Free Trial Offer Scams on the Rise

It is no secret that today's economy is quite weak. When the economy is at its weakest is the time that scammers prey upon consumers more than any other. Consumers are looking for the best deals and see the word "free" and automatically want to give it a try.

Free trial offers have been around for a long time. There has always been some risk to them, but in the past year or two the amount of free trial scams has really increased exponentially. The sad truth is running a free trial offer scam is not that difficult. Companies will change the terms on you, not give you the refund you were promised, then close up shop and move to another state in the United States or even another country and start the process over again.

The premise of a free trial offer does make a lot of sense. A company wants you to get hooked on their product or services, so they offer a certain amount for free in hopes that you will become a loyal customer in the future. When free trial offers started there were usually no strings attached, you would simply get a free trial and then they would speak with you and encourage you to keep the subscription or buy the product, whatever it may have been. Now at the very minimum almost all of the free trial offers require you to input your credit card number and the company will automatically charge your card if you don't cancel within a certain amount of days. While I understand this is a good business move for them, giving out your card and having to remember to cancel within a certain amount of days is not a good deal for consumers at all.

Recently the acai berry scam, teeth whitening scam, and google fortune scam have all topped the list of free trial offer scams. Generally what happens is you agree to their terms and conditions and then they have your credit card number and they make multiple charges to your card and refuse to give you any refund.

The reality is giving out your credit card or debit card leaves you open to the possibility of being scammed. If you really want to try out a free trial offer of something why not use a prepaid card that only has a certain amount of money on it? This way if you do get charged, there is only so much the company can take from you. On the other hand many consumers may just wish to try to avoid free trials altogether, and I can't say I blame them at all. The word "free" is used very loosely, and the sooner you realize that free doesn't always mean free, the better off your personal finance situation will be.

Sources:

Ong, Bao "Preying on the down and out"
BBB "Free Trial Offers: Are They Good Deals?"