The carrot on the stick
Imagine this scenario: You’ve stumbled upon a spiffy looking website online offering a free trial pack of colon cleansing products together with an impressive looking e-Book. All you need to do is submit your name, address, credit or debit card details (for a nominal “shipping and handling fees”), as well as other personal details, and you’ll enjoy a month’s supply of colon cleansing product, JUST the thing you need to lose some weight in time for Christmas… RIGHT?

A nasty shock
WRONG! Yes, you will receive your trial package in a timely manner, but in 30 days’ time you will also find a credit or debit card charge for an astoundingly high amount – quite different from the initial S&H charge! Surprise, surprise. Upon deeper scrutiny, you find out that there is a tiny fine print on the website you signed up for your trial offer dictating that unless you call or write in to cancel that offer, you will be billed CONTINUOUSLY for the product! That means an extra $50 or more for you to pay, sometimes unknowingly each month!

Negative option
This problem stems from a clause called “negative option”. Unethical merchants take advantage of this by egging on customers to sign up for the trial offer, and not letting them know about the fine print. Customers who DO know about this, find it difficult to cancel the offer and by the time they managed to get through to the merchants via email or telephone, it will be too late.

Visa to the rescue
Knowing how rampant this scam is, Visa decides to terminate some 100 merchants’ credit card processing account recently. Online shoppers can find solace in the fact that Visa is stepping up on their security measures so that consumers will not be scammed by such unscrupulous tactics again. Visa group president William M. Sheedy says that Visa has been hot on the tail of unethical merchants since summer and will continue to wipe out such merchants before more customers get scammed, especially with the approaching holiday season.

So the next time you shop online, be aware of scammy looking acai berry or diet product scams.

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