Scam Alert – Nothing is Ever Free

Women are being scammed by fake ads that use well-known royalty or performers to trick you into thinking they are promoting the product. Especially vulnerable are women who are always on the lookout for a new beauty product, like a facial cream that will “take years off.” The thinking goes like this:  If this well-known person is spending her valuable time promoting this product, it must really be good. The fabulous new facial cream is absolutely free, all you have to do is pay for shipping and handling, and at $5.95, it is a real bargain. Before you finish signing up and giving your credit card number, a second product is slipped in, even though you checked “NO.” This time the shipping charge is only $4.95. Too late, they have your credit card number. When the products arrive, you notice that one of them isn’t the eye cream that was slipped in from your “NO” but is a different kind of serum. That makes two red flags, at least. You start questioning and start checking your credit card statement.

Ah ha, at last you notice two automatic charges from the same company that sent you the free merchandise; one charge is for $87.00 and the second is for $89.00 and that is the monthly charge. Remember, you didn’t order this merchandise but somewhere in the fine print and terms of agreement that you didn’t even see was the claim that you wanted to continue receiving these free products. Along with the products was a packing list that showed the name of the company, an address, an email and phone number for returns. All of these are necessary when you call the Better Business Bureau and find out you were scammed. When calling the facial cream company’s phone number, you will find hours of wait time until a customer representative has time for your call. Finally, you can spend a great amount of time and effort trying to argue your case, that you did not order the merchandise and you don’t have to pay for what you didn’t order, even though you didn’t cancel because how do you cancel something you didn’t order? Good luck trying to get your money back. Do call your credit card company to dispute the charge, asking the company to reverse the charge because you didn’t actively order the additional merchandise. Bottom line – whether using a credit card or a bank check, there are ways the scammers try to get your money and once again, please remember that nothing is free.