Work-from-home business accused of stealing credit card number

By JULIE WERNAU

An online company that claims its customers can work from home and make thousands a dollars a day using Google is being sued in Cook County court by an Illinois woman who alleges that the company's only business is stealing credit card numbers.
In the class-action suit, Illinois resident Lynette Booth says she clicked on an advertisement describing the life-changing experience of a woman that used a product from Florida-based company Convert2Media to make thousands of dollars, but ended up getting no product and seeing unauthorized charges on her credit card bill.
"Work-at-home scams are the scam of the year for 2011 as we see it," said Rafey Balabanian, the Chicago attorney representing Booth. "In the face of this egregious economy where people are just struggling to make ends meet, all they do is take these people's last hard-earned dollars."
The suit alleges that customer testimonials on the company's website appear with stock photos that are used after the company figures the location of the website viewer. The people in the photos are then made to appear to be local individuals.
In one case, the same stock photo was allegedly used twice with different names.
The suit also says the website claims that its products have appeared on Fox News, CNN and USA Today, and includes links to fake news articles mentioning the product.
The products, which allegedly include a CD with software to get started, can be purchased for under $5 to "Start Making Money Today!" But according to the lawsuit, the product never arrives, and charges begin to appear on the buyer's credit card statements - $88.87 and $24.90 a month.
Booth called repeatedly to ask for her money back, the suit claims, but the company refused to comply. Convert2Media said the company had not seen a suit. After Convert2Media was faxed a copy of the suit, it did not immediately provide a comment.