The year of 2009 was full of dishonest scams during a tough year for the U.S. Economy. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) came out with its top 10 scams of 2009. Here is the Better Business Bureau’s top 10 list.
Top 10 Scams of 2009 (In no particular order)
Free Trial Offer Scams : This swept the online community and many legitimate companies suffered because of it’s bad publicity. Basically, the scam artists would promote free trial offers and then charge the consumer a recurring bill and make it very difficult for cancellations. Visa credit card company has gone to the extent of blocking over 100 dishonest acai companies that were implementing this scam. These scams were also prevalent with teeth whitener products and other diet products. The acai fruit was one particular consumer good that got caught in a whirlwind of negative criticism. It is unfortunate that acai got caught in this mess of bad publicity because it is one of the healthiest fruits on the planet.
For more information read:
What is Acai?
Benefits of Acai
Acai Berry Free Trial Scams
Acai Scams
Government Stimulus Grant Scams: Phone, email, mail scams offering assistance on how to get unachievable grants.
Robocalls: Fake telemarketing calls that dealt with car warranty, credit card expiration, and interest rates.
Lottery Sweepstakes Scams: These victims were notified that they had won thousands/millions of dollars in the lottery then would receive a bill to cover fake taxes and other false fees having to do with winning the so called lottery.
Job Hunter Scams: This scam targeted people looking for jobs. It would often try to get private information such as SSN and bank account numbers in order to access personal accounts.
Work at Home Google Scam: This was a pop up ad many people received that lured people into signing up for a free trial offer to supposedly make money from on working for Google. These victims ended up getting billed monthly for hundreds of dollars.
Debt Assistance Scam: This scam was targeted to people with credit card or other debt. They would be scammed to pay a lot of money to get the consolidation of their debt then never receive the benefit.
Mystery Shopping: This was a fake scam that had the victims believing they were evaluating stores by fake shopping for them thinking they would get reimbursed for all expenditures. In the end they were given fake checks and were out a lot of money.
Over Payment Scams: This scam would often target landlords. A potential renter would overpay with a fake check and then have the landlord wire wire the additional money overpaid back to the scammer not knowing the initial check was fake.
Phishing emails and H1N1 spam: This scam involves getting the victim to download unsafe computer programs that trick the user into giving out personal information. It would often infect the users computer with malware and computer viruses that would work to steal financial information.
Comments on this entry are closed.