Lady Matika said " could somebody please tell who ever is in charge for file sharing at limewire so they can take that jerk offline"

Sorry but it doesn't work like that. Limewire has absolutely no control over what is downloaded. It connects you to another user like your self and you exchange files. Virus warnings abound on the forums, and it is up to every user to ensure that they have adequate virus protection. It is very inadvisable to download zip files and exe files unless you are absoltely sure they are ok, and yes all sorts fo filters could be used to remove a lot of the nasty stuff, but making them do a useful job is not easy, and it is first and foremost up to us the users to ensure we don't get infected.

so what I should do then is keep on warning people then right?

Well .. while, it does no harm to get fairly regular warnings on the forums, I do feel that Limewire could emphasise the problem rather more than they do on their website.

I sent Clickbank and e-mail last night telling them Limewire was free and they scammed me and I wanted a refund, and they replied that my refund was being processed. funny, they didn't try to defend themselves! I also went to my bank and the fraud unit is investigating to also try to get my refund. I cancelled my debit card since those a**holes have my card #. Anyway, thank you for your help.

Can't you put a message on your homepage that Limewire is free and if asked to buy a membership, don't do it!

Cancelling your card is a good move ... Let's just wait and see if you actually get the refund .. I hope so .

I still a little unsure how you came to get scammed. Were you hijacked to a lookalike site from possibly google, or a link somewhere else. There is not a lot of evidence of this happening, so it would be helpful to get more imformation.

As for putting a message on the Limewire homepage about it being free, the main problem is that the unfortunates who get scammed do not generally know they are getting Limewire until the money has been paid, and the deed done. Also there is a pro version of Limewire which is not free. It only costs US$18.88, but it confuses the issue a little.

btw It is not MY home page. the forum is not exactly an official part of Limewire, but a lot of us like to support limewire, and try to help out here if we think we can assist anyone.

Lyndebe, I'm further confused as Clickbank looks to me, after a quick look, like a reasonably regular site. I did a search for Limewire in their Google seach engine and got to the proper site.
There are one or two dubious advertisements on the site, but I have learned that it is not an easy job to keep less than truthful advertisers off a web page!

I paid 49.95 for unlimited lifetime downloads
 

Please help! I paid for lifetime downloads from limewire for 49.95. I did not have enough space on my computer and bought a new one. I was trying to figure out how to reload on this computer but I don't see the options from the other website I downloaded from. It had the limewire insignia and did download limewire after I put the 49.95 on my credit card. The site I paid was to clkbank.com and claimed I could not cancel my credit card payment. Does anyone know of this site? Was I ripped off? How do I know the original site? Thanks for any help.

Kathy

Have you made a typo. Clickbank.com is what was just being discussed. And as yet I'm not sure if this is an honest site. I have looked at it and not found a way I could buy Limewire from it! :confused:

You have however bought a membership that doesn't exist

added to which the forum search function shows up some posts about clickbank which cannot actually be found. So It's all very strange. Yes I now realise Clkbank and Clickbank are one and the same. I'm not sure what their game is.

Imownd
 

I too purchased a $34 lifetime membership, and I'm having it run down on my credit card now.

thanks

AJ

Hi, Hobo. Thanks for being there! I see I'm not the only victim of clickbank. I swear I went to www.limewire.com to join and, not being all that computer literate, I easy got confused. I just kept clicking "basic" that now I look at and it says "free", DUH! anyway, I was taken to a site that offered the 3 types of memberships. Really, what is a "lifetime" membership" anyway? Who's lifetime? mine, their? Boy do I feel stupid! so they said the $49.95 would show up on my debit card as "clickbank" and they gave me an order # and advised I print my receipt which I did. I can't understand how this happened or why they would give me a receipt. don't you think if they were legitimate, they would defend my "purchase" instead of just sending me a refund especially after I told them they were a scam? my refund is supposed to take 5 business days. we'll see. I have found several sites to report internet fraud, what do you think?

