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Revitol Fraud and Scandal!

Revitol falsely accusing affiliates of credit card fraud!


Beware of Revitol! If you are an affiliate, and you join the Revitol affiliate program with TradeTracker, you may run the risk of being falsely accused of credit card fraud. It's a scandal, I know. But I have given the Revitol company a chance to repent and apologise for accusing us of credit card fraud, and they have failed to do so. So, now I'll tell you the whole story!

I am Zyra, and I run the main Zyra website Zyra.org.uk and the variant directed at the West and International world Zyra.net as well as Zyra Europe and a few other notable places. I first set up my primary website in 2000, and I got my first payment as an affiliate in 2002. I have historically done very well as an affiliate, and I have emigrated for tax purposes in 2012. My business is a long-established and well-trusted online resource of free information and results-based affiliate promotions including the Shopping portal and many Famous Name Brands

It is usual for me to have pages created to promote affiliate merchants, so when in 2011, the skin treatments company Revitol got an affiliate program at TradeTracker, the affiliate program was joined and four new pages created here: Revitol Scar Cream , Revitol Anti Aging Solution , Revitol Hair Removal Cream and Revitol. This was all done in good faith, and the pages were put online in the hopes they would be good for business in the long term view. These pages are built to last, as with others in the Beauty-and-Skincare category and the other Beauty category.

Unfortunately, to my horror, some time during May 2012, the following was what my visitors got following my affiliate links to Revitol products...

Pling! Your account has been shut down for Credit Card Fraud.

MarketHealth.com Works closely with police authorities worldwide and your credit card fraud activity will be reported to local authorities for prosecution.

...

This is scandalous, and could be interpreted by customers as an accusation that their accounts have been shut down, and furthermore that they are guilty of credit card fraud, and by implication they will soon be brought to justice and put in jail for crimes which, in the tone of the message, they have definitely committed.

This is not what Revitol intended, I am informed by Revitol. I had a discussion with their marketing department, and they did not intend to accuse you the customers of these things. Instead, they are accusing ME, the affiliate. Well, I am not guilty, and the accusation has been made publically by Revitol and can be seen as libellous.

The view taken by Revitol is that any affiliate whose links have any fraudulent credit card activity, (in other words anyone, potentially), is automatically guilty of being a credit card fraudster and will have their account closed down and have their reputation defamed by having their links changed to point to an insulting message which confuses and insults their visitors.

I don't think that's right.

I believe the Revitol company are being unfair and unjust, and so I'm bunging up all of their links and redirecting the traffic elsewhere. Plus, if they ever want to get back on this site, I insist that they apologise for the defamation they have committed, both to myself and to visitors of my site. I am willing to publish their apology on this site.

I can understand that credit card fraud is a problem, and Revitol have my sympathies to some extent. However, lashing out at people about it and making false accusations is entirely the wrong way to go about things, and they should have grown out of that sort of behaviour when they were about three years old.

I have been fighting fraud for years, and I have pages of information about how to beat scamsters. For example, there's the page about Bank Hoax emails which warns people about ridiculous scam messages coming in pretending to be their bank. There's a page which mentions the problem of credit card fraud: Is Buying Online Safe?. There's a whole page of Scams which explains how you can avoid various criminal rackets that are being operated by various ne'er-do-wells. Most notably the Nigeria Scam is being exposed at the Rogues Gallery.

I also fight injustice, and there's a page about that too. See Injustice

Looking around online to investigate the Revitol Problem, I find many affiliates have spoken out about it. Many of them are saying things like "Revitol is a Scam!". Well I wouldn't say that, as I have no reason to cast doubt upon Revitol's products, or to suppose Revitol products are anything other than the honest skincare products which they are said to be. However, I do believe that the marketing of the company is badly run, and it would not surprise me in the slightest if they went bust.

If you are an affiliate who has, like me, been falsely accused of credit card fraud by Revitol, I suggest you write a page about the situation and write to me, and then I can link pages such as this to your page as well. (Try to keep it polite if you can).

If you are a potential customer of Revitol, I suggest you look for alternatives at the Beauty-and-Skincare category and the other Beauty category. If you are a rich visitor, and you feel Revitol have falsely accused YOU, then I suggest you visit a lawyer and see about taking Revitol to court over their alleged libel of you. However, be warned that libel cases can be very expensive. My own opinion, in case you're interested, is that Revitol are not worth it. They have shown their true colours and now we just avoid them. It's a shame, but largely the shame is on them.

I have asked the people at Revitol to pursue the credit card fraudsters who are involved, and I have requested details of fraud which they believe have happened via my links. They have refused. Therefore, it could be argued that they are making accusations which they are unwilling to back up with evidence. Their failure to cooperate with my investigations could be taken as a bad sign. (It is usual in cases of criminal accusation for the person to be informed precisely what they are accused of).

Anyway, here's what I think has happened:

1. Someone, somewhere, could be anywhere in the world, has linked through on a link at this site and then used a stolen credit card to try to buy some stuff from Revitol.

2. Rather than dealing with this properly and catching the crooks, Revitol have assumed that it's the affiliate that's to blame.

3. Revitol have closed the affiliate account and put up a false accusation.

We don't know how much money was attempted to be swindled out of Revitol, but logical reasoning shows it must have been a relatively small amount, as the total amount of commission at TradeTracker at the time was only a few hundred pounds. The amount may even have been less than the amount of money it cost to set up the pages in the first place, which makes any notions Revitol may have had about the affiliate being in the business of credit card fraud ludicrous.

Although there exist fraudulent affiliates, and some companies have them more than others, the fraudsters don't put work into creating websites to any great extent. Credit card fraudsters are short-termists and have a cut-and-run tactic. They are like thieves who snatch something and run away. Fraudulent affiliates set up numerous different accounts and then dump them. In contrast, we the honest affiliates can't do that, as we have so much work already put into our long-term web presences.

What this whole fiasco then means is:

* If you're an affiliate DON'T sign up to Revitol's affiliate program! The next thing is, you'll be falsely accused of credit card fraud, and if you've put a lot of work into the pages for the affiliate program then your work will have gone to waste.

* Actual crooks who sign up as affiliates and then try to steal from the company using credit card fraud will easily evade capture, as they'll simply set up other accounts and repeat the same scam. In contrast, we the honest sites can't do that because we have too much invested in our online presence.

* Whatever goes on with Revitol's affiliate program, there must be a serious security issue with their website, while fraudsters can get away with stealing stuff and framing affiliates. The Revitol site must be attracting thieves like bad meat attracts flies.

* Knowing that the affiliate gets blamed, fraudsters and gangsters will be able to hold affiliates to ransom. Either pay up or they'll use a stolen credit card through your links. In anticipation of that, I recommend all affiliates LEAVE the program and move their links to other places where they are not at risk from such potential extortion.

* Any scambusting sites that have affiliate links, like this one, are at risk from revenge attacks by scamsters (for example of the type who operate a Nigeria Scam taking revenge on their sites). Revitol have made it too easy for criminals to get away with this. Look at what happened about the Hyundai Boss Scam

Note: Fortunately most affiliate merchants are not as foolish as this and won't be fooled by such attempts.

Meanwhile, if you are looking for some alternatives to Revitol skin cream, you can look through some of the appropriate items at the Beauty-and-Skincare category and the UK Beauty category.

If you are wondering "Is Revitol any good?", well, I don't know. The fact that their marketing makes false accusations doesn't affect the quality of the products. Let's be scientific about it.