But instead of helping them, the FTC says, the scammers hit their targets with an elaborate fraud in which virtually nothing was really as it was portrayed - not even the location of their business, which hid behind bogus addresses in Nevada and Utah.
Losse, of Browns Mills, didn't get a real credit card. For his $89 fee, he got a plastic card usable only at a handful of websites that sold what the FTC calls "ludicrously overpriced products" in large wholesale quantities - such as a case of 72 packages of "washable poster paints" for $863.
The line of credit was an illusion, too. Customers who actually found things worth buying discovered that much of the price was deducted up front directly from their checking accounts. Some victims, including Losse, had money taken even after they complained and canceled their cards. Others said money was taken even though they'd rejected the offer outright.
And timely payments likely did nothing to help anyone's credit records - a key element of the pitch made to Losse and other victims. The FTC says there's no evidence that Platinum Trust Card or its cousin, the "Express Platinum Card," ever bothered to report on-time payments to credit bureaus.
Earlier this month, the FTC filed a civil-fraud lawsuit against four Philadelphia-area men behind the scheme and a web of companies connected to the cards. A federal judge appointed a receiver, who shut down the operation. Named as defendants in the lawsuit are two brothers, Blake Rubin, of Huntingdon Valley, and Chase Rubin, of Rydal; Jules Shore, of Abington; and Justin Diaczuk, of Philadelphia.
