How do you know when or if a website is a scam? Well, there are ways and I’ve been talking about phishers and phishing techniques in this article. But this post is not really about phishing. It’s mostly a website review.

Tradelinebroker.com (the link will open a new window) is a website about credit. Honestly, reading the content on the first page you don’t really get the message. You just linger on wondering: what’s the point? They start with a bold-blue cheap piece of copywriting:”The information you’re about to read will change your life” and they go on stuttering about credit building secrets, boosting your credit score overnight, credit repair ebooks and so on. Then they promisse (and who they are is still a mistery) to add up to 200 points to your credit score in 90 days or less.

Personally, I tend to believe this website is a scam. There is no company address (although they proudly present a company name: Seasoned Trade Lines with no reference on a really serious website), no “About” category, no names of those behind the business (talking about ghosts and businesses!) and no other categories whatsoever! There is no Privacy Policy, no Disclaimer… nothing to make me trust the company. The joke goes further! Typing Seasoned Trade Lines in Google leads you to another site (a mirror site of tradelinebroker.com): seasonedtrades.com. On one site the company is called Seasoned Trade Lines, LLC and on another Seasoned Trade Lines, Inc. There is also a seasonedtradelines.net if you are curious about it and plenty of negative comments about this company, including comments of credit authorities like Jim Croft (founder of Mortgage Asset Research Institute). Apparently the owner of Season Trade Lines is Steve DeJesus and the service he provides is not older than one year. He states that there’s nothing wrong with boosting up credit scores. The ones doing so “are not going to flake out on the payments”. He’s probably right. But as his websites look now, what he offers looks too much like a scam! This is exactly how webdesign can seriously damage a business.

Here you have links to screenshots and documents related to this post:

Screenshot of tradelinebroker.com

Screenshot of seasonedtrades.com

PDF document “Industry watchdogs warn of credit-booster sites”.