Lyndebe ... I have to retract all the nice things I nearly said about Clickbank. The are true masters of their craft. They can supply you with any scam downloading con trick piece of &"free downloads blah blah.con*%^ you want . They supply you with advertisements to go on google, that say freemp3conscams.com etc and promise to pay huge amounts of money if you can set up a good scamming operation. Hmmmm after what I've seen on these forums, I think I might sign up:D

Something slipped on the keyboard so some of the above will not make sense, but It looks good as it is.:)

I'm sure they somehow hijacked you from the LW site and I am wondering if you have somehow got some spyware on your computer. Do you do spyware scans?

I use Opera's Browser which automatically empties all my cookies each time I close it. This gives me no problems with my regular sites, but if I have a dubious cookie, which I could well have, if I visit sites like that. I imagine somehow they could use it to hijack me to another site. The good thing is I will not have the cookie next time I start Opera. This is a wild theory, not sure if it holds water.

anway I hope you get your refund I'm sure you'll let us know.

Lyndebe

I agree with Hobo, it seems that you were hi-jacked away from the LW site and taken to a scam site. If you go through this forum (and thread) you will that other users, like yourself, have been hi-jacked as well.

Hi-Jacking unprotected PCs is another curse/problem windows users have to put up with nowadays, as criminals become more sophisticated or join forces with hackers/crackers PC users, likewise, should become more aware of the dangers lurking on the internet.

After all, it's your money these parasites are after and today protecting your PC is the same as protecting your hard earned money from thieves.




UK Bob

I got my refund!!!!
 

Hobo and all,

I just checked my bank statement and my refund of $49.95 posted to my account yesterday! I hope this will encourage the other scammed people to pursue their refunds. I am still going to report clickbank to the FBI, the better business bureau and anybody else I can find. I wanted to wait till I had my refund first. these predators need to be stopped.

scammed!!!!
 

Just wanted to find out how I can get in touch with these people to let them know I want to cancel and am in the process of trying to stop payment from my cc. thanks pam

Can the people at limewire help me i think i have purchased through limewire but cannot log on they do not recognise my email but they have taken money off my visa .
the email address was support@music.com is that the limewire address
thanks Shaun

Re: I got my refund!!!!
 

Brilliant ... Well done ... Now give 'em hell Good luck:)

No that's not the Limewire address. You've been scammed. See if this helps you get your $$$ BACK!!! (music members)

pammiskits try to remember the original site you purchased from. Also see the above advice to see if it helps.

Thanks everyone '
i have not been able to contact them by webchat they must have closed it down .
i told my visa company they said they would look into it .
They said they need proof that i had been misled what shall i give them ?.
Is the phone no ok or is it like a chat line about £2.00 a minute ?
the phone no is 0015144480103 calling from the uk .
what a fool i was to get caught
thanks Shaun

subscription sites
 

I spent a few hours reading thru this entire thread. (Actually I started out researching an entirely different matter.)
-Incidently, the first post I came accross was a year and a half old! This problem has been goin' on for awhile now it seems!-
My girfriend signed up thru imusicsearch last Aug and I remember that the first thing that confused me was getting the LimeWire nag-screen to buy the PRO version. (Its not much of a nag-screen I admit, probably the least intrusive I've come across.)

Anyway, I looked at a few of the websites mentioned here and noticed that many of them have the exact same layout just different graphics. Typing in my email address into the "members area" in a few took me to the exact same page (musicinc.cc). Interesting!

What I really wanted to mention (and ask about) was that my girlfriend first found "imusicsearch.com" via
webreviews.org which (I just discovered) also goes by http://www.my-free-music.com/ Is this legal? I always thought ".org" was non-profit. (The first two links on that page lead to similar pages, "my music inc" and "imusicsearch")

I did a google and yahoo search on music downloads and didn't come up with webreviews.org as my gf did in Aug. I really didn't see too many of the sites mentioned here, except in the sponsered links on the side...that's the good news.

Now for the irony; I noticed when I registered for this forum just now that some of the sponser links (ads by Google) at the top of the pages of this thread are to the very type of sites that are being complained about! One is:

Download It Now ---which apparently leads to a bunch of those sites.

