My Money Leaf Scam & Their Need for a Usability Specialist

This morning I looked at my bank account and noticed a charge from a My Money Leaf. I didn't make a purchase with a company by that name so I did a google search. The first thing that popped up was SCAM. I couldn't even find the name of the website on the first page, every search result on the first page had the word scam in it. So I type in www.mymoneyleaf.com and I got what I was looking for.

At first glance the website looks legit.

The design is simple, everything is organized so it seems easy to find the information you are looking for. Looks can be deceiving.

I found it strange that I was on the home page and didn't see anything about the company and what they do. So I scroll down and click the 'Learn More' button.

That link takes you to the 'Rewards' tab.

 I didn't ask to find out about rewards, I want to know about the company!
Clicking on the 'Get Cash' tab also lead me to the 'Rewards' tab. And when I clicked on 'Settings' it took me to the 'Contact Us' page, which isn't even a tab, and can be found at the bottom of the page.

I tried to find information on the company again by clicking the 'Company' link at the bottom of the page, but it took me back to the 'Rewards' tab. 

It already sucks getting scammed, but it's even more frustrating to get scammed by people who don't know much about usability. 

If you're wondering, I did contact my bank and have them stop the payment. I also called the customer service number provided by the My Money Leaf website, and was on hold for about 10-15 minutes. My bank gave me a different customer service number for them, and after being on hold for 10 minutes someone finally answered. She told me that my information came from one of their lender partners after I applied for a $1500 loan on July 16th. I never applied for a loan that day, so the scary part is that they got all of my information from somewhere. 

***UPDATE***
After calling my bank and My Money Leaf I was able to get the money credited back to my account. I look at the detailed statement on my online bank account and it says it came from a  web  payment to www.mlhelp.org, I went to the website and this is the page is goes to:

If you look closely the title of the page is called 'Money Leaf Help', but the header of the page just says 'mlhelp.org'. The customer service number is different from the one on the My Money Leaf Website. 

I hope this is the last of My Money Leaf in my life. If they want to do a better job at scamming people I suggest they get a UX professional on their team first so that the scam actually looks real. 

Great Undergrad UX Experience - fly happy.

My favorite undergraduate UX project was called fly happy. This project made me realize my love for user research. Before working on this project I always thought of user research as customer satisfaction, and the term "the customer is ALWAYS right". I learned that user research includes gathering information from ALL stake holders, which in this case included TSA and Port of Seattle professionals.

Two other students and I took on the challenge of re-designing airport security at the Sea-Tac airport. When I first heard our challenge I thought it would be simple, I hated airport security procedures, and I knew exactly how to fix it. The only problem with my solution was that once we began researching, my idea had already been implemented! (Sorting passengers in groups such as business professionals/frequent flyers, families with small children, etc.).

We were able to immerse ourselves into the the context and interview different types of passengers, TSA security, and Port of Seattle professionals to get a holistic view of the airport security problem. That knowledge allowed us to create a re-design that was sustainable and low-cost. Feel free to take a look at our final proposal and leave your feedback in a comment. 

Great Undergrad UX Experience - Re-Designing E-Care

One of my most memorable UX projects as an undergrad was re-designing the E-Care website for a group project in HCDE 418 (User Experience Design).

My role in this project was the User Researcher. This was exciting because I was responsible for leading the user research, and deciding which methods to use. My role was critical for defining and conducting research, developing personas, and creating story boards. I used lots of index cards, sticky notes, and white boards during these three phases.

Overall my biggest take aways came from empathy mapping and ecosystem diagramming. I was able to apply everything I read in my textbooks to an actual project. Apart of my final for the class was turning in a final portfolio for the project. Feel free to take a look at it and leave feedback in a comment. Although the class is long over, I still look back at this project as a valuable learning experience.