Photo by saponifier on Pixabay.com

No one likes to be the victim of a scam. And it’s not just because we may lose some money. It’s a blow to our self-esteem. We’d like to believe that we’re savvy…too smart to get suckered into something that’s not what it’s cracked up to be.

This happened to me last year. A very nice customer service person from Discover Card helped me unravel it. But then yesterday a “news” story popped up in my Facebook feed, and I knew it was the very same pitch.

That’s why I want to share the story with my readers. And I’m asking Facebook members to click on the Facebook link at the top of the page and share this post and help get the word out.

Have you ever wondered about the high number of stories of women celebrities who are quitting their “jobs” in order to run their new miracle anti-aging skin care companies? I mean, how many miracle creams can there be, and how did the celebrity women have the time and scientific expertise to create them?

Here are just some of the celebrity women about whom the fake news industry has told us are getting into their own skin care business: Joanna Gaines, Melania Trump, Meryl Streep, Kate Middleton, Ellen DeGeneres, and Priscilla Chan (Mark Zuckerberg’s wife).

The fake ads use photographs of the celebrity inventors as well as photographs of other famous women who are supposedly their satisfied clients. And of course, there are the required Before and After photos of regular people with gushing comments about the effectiveness of said miracle cream.

Here’s how people are scammed: The only way to get the product is to click the button that takes you to the “free trial” offer. You can’t purchase these products on Amazon or in retail stores or even on the product’s own website! You have to start with the free trial.

Amazing! They won’t let you buy anything! Isn’t that sweet? Just provide your credit card to cover the small shipping and handling fee, and this super-fantastic company will “give” you a 30 day supply.

Please hold on for just a moment. Before you offer up any form of payment, try to find the link to the site’s Terms and Conditions. It’s usually out of the way, in small print…hard to find. But read every word.

You may need to consult a lawyer to understand it. You’re not getting a free sample; you’re accepting a trial offer. And by doing so, you’re automatically enrolling in a membership program where the company will charge your card monthly for a fee between $90-$200 before you even get the next shipment.

Yes, you have a limited number of days to call and opt out of the membership program, and that’s usually less than fourteen days. But it’s not clear when the company starts that clock ticking. Many of the complaints I’ve read allude to the company saying, “Oh you JUST missed the deadline.”

These disreputable companies use all kinds of advertising schemes to get us to purchase their stuff. “Supply is limited—Offer expires in two days!” OR “There is such a demand for this product that Celebrity Name has us limiting the number of free trials to 250 per day. There are just four left today. Click Yes Make Me Beautiful now!”

Sometimes different creams (different names, at least) are offered by the same companies. The ad copy is the same, the model is the same; they change just the product name!

So please be aware and stay alert. If something online seems questionable, check out the Terms and Conditions before providing any information. That legal document (that’s really what a Terms and Conditions page is) protects the scamming company to the point that many of them include a disclaimer that you as an individual give up your right to sue them!

The outcome of my personal story from last year was a loss of about $95, and that’s only because that very nice customer service lady from Discover Card actually called the offending company with me on the line. She negotiated a 50% refund from them.

The Discover rep said they receive calls like mine every day. Because I had agreed to the scammer’s terms and conditions simply by accepting their trial offer, I was not able to dispute the charges on my Discover card. The term is called “negative option” which means a consumer’s silence equals consent.

Now you know the true story about celebrity miracle creams. Share it!

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Links for more information:

A detailed article with photos on the topic from Snopes.com

An article on the term negative option