Connectedau Reviews 5

Connected AU is a fraudulent operation

I signed up for the Penpal service at $45. Received a few letters and wrote back but service was very slow. Lost interest.

Then was charged $199 so I emailed the community email address and I got a very nice automated reply but no more. I emailed them a number of times and still all I got was the very nice automated reply.

So I disputed through the bank. This was successful and money refunded.

While the dispute process was underway I realised there had been previous charges for $245. So this has now escalated into a fraud process with the bank. I will get a new credit card shortly!

As others have said:

This website and its offerings are a scam!

Frauds! Do not give your bank details. I have attempted to cancel my membership 3 times and I have been again charged $199 this evening. No communications from the organisation they just keep taking my money. I never used their services, thought it was a penpal project and it was complicated and I never made the program. The over $300 they’ve now charged me for nothing I could have taken a lovely, lonely person out for a beautiful meal. Horrible Fraudsters.

Early last year (February 2025) I signed up with Connectedau to be a part of what I thought was an online bookclub (which wasn't), paid a one-off one month subscription but never received confirmation of the payment, emailed several times with no reply so wanted to cancel subscription but still no reply from the site, and couldn't remove my debit card payment details or cancel personal details from the site either. Lesson learned, no more online sign-ups for me!
On 17th April 2026, my card was debited $199.00 from Connectedau for no apparent reason and no communication, emails remain unanswered.
I'm assuming this "company" is a scam, and judging by the other comments I'm not alone.
Will be reporting Connectedau to ScamWatch.

I originally signed up to penpal program for $45/yr. I was charged $245 on 22/10/2025 without notification of the charge. I msgd on the support chat & emailed asking why I was charged & for an invoice to be issued. No response received. I found a member email notification that 1st July the subscription model was changing as they moved to a new digital platform. I emailed to cancel subscription, referencing the cancellation terms on 24/10/25 which they acknowledged 07/11/25. On the 31/3/26 I have just received a $199 charge without notice, no invoice issued or available on the community portal, for a service I believed was cancelled. I have not heard a reply but I have elected to delete my profile on the portal and I will be escalating this to department of Fair Trading as invoices and an accurate cancellation system should be available. The last reviewers experience also contributed to this action.

The company advertised themselves as a charity org, and my partner signed up for $5 a month to write letters to a penpal, someone who may be lonely. It went well initially, but after a "system change" they charged my partner $25 a month, then $49 a month, without providing a service. Some months they would charge double. She contacted them and asked to cancel the charges, which they claimed to have done, but have since charged multiple times per month, over 4 months. Even after a cancelled card, they continue, having taken $150 over three chargers in a single month

This company is a straight up scam.