I’ve been shopping on-line for almost 10 years and this is the first time this has happened to me.
Same 20 dollar charge appeared on my Chase Visa on 4/23
Count me in (April 22). I a brand new cc card from Citibank I just received due to another fraudulent charge.
I just received my VISA statement with a charge from YapON for $20.
Whomever posted from the company on Feb 20th – can you update this board to tell us how to get our money back. This is unethical and unfair. Be a good corporate citizen and help us out!
I’ve finally had Bank of America cancel the charge (though it took over a month).
I e-mailed Yapon but they claimed they couldn’t find any record of my charge so they couldn’t tell me who made it and how… which seems strange that they took the money but don’t know how they got it.
Either way I am very concerned. It’s great that this thread exists though!
Same thing happened to me. What is Yapon doing to prevent this? I want the perpetrator’s account traced, their identity found and charged with fraud!
The fraud continues. $20 bogus charge on mastercard bill received 5/20/08. Spoke to mastercard to dispute and asked why obviously fraudulent charges continue to be processed after months of problems. Mastercard still has no clue.
I had the same $20 charge show on my PayPal business account. Called PayPal and got it taken care of, and also requested that they submit this company to thier fraud dept which they transfered me to.
I suggest if this Yapon fraud thing happens to you that you do the same thing.
And why is this company still in business ripping people off? Write letters to your state attorneys as well!
Received a FRAUDULENT $20 charge via my mastercard account from Yapon at Calgary, Canada today. Surprised to receive the bill because I haven’t used the card in over 6 months. However, I was really astounded with the EXTENT and time period of this fraud. Reported the above, but I doubt much will be done, because $20 is small change to the banks, unless there are tens of thousands of them.
A $20 purchase & $1 purchase on 5-28-8. I am guessing this is a result of a purchase of Stevia online. I canceled my VISA debit card.
My bank’s first reaction to this fraud was I had to accept the fraud. I will call again Monday. Isn’t the reason I have the Verified VISA number is to protect me from fraud? I only knew of this fraud quickly because my password was changed. Not by me!
How good is Verified VISA?
Hopefully I caught the fraud by YAPON or whoever in time.
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 ;( )
You people are idiots.
Your credit cards were stolen elsewhere. If you were a crook stealing credit cards would you try to use it at the place you stole it from?
Do you think YapOn is approving the charges without passing the information to the credit card companies? It is the credit card companies that are sending an approval code back to YapOn. The banks are approving it.
If anything YapOn is providing an easy/safe way for crooks to check with the bank if the credit cards numbers they stole are valid.
It is illegal to store CVV codes. If crooks are stealing CVV codes, then the companies that are storing them are performing illegal acts and they should be pursued for legal action.