Online Scams on the Rise: Keys to Keeping You and Your Wallet Safe!

I have never been the trusting type. Especially when the Internet and money is involved. I admit, I am guilty of occasionally checking out the "TOO GOD TO BE TRUE" sites and offers out there, but I never give out my personal information. I thought I was safe. Boy, was I wrong.

About the time I started writing on-line full time, I was also going through a down turn in my life. I had just left the man I loved and with him the company I had help to build. I was having trouble finding work in the over saturated jobless community, and was looking for something to occupy my time and maybe bring in a little income.

I looked at site after site, knowing that 90% of all work at home jobs are scams, I read the terms and conditions, looked for blogs, consumer reviews, and read file after file of people who were either satisfied or disgusted with the offers that were out there.

Knowing I has virus protection, firewalls, ad-aware, and spy-ware in place I felt safe in merely researching. Wrong Answer!

I went to one site that offered me free information by mail or by phone. Now they had all their ducks in a row so to speak. There terms and conditions covered only the free trial and free information, with terms for the program in the "members only" access area. I signed up with only my name and cell phone number to hear what they had to say.

Seven times they called me, and after hearing them out on the first call and saying "I'm not interested", the other six responses were less that cordial. After the seventh I warned them that if I received another call I would report them for harassment, I had already said "NO".

Now keep in mind, the ONLY information they had (so I thought) was my name and telephone number.

One month later I am sitting at the computer checking my e-mail, and behold a welcome letter to this companies program with login id, password and notification that my credit card would be charged 70 plus dollars if I didn't cancel with in 7 business days. They even had my card number right.

I went to the login link and was sent immediately to the members only area where the "NEW AND IMPROVED" Terms and Conditions lay waiting for me to read over. Not only did they "sign me up" for their program, but now I had financial responsibilities to TWO other programs I had never even heard of.

I logged on to my on-line account statement for the credit card in question and there was my "one time" sign up fee charged to the account.

I instantly started to panic.

What would you do? Well I'll tell you, the right steps aren't easy to follow. They can be boring, frustrating and repetitive. But they can save your wallet!

First and foremost draft 2 letters, one to the program itself and one to your credit card company explaining that this charge was not authorized.

Second, call the program's customer service line. It took me 4 calls to 3 different numbers to get through to a live person.

Third KNOW YOUR IP ADDRESS! Request the IP address of the computer that made the request. In my case the IP address was not only different after an Internet IP search the address didn't even exist. (and you'll need it for the police report, should one need to be filed.)

Request an IMMEDIATE cancellation, and get a confirmation number! Not only will this be handy in the event you still end up getting charged a fee, but it also will save you trouble should a formal investigation be launched. THEY WILL TRY TO TALK YOU OUT OF IT! I was offered a 500 dollar free vacation if I stayed with the program.

Stay firm and threaten to turn them in for fraud. The truth is they are just as responsible for the action as the "hacker" that stole your information!

But finally, don't just give up! Hundreds and thousands of dollars are lost each year because people don't keep fighting for it. It's your money! Don't be swindled out of it. Get involved and no matter how frustrating keep up the process. There are places to turn for help should they continue to refuse you. And those organizations are going to fight with you as long as you don't give up!

I now sit here out $1.97. That is "Nonrefundable". But it is a lot better than being charged a total of $150 a month for a service someone else is getting. I fought back! And so should you!