I'll leave it at that. I guess I shouldn't mention the other irony, (all of us who got scammed are -in a way- helping to pay for this forum, where we complain about getting scammed.)

One more thing. I need to reiterate something that was mentioned before in the thread. (This is for ukbobboy01). Please remember that alot of us came across these sites in the wake of the trouble with Napster and the RIAA. I knew what file sharing was but didn't think that was what the subscription site was all about. (Actually I had my suspicions, but this was my girlfriends puppy. I can't say much because I once bought a utility program that turned out to be crap!)


:D

older_not_wiser--the admin has been trying to block those ads for several years, but once blocked, they are pretty good at getting around the blocks. It's been quite a struggle.

The irony I like is that those scammers indirectly are funding this thread and forum.

true...true...stief; good point. I actually didn't like the idea of giving money to that site instead of contributing directly to LimeWire-- an open-source project. I've been looking at this stuff all night and was feeling a little cynical.

But one other thing I thought of earlier (when I was less cynical) was that I noticed in the "imusicsearch" site was that in the members area they had links to free utilities, (i.e. Ad-aware and Spybot). At first that bothered me, since they were in the paid members only area, but then I figured that some people could probably benefit from the knowledge.

So if anyone out there coming across this thread in the future who don't what those two programs are then they might want to take a look at those. (Not the subscription site's "bonus" software, mind you, but the utilities.)

Or look here...major geeks support forums.
which offers extensive removal (and prevention) instructions.

Heartless Bob
 

Older_not_wiser

I would just like to point out that I am not totally blind to the you and your GF’s plight of being taken in by scammers and that most newbies are trying to do the right thing and got caught out in the process.

However, as someone who has been using the internet for years to buy my goods and services I sometimes find it astonishing that newbies take so little care before parting with their money. As you have been through this forum you will see, time and time again, that most newbies don’t even know who they have given their money to, can there really be any excuse for that lax way of thinking?

As a working man, I take exception to the fact that there are criminals and parasites, who think I am a mug for working, are out there waiting to extract my money from me and others like me, either by using scam sites or trying to plant Trojans, viruses, keyloggers or any other form of malware to capture financial information. With this in mind I somewhat take a hard line when newbies carelessly throw their money at criminals, who then laugh at them and close up shop so no further contact is possible, as a result leaving the newbie to flounder around until they find this forum.

Finally, as I have said before, the internet is like the “wild west” and should be treated as such. If you are not careful you will become prey to dodgy sites or, if your PC is not protected, you will be bushwhacked with malware. However, as most newbies don’t really care about PC security until something goes wrong therefore any warnings placed in this forum is just like shouting at the wind.





(Not so heartless) UK Bob

Thanks for all your help i phoned them up and they said they will return my money to me .
cheers Shaun

refund update
 

Hi all, haven't posted for a while, just to update you and especially ukbobby after two month wait on my bank finally got my refund today the bank tried to tell me that i hadn't claimed within 30 days so was not valid when i explained !!!! i did n't know my self i'd been scammed until later than that they re-investigated and although because of time they could not get the scammer they have refunded my money anyway. so all you who have been scammed keep going on at your bank, I only decided to do this after input from the forums (mainly ukbob) but thier advice not to give up keep going at the bank has worked for me,it obviously would have been better for the bank to have a go at these scammers but frankly i am not sure they are bothered, so learn a lesson folks, IF IT LOOKS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE,IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, THERES A CATCH , don't get caught.:D

Congratulations
 

Congratulations Spar1691

I am glad you have got your money back but your post has confirmed one thing, if the banks did not make facilities available to scammers people would not get scammed.

It's quite clear now that banks are only interested in making money, which the scam sites make in abundance (out of which the banks get their fees), and if you as an ordinary person do not complain you will get taken to the cleaners.

One again Spar1691 congratulations, you have shown that the ordinary man can win and that the scammers and banks don't have it all their own way.




