One of the easiest ways to create product demand is to lower the price to zero. One of the most popular ways to get rich on the Internet is to offer a free trial for a product. In order to get the free trial the consumer must use a credit card to pay for shipping and handling. Most consumers will not read the terms and conditions for the free trial. If they do not cancel the free trial in 14 days their credit card will be hit with a recurrent charge for monthly refills of the product. The crooks who use this deceptive practice also make it difficult to cancel the order.
The link that I provided is to just one of many free trial scams that are being used to trick consumers into unwanted purchases. Most of the scams target potential victims by appealing to very common problems that can be solved by taking a non-prescription pill that is is sold by featuring other consumers who used the pills to lose weight, build a strong body, enjoy great sex, shrink an enlarged prostrate etc. Most consumers are too smart to pay over $70 per month for the worthless pills. They get hooked by accepting the free trial, and by not clicking a link to the terms and conditions.
What really aggravates me about this scam is that it is not illegal to use this deceptive practice to initiate a purchase by default. Moreover, the ad that I linked to was placed on Yahoo. You get to the ad by following a link in an article which appears to be a news article about products being used by well known athletes. Apparently, Yahoo does not worry about accepting money from crooks who pay for the ads on their site.
No comments:
Post a Comment