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One Man's Story |
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On the Early Show on MSNBC today there was a story of a young man who was struggling to make ends meet when something online caught his eye. It was an ad that promised to put an end to all of his money needs and supply him with buckets full of cash. Now remember, he was already strapped for cash. The ad, which was professionally written to attract attention, stated that for only .99 cents they would show him how to turn his bad luck around and become financially independent. He thought for just .99 cents it would be worth a look. After using his credit card to send the 99 cents he waited for the information to arrive. It never arrived. Not in the email, not in the US snail mail, not from anywhere. The man never did receive what he paid for but his credit card did. On his credit card statement was the billing for .99 cents plus a bill for an additional $50.00. That was $50.00 he had not agreed to and had no knowledge of. It was a $50.00 monthly fee for who knows what. It was simply attached to his credit card. He had been scammed. Besides being scammed, the results to him and his family were devastating. That $50. was the food on the table and the heat in his home. That $50. was part of his mortgage payment, costing him and his family their home. What happened to this man happens to others all the time. Desperate people looking for an honest way to survive in our economic crunch. You can't blame the man for wanting to find a way to help his family. There are many more people wanting the same thing. Anyone could fall for the same ad. It could be you or even me. In fact, it was me. That is right, I fell for an ad similar to that. An ad that offered the information I had been looking for and it only ask for one little single dollar. Just one. I, too, thought what could it hurt. Well, in my case it was $72. per month added to my credit card with automatic monthly payments. I was fortunate enough to discover it on the first credit card statement and had it removed. It is almost impossible to stop an account of that type. Any correspondence from you is either ignored or never reaches those involved. Sometimes the ad even includes a 100% money back guarantee, but just try to get your money back. All your requests and arguments just fall on deaf ears. Money back links, cancellation links, they all look impressive and encouraging but way too often they don't work. They appear to be broken links. About the only way to stop it is to have your credit card canceled and a new card and number issued. And that is exactly what I had to do.
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