UK Bob

Scammed?
http://www.musicmembersarea.com/login.asp

Hi, new to this. Also, I suspect, rather ignorant. Paid for Lime Wire on the above - is this a scam. If so I'll contact my card people straight away.

Appreciate any help

Yes that is definitely a scam site.. Good luck.

scams
 

can anyone help me?? i have joined usenext.com and i cant cancel the subscripton. i paid for 1 month 100gb but they are trying to claim more the next month.when i look at the small print it reads cancel 14 days before end of contract period. so i haven't and they want the same again. please could you clarify that it a scam and i should just chill out.

I used a secure "webcard" so they didn't get any more money.

Any info would really help.

Thanks
Elvin

Elvin

Are you seriously saying that you paid £100.00 (0ne hundred British Pounds), which is over $175.00 for our US forum members, for one month subscription?

If what you are writing is true then you have got to be the worst scam victim that ever graced this forum.

Elvin, you need to contact the Police.




UK Bob

usenext
 

no i paid 29 euros about £20 but i cant cancel th f**kin thing.
Should i just ignore it?? plz help

do you know who to email?
 

I have been reading some of your posts and I saw someone tell you to email mformal...

BUT, I must have it spelled wrong. Would you give it to me?

THanks. I bought pro form the site and it won't work.

Eagleeyeskt

Eagleeyeskt

There is no point in contacting mformal if you got your LW from a scam site, you need to contact your bank or credit card company.


Elvin

You need to contact your payment provider (web card) and cancel the card and dispute your payment to usenext.com, I presume that your web card, much like a credit card, has an anti-fraud scheme.

Also, the scammers will no longer be able to take money from your card if it is cancelled.




UK Bob

usenext
 

hello again
just got a responce rom usenext.com thy tell me that i can cancel using members area but there is no whee to do this. in there terms and conditions it says i must cancel with 14 days notice. so my concern is that the continue to charge me and im never going to cancel. Is the contract legally binding?? My head is in bits! the contract is a load of bollocks so I should just ignore them!! right??

Elvin, I can only suggest you cancel your card. Also your card company might make a refund as you have been victin of fraud, but it might be a bit late for this. They look as if they will continue to charge you so this is the only way to stop them. I can't see that a fraudulent contract can be legally binding. I would not lose sleep over this, but if you want to make a nuisance of yourself, the following thread, might be of interest.

http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...ight=%24%24%24

hi new to all this i signed up with realmusicnow.com paid them about €45 and got limewire was under the impression that this money was for the full version but is actually just the free version when I try to download or contact any links in their site i get virus alerts ..total scam. Paid for this about 3 weeks ago only got round to using limewire in last few days (kids did actually) so i reckon 2 late to do anything about it guess I will just have to pay for the limewire and put it down to experience

Well, it is worth a try, to get the money back from your card company, or the site. Some have succeeded, but I DO suggest you cancel your credit card as the scammers have your details and can do what they like with them, unless the card is cancelled.

Deleting the Limewire you have, running a virus and spyware scan and downloading the proper one from www.limewire.com, might be wise as well

Good Luck

Billing
 

Okay, I am big enough to admit when I have made a mistake. My husband went to www.ares.com and signed up for Limewire. A friend of ours sent him there. He went through the steps to sign up for limewire and when it told him you had to pay he said okay. Turns out they charged us 45.71. 17.88 - 1 year membership, 9.88 - protection program,. 14.95 - movie pass ( I thought was for pro upgrade). Anyway when I saw the thread that said limewire was always FREE i got the phone number on the charge from my bank and called them. Turns out they are a limewire assistance company. You pay all this money, they give you no way to contact them, and they are supose to help you understand how to use limewire. Hello. How dumb was I..So anyway I learned from my mistake. I asked for a refund and they said it was past 7 days but they refunded me the 9.88 and the 14.95.

billing
 

also, if anyone else went to www.ares.com the phone number to call them is 1-866-488-0790. I contacted them and they refunded me the 9.88 for program protection and 14.95 for some kind of movie pass.

hi thanks for advice cancelled my credit card and they might even give me a refund!!! did delete all programs from this web site and downloaded the original limewire.

