The Novel Network / MyPadMedia - SCAM WARNING! Selling access to a free site

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by booboy

Like an idiot, I fell for the advertising for the 'MyPadMedia' and subscribed to the 'service' (Hah!).
We all know (now) what I was paying for was 4 links to FREE sites.

BUT there is a happy ending, and I advise others in this situation to do as I did.

I paid via PayPal, and the payment went via ClickBank.
As soon as I realised I had been scammed, I did the following.

1 Logged into my PayPal a/c
2 Clicked on the 'Resolution Centre' tab
3 Clicked 'Dispute a transaction'
4 Clicked 'Item Dispute' radio button
5 Filled in the order details etc and described the problem as 'significantly not as described'
6 Voila! 2 days later ClickBank refunded my money in full.

If you paid by credit card, then your bank would be the people to contact.
If you paid by debit card, you COULD try approaching your bank, but prepare for disappointment.

When our bank switch bank cards from MasterCard to Visa, they said we would be getting the same protection as if we have a full credit card. So, even though it's a bank card, we can go back to the bank for any issues.

[zelda_pinwheel]

UPDATE : new name for MyPadMedia : they are now operating the same scam under the name of "The Novel Network". Spread the word !

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

The MyPadMedia people are googlebombing the Web with fake "expose'" sites which then, of course, end with "We investigated, and it's the best thing since sliced bread; go buy it! (with link provided)" Aside from MobileRead, Teleread, and a couple of other sites, every one of the top Google hits for "mypadmedia scam", for pages, is one of their bogus websites. Some of them even force redirects to the mypadmedia website via pop-ups.

I think MobileReaders need to be more proactive in getting the word out.

yes, the best way to shut them down is to get the word out. it might help if people post a link back to this thread wherever possible, so it will rise in the google search results to counter their fake sites.

Originally Posted by booboy

Like an idiot, I fell for the advertising for the 'MyPadMedia' and subscribed to the 'service' (Hah!).
We all know (now) what I was paying for was 4 links to FREE sites.

BUT there is a happy ending, and I advise others in this situation to do as I did.

I paid via PayPal, and the payment went via ClickBank.
As soon as I realised I had been scammed, I did the following.

1 Logged into my PayPal a/c
2 Clicked on the 'Resolution Centre' tab
3 Clicked 'Dispute a transaction'
4 Clicked 'Item Dispute' radio button
5 Filled in the order details etc and described the problem as 'significantly not as described'
6 Voila! 2 days later ClickBank refunded my money in full.

If you paid by credit card, then your bank would be the people to contact.
If you paid by debit card, you COULD try approaching your bank, but prepare for disappointment.

excellent advice and i'm very glad you had a happy ending. that is exactly the right way to react and i hope that everyone who falls for their scam does the same.

Originally Posted by athlonkmf

Kick them where it hurts. If enough paypal/creditcard disputes comes along, their account will just be suspended.

exactly. although of course they could just change banks ; the fact they're started the same scam under a new name seems to suggest they may have gotten too many disputed charges under the first name, which is a good sign.

[mjhudston]

They also have a youtube add.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=FwNATDYppH0

ive put my comments against that and reported it to you tube as a scam.

[booboy]

In response to the above post,it seems that YouTube have 'done the decent thing' and dropped the video.
Well done mjhudston for reporting it.

[GeoffC]

booboy

Welcome to mobileread ....

[Mikou]

I wanted to bring this up again because this company is alive and kicking. I came across it while searching for iBooks alternative. It sounded fishy and probably illegal, but I had to wade through many positive reviews (faked) before I found links to here and to Gear Diary exposing them for what they were really doing. There are Youtube videos which I found by searching "The Novel Network". I flagged those as spam, but I'm sure that other people will be fooled before they can be shut down or change names again.

Thanks to all who shared their experiences on this thread.

[ilovepurple2234]

Originally Posted by Mikou

I wanted to bring this up again because this company is alive and kicking. I came across it while searching for iBooks alternative. It sounded fishy and probably illegal, but I had to wade through many positive reviews (faked) before I found links to here and to Gear Diary exposing them for what they were really doing. There are Youtube videos which I found by searching "The Novel Network". I flagged those as spam, but I'm sure that other people will be fooled before they can be shut down or change names again.

Thanks to all who shared their experiences on this thread.

I also came upon this site like yesterday. Then I googled for scams and found the gear diary review, but every time you do a search for a free download of any book, (on google at least) there's always a hit for that site. It's just annoying, since I don't usually check urls when clicking on search links. You'd think they'd take the site down after being busted, but they seem to be brazening it out. I think they need to have legal action taken against them or something.

[Dr. Drib]

Based upon Post #62, I am updating the Title of the thread to reflect this scammer.



Don
(Moderator)