I received a phone solicitation to join a home based business. I signed up for an entry level by credit card.

Try the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) as well as the Attorney General for the State they are in.

Go get 'em!

I'm sorry to hear about you beign scammed. I have been scammed a few times, and though I thought I learned my lesson there is always someone out there tryign to get one over on you.

You may not be interested bc of what you have gone through, but I have a home based business (that isn't a scam LOL). Our family has been blessed by it, and will give you a way to redeem what you have lost from being scammed. If, not I understand your hesitence, but just trying to help. You don't have to contact me unless you want to, you can view the presentation online. YTB has never had a complaint to the Attorney Generals Office in any state, and is a publically traded company (they are on the stock reports).

www.ytb.com/mdonathan , you can listen to conference calls without beign a member, and see the investors in the business, and the compensation plan which has a copywrite.

If you are not interested and I don't hear from you, I hope the New Year has many blessings in store for you to bring you back up.

Number 1 You should have called the credit card company and put a stop payment on it! Now, you have to call the credit card company and file a complaint against them as well, you need to insist and considering the amount of money you invested, I would definitely speak with an attorney. If you could afford 8 grand to a sham business, its well worth taking legal steps in retreiving your funds! steve

Ouch, its not likely that you'll see your money again. You would have to get a lawyer that specializes in this sort of thing, which could end up costing you more in the long run. Its a hard lesson, but anyone soliciting a home based business is 9 times out of 10 a scam, its best to do your research before commiting to anything.

P.S. watch the Futurama movie, its based on these sorts of scams.

Report it to the FBI. Be prepared to provide all available information. You may never see your $8,000, but the FBI investigates these types of businesses and tries to shut them down.

Giving a credit card number to someone who calls you is asking for trouble. You should instead get their information, verify it, then call them. Of course you know what happens when you call them. There is no response.

When someone calls me with a solicitation that may be of interest to me, I always tell them to send me all the materials by mail so I can study them before making a decision. I never hear from them again if they are not legitimate.

Coastal is probably smart enough to have tape recorded the conversation and can show where in the conversation he "agreed" to the charges. This makes him liable for the credit card bill.

Since you returned it and got a receipt, your credit card company can charge it back to the merchant as a return. It isn't fraud since you authorized it.

get a hold opf the credit card company you use. if you dispute the charges, they have to investigate it for you. im not sure if the company you dealed with is worse than the credit card company you have....mine wouldnt treat me that way, and get away with it, you need fraud protection, and a better card company...

Your State's Attorney's office may have more information, but if you authorized the charge then you probably will never see that money again.

Before you give any info to any body/company on line check with the BBB in your State and the one they are doing business in. If they are not listed that company is not legitimate.