September28
Lose weight from your wallet
I hate the advertisment above.
First and foremost, I don’t need to be reminded I need to lose a few kilograms by a crudely drawn animated gif.
Secondly, the ad links to a scam.
According to website Gawker, the scam plays out like this.
- An animated ad, featuring an inflating and defalting stomach, catches your eye, and you click through, landing on a site called ConsumerOnlineTips.com or WeeklyHealthNews.com or something like that.
- You are presented with glowing testimonials falsely attributed to ABC, CNN and USA Today. A fake TV hottie from “Channel 7″ might pretend to “investigate” the product in question (her initial skepticism is quickly overcome!).
- You are sent to a third site and asked for a credit card number to order “free” or trial samples. The number is presumably solicited for shipping costs or a nominal cost. The scammers then go to town on your card with bogus charges, according to a lawsuit filed by the FTC. In at least some cases, there was very fine print warning you that you were agreeing to a “free” sample followed by two $80 samples. Ha.
The FTC in the US is cracking down on these scams and also on website who make money by showing the advertisments.
Based on the number of times I’ve seen it, there will be a lot of charges laid.
