How to Avoid Scams - Part 2

Very few of us are rich enough to lose our hard earned money by the numerous scams we are exposed to via the internet, phone calls, mail, in person solicitations and media advertisements. I will try to explain in very simple terms how you can avoid becoming a victim of a scam.

The types of scams you will be exposed to on a regular basis are numerous. I have broken them down to the most common and injurious of the scams you are likely see each day. I will write three articles exposing the 7 most common scams.

If It's Too Good To Be True Scams

My secretary sent in $25 plus shipping charges for an infomercial add on TV which promises weight loss just by breathing in a manner specified on their DVD. She showed all the other people at work who were interested, just how to breathe their way to a smaller waistline.

Obviously it did not work for her or any of the others who gave it a try. While she could theoretically get a refund, she was just too embarrassed to actually do it. I'm sure they count on that. This is a prime example of what I call the "if it's too good to be true scams".

Other examples are rickety gizmos guaranteed to give you six pack abs in 6 weeks. Generally even going to a fully equipped gym is not going to give you these results in this short time period either. In addition, if you just exercise but don't change your eating habits, you will not even see a change in your abs no matter what apparatus you use or how long you use it.

I recently saw that famous infomercial guy with the black hair and beard who was hawking a paste which if you put on your car you will get rid of all paint scrapes you have acquired over the years. I tried it and only some of the smaller scraps became less noticeable. This represented less than 50% of the minor paint scrapes on my car. Then I found the same compound in my supermarket shelf for only $2.50 as compared to the $19.95 cost of the compound in the infomercial.
Wow! Did I feel stupid or what?

Free Credit Check Scams

Yes you do get three credit reports but in order to get them, you have to sign up for a monthly subscription for your credit scores which can cost you $20 an month every month for the rest of your life. This is taken directly out of your credit card and you may not even notice it for quite a while. Although you can cancel your subscription, they do not make it either obvious or easy about how to go about doing this.

Another "free" service, which is not even close to free is Stamps.com. They sent me a large advertisement as well as a free disk. They did say that you get free postage if you sign up as well as a free scale and labels. They did not mention in the advertisement that you also get a $19.95 or more monthly fee to use their software. They did not mention that the free scale costs $14.95 as a shipping and handling charge or that it only works with their software and cannot be used as a stand-alone scale.

During the sign up procedure you get to see that you will be charged a monthly fee and that the free scale is not actually free. However, by that time you have already given them you credit card number and have to go through the time consuming "discontinue me" process. Even after that was done, I was still charged for the scale since you are supposed to read their mind and know to call another number so this useless piece of junk will not be sent. No amount of complaining or calls got that charge taken off my account.

Very few things in life are free. Be suspicious of claims that they are.