Media: Corporate networks lure customers into subscription traps
The Danish-owned company Aether, headquartered in Dubai, operates a corporate network that has lured customers into so-called subscription traps.
This is according to Politiken, which, together with 20 international media outlets, has carried out an investigation based on confidential documents and data from the payment service Worldline.
The work has been coordinated by European Investigative Collaborations (EIC).
According to the investigation, Aether's corporate network consists of several hundred companies and more than a thousand websites.
On several of the websites, customers are - without realizing it - signed up for a subscription when they buy a product.
Through the subscriptions, the companies withdraw amounts from the customers' accounts month after month.
According to Politiken, current and former employees say that Aether has front companies in several countries.
A survey of reviews on the Trustpilot platform also shows that reviewers often accuse the companies in the network of fraud.
Aether describes itself on its website as a global marketing agency that, among other things, deals with digital marketing.
The website states that the company is present in over 20 countries. Aether is to have offices in Copenhagen, New York and Manila, among others.
Dansk Kristian Møller is the owner and founder of Aether. He denies in a written response to Politiken that the company has done anything illegal or fraudulent.
- Aether Group categorically denies any involvement in illegal or fraudulent activities. The allegations made are unfounded and are largely based on guesswork, erroneous assumptions and unnamed sources - not credible evidence, he writes.
/ritzau/
