403-879-1304

Ziinga. An online bidding company that deceives you into additional fees

I received a text message that hijacked BestBuy name congratulating that I won a free iPad. Since I just returned from buying a television at BestBuy I answered the link, which immediately took me to Ziinga.com. I was then informed that I further won a bid for a Samsung phone. To ship prizes I was required to fill in an account form with mailing address details and then linked to a Verify Visa form site to pay for shipping costs, which were about $4.00. Once submitted, I received an email congratulating me as a winner and verifying my account information and joining a free promotional membership with Ziinga and to view their terms and conditions. Once you open the terms and conditions link you realize you have been scammed and that they have revealed the membership comes with a binding 3 month contract to take $89.00USD a month or you can cancel and pay a cancellation fee of $52.00CDN. Upon immediately contacting the Ziinga Customer Support to report this and have it resolved you will find that this is not a traditional customer service, they are scripted not to resolve the matter and quote only the terms and conditions if you fail to pay them the cancellation fee they threaten to send your account to a collection agency. I further found that Ziinga had withdrawn the first month $89.00USD from my Visa. Ziinga is a foreign company and if Googled you will find many websites reporting similar scam complaints worldwide. I had contacted Visa Dispute & Visa Security to report the scam and cancel my Visa Card requesting a chargeback investigation. I am filing complaints with the Canadian Federal Anti-Fraud Centre, Canadian Competition Bureau and will be forwarding a complaint to the local police service of jurisdiction to obtain a report number. Ziinga threatens collection, although I have not been contacted by a third party collection agency who has bought their debt, if I am I will be requesting to take the matters before a civil tribunal/court and will be serving legal documents requesting original certified contracts, which don't exist since this was a scam and witness subpoena's, etc. Dont back down or pay, challenge them and report the scam. They are making millions on this misrepresentation Internet win scam because victims often concede a pay them. Ziinga is a Malta, registered company.