Freebie Safety Tips

Most freebies come from reputable sites. If you're signing up for a dove lotion sample, it will most likely come from the dove website. If it doesn't, but it's been posted on many sites... then it's probably valid. Another "reputable" way to get freebies is through Walmart. They offer freebies (or "samples" as they call them) on their website. You will see a variety of posts on this blog for freebies, all will be reputable.

One freebie, which is a "spam creator" for your inbox, and is a waste of time is offers that claim you have "won a laptop," "won a 500 dollar gift card" etc. These freebies require you to give an e-mail address, and then complete multiple offers (many of them requiring credit cards), and then referring multiple people.

Never, ever give out your credit card number, or social security number. There is no reason that reputable freebie sites need access to either to process your request. If you use Firefox as your main browser (like me) I suggest you install the add-on WOT. When it detects a fraud, or an inappropriate site it displays a page that tells you the site has been rated as dangerous. Visit https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3456

If you go into your settings (or preferences) on your web browser, and select privacy or cookies choose that you only want to collect cookies from sites you navigate to. This means that advertisers and spammers can't collect your information unless you go straight to their site. For more information on "cookies" visit http://www.microsoft.com/info/cookies.mspx

Some freebies and websites require you to give a phone number. If you don't feel comfortable giving them your number there's a service called Inumbr. You enter your number (cell, home, work, etc.) and it gives you a number assigned to a major city far away from where you live. When someone needs to contact you they call that number and the call gets forwarded to your number. For more info on inumbr visit http://inumbr.com/home/fact_sheet , and yes... it's free!

Last, but not least ... if it's too good to be true it probably is! Here is an easy checklist on how to stay safe while looking for freebies!

1. Is the site the actual brand name site?

2. Do they require you to have a valid e-mail address?

3. Is it posted on many freebie sites, or has someone else tried this freebie?

Things to keep in mind:

-It should NOT ask for your credit card number

-It should NOT ask for your social security number

-If it asks for anything more than your address, e-mail, or phone number (this doesn't include if you have to take a survey to get the freebie) then you should leave.

-If you decide to stay, make sure the site has an https:// instead of a http://