Irishmary. Sit on them and I hope you get the refund.

jganaway. Just for information it seems ares.com is not doing the name of ares any favours. I believe the oficial site for Ares is http://aresgalaxy.sourceforge.net/

another success story :)
 

Thank you to everyone for encouraging me to get my money back! I received a notice from the bank today that $46.65 was being credited back to my account. Honestly, I found the whole scam to be really discouraging and I would not have bothered to dispute the transaction because I felt to dang stupid for getting suckered in the first place.

I did not even realized I had been scammed until weeks after I made my "purchase." Truthfully, I had barely any recollection of which site I visited. I failed to keep any record of my transaction and no record of that day was left in my browser.

All I had was my bank record of the transaction: "DIRECTDEBIT/VISA-WP-DOWNLOAD SOCIETMONTREAL", (which is disturbingly vague and apparently refers to some "musical instrument store" in Quebec) and my sad, sad story to tell.

I went ahead and disputed the transaction anyway and won!

I would not have done it without the knowledge and encouragement I found in this forum. THANK YOU!!

I can't imagine that it is possible to have less information than I had about my Limewire "purchase." When I inquired at a few of these sights about "refunds." (Trying to figure out which one I had unwittingly joined.) I received aggressively threatening and hostile responses which implied that challenging my membership or taking the dispute to my bank would cost me more money. By then I realized that their threats were entirely empty (like their memberships)and I confirmed with the bank that disputing the charge would cost me nothing.

IF YOU REALIZED THAT YOU HAVE BEEN SCAMMED- IT'S NOT TOO LATE- MAKE THE MOVES TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK!
(and, more importantly, some self-respect).

I consider many valuable lessons well learned. Thank you all for your insight, experience, and wisdom.

report them
 

I reported my scammers to www.ifccfbi.gov. they investigate internet fraud in connection with the FBI. don't know if it will do any good, but it sure made me feel better!;)

http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/Limew...-10376245.html
Free Limewire PRO Cram packed with Viruses and trojans. Watch out!

you should be able to dispute the charge on your credit card. the card companys follow up and will not charge you.

Just to let you know, I contacted the credit card company and today I notice they've credited my account with the money I lost. Nice one boys (Co-Operative Bank actually)

Good one! Well done! Most banks/credit companies will generally come thru if you approach them in the right way & to the appropriate dept. :)

I was taken in by one of these sites selling Limeware (a different colour skin was the only difference). As I already have Limewire Pro I wasn't best pleased. They have said I will get a refund, but I have asked my credit card company to stop the payment - too late I'm told but they will investigate. I paid £33.36, so fingers crossed I get the cash back.

I wonder has anyone noticed the Google ads at the top of each page in this forum - many of them are links to these scam web sites. How can this be allowed on the Limewire forum!!

I hope someone investigates this - they should be banned.

The site after I had registered is www.TheMusicsMembersArea.com

What about the sites that are doing this? I mean is there a place to report them at Limewire if this happens to us? They are breaking the law selling copyrighted materials aren't they?

A little more detail on the rip off I have experienced.
The web site I signed up with was http://mp3musicaccess.com from an advert on Google.
No mention of Limewire was made, their software name was not disclosed and their wording inferred they could offer searches across many top p2p networks, but this only turned out to be links to download the other networks software. They also offered extras such as movie codecs and adware/spyware protection, but these turned out to be software you can get for free anyway. Yearly, two yearly or lifetime access was offered to this service.
After payment I downloaded their software, it was called 360Share and was identical to Limewire but with a blue skin, and of course all references to Limewire had been removed.
The company is called MP3 Networks Ltd in St Kitts, and the reference on my credit card will be MP3Support.net.

I believe this company has many sites directing people to this service, one other I know of is www.ultimatemoviedownload.com so anyone coming across these names please beware all they are selling is a modified Limewire product and links to other software you can get elsewhere.