‘Hercules Hook’ fraudulent website security claims – Part II October 16, 2006
Posted by Admin in infomercial, online security.trackback
Original post: Fraudulent security claims on ‘Hercules Hook’ website could affect consumer confidence.
Update: It’s been more than 24 hours since the herculeshook.com domain owner has been advised of the failure to properly secure the Hercules Hook e-commerce website. I decided to review the herculeshook.com privacy policy this evening and here’s what it has to say regarding their information protection practices:
How We Protect Your Information [privacy policy excerpt found on herculeshook.com]
To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy and ensure the correct use of personal information, the Company uses appropriate industry standard procedures to safeguard the confidentiality of personal information including the use of firewall, encryption, token authentication, application proxies, monitoring technology and adaptive analysis of network traffic to track abuse of our network and its data. All transmissions of information are through secure computer servers, which also run authentication and Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”) 128-bit software data encryption software to encrypt all personal information including your name, address and credit card number so that it cannot be read as the information travels over the Internet. [Full herculeshook.com privacy policy]
I’m not sure what steps to take next, but since the website domain owner has proven to be non-responsive and the site is hosted in the US, filed an official complaint with the Federal Trade Comission. The FTC has a ‘Bureau of Consumer Protection’ with a division called ‘Division of Privacy and Identity Protection’ that deals with these types of concerns.
Specifically, this division enforces:
- Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices, including deceptive statements and unfair practices involving the use or protection of consumers’ personal information;
- The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which requires financial institutions to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer information, provide notice to consumers about their information practices, and give consumers an opportunity to direct that their personal information not be shared with certain non-affiliated third parties
Good on ya for reporting to the FTC. Any word?
I am having a terrible time with this company, the website if faulty and there is no confirmation or amoutnbeing charged, and via live chat I was told the order did not go through which pleased me as I felt like i was being scammed and didnt feel safe on their website. Now less than 24 hours it was supposively sent and nothing I can do about it to cancel according to their office. I feel this is a dishonest company doing dishonest business. If their product was so good why the hell do they have to cheat and scam people this way. I would be interested in filing a complaint with the FTC and any other organizationt that I can.
I agree!! This company is a big scam–they take your credit card info but never reveal the charges they put on your credit card. It is a fraud!! I contacted my credit card company to dispute it and they have reversed the charges. I also contacted the Tennessee Attorney General who is now actively pursuing them. Please contact them with your concerns-if enough people complain, they may be able to stop this runaway train. If nothing else, maybe you can get your money back. It’s just unfortunate that many others aren’t aware of how to dispute this–Hercules Hooks probably figures being forced in returning a few dollars to an angry customer is offset by the thousands of dollars they make off of those that are unsuspecting.
Good luck! (and email the TN Attorney General!!)
Marcia – thanks for the update, good for you for pursuing it!
It’s amazing how often people get scammed and do nothing, say nothing. I think it’s mostly because they don’t want to admit that they made a mistake. Do you think it’s also because they don’t want to admit they fell for a late night infomercial?! Ha ha – probably a bit of that too.
Regardless, good to hear that it is being looked into. We’ll keep an eye out for news from Tennessee’s Attorney General’s office! Have a great day!
Okay, I’ve read all these e-mails, but NO WHERE can I find a phone number or website that doesn’t go in circles to cancel the life time part. PLEASE, HELP! PLEASE HELP!
How do I cancel this lifetime supply of these hooks.