You know the old saying if it looks too good to be true; the Better Business Bureau says it probably is.
With January around the corner, a time when many people look for ways to improve themselves, the BBB investigated a number of so-called "miracle products." Specifically, its investigation looked at ones featuring photos of celebrities, promising effortless weight loss, whiter teeth, and disappearing wrinkles. All you have to do is enter your name, address, and credit card number.
Many of them offer a free trial, but the bureau says they may not be free at all. The bureau says it receives complaints almost daily from victims who are on the hook for expensive products shipped to their home that they did not explicitly agree to buy.
In total, it has received 37,000 complaints, 72 per cent from women.
Buried in the fine print for these offers are conditions giving consumers only a short period to try the product before they have to send it back. When consumers miss the deadline, they can be forced to pay $100 and more for cures that do not work.
In some, the fine print states that by accepting the offer, you have signed up for monthly shipments that will be charged to your credit card.
"Free trial offers relying on deception have infested the internet, especially with social media," said Linda Smith, the serving Western Ontario president and CEO. "Those running these scams are counting on consumers to be so dazzled by celebrities and big promises that they fail to read the fine print. It's imperative that consumers carefully read the terms and conditions of such offers very carefully before they take the plunge."
Obscure terms often violate the Canadian Code of Advertising and BBB guidelines.
Data from the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. shows complaints more than doubled between 2015 and 2017. Victims in 14 resolved cases collectively lost $1.3-billion.
In response to widespread fraud, the bureau is urging credit card companies to do more to ensure victims can get their money back in cases where terms were not explicitly stated. It is also calling on social media sites to do more to curtail deceptive advertising and demands more criminal prosecution.
If you are a victim of one of these offers, the bureau recommends complaining to the company directly, complaining to the bank, reporting the scam to the Internet Crime Complain Centre and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, and filing the issue with the bureau itself.