Buyer Beware!!! The Amazon Survey and the Reward for Taking It

One would hope I learned my lesson and would never ever even take a 2nd look at any offers of FREE products where I am only asked to pay for shipping and handling ( $4-$6) 

Wrong!!! Today an advertising from the trusted Amazon popped up asking that I answer a 30-second survey and in exchange get a “gift.”

I trust Amazon, I have an account and my site is an Amazon affiliate.  I clicked on the survey and indeed, as promised the questions were easy and unthreatening.  

Do I have an account, how often do I shop with them, would I recommend to a friend! Then, I was congratulated and a list of desirable products was presented to me: skin care ( of course!!!) vitamins, Menly supplements,  and what caught my eye was an elegant purse priced at $99.00 but because I got lucky with the Amazon survey, I had it free just the $6.99 for shipping. 

I remembered my own advise, “if it looks to good to be true, it probably is.” I read several clients’ comments. All excellent. Common sense should tell us not everyone could be happy! 

Hmm… I really liked that purse… As I searhed for a card, I remembered another of the suggestions I made to my readers who were scammed: pay with a card which has a low credit limit so the potential scammer could not charge astronomical amounts without your approval! I followed my own advice and used a gift card with little money on it. 

In a moment of major lucidity BEFORE clicking place order I actually READ the fine print and not just pretended! I was horrified:

It stated this was only a 14 DAY TRIAL to determine if I liked their product and IF I DID NOT call a number stated in this notice before the 14-day deadline to send it back and cancel, a similar product WILL BE MAILED to me every month at the cost of $99.00 until the subscription was cancelled!!!

OMG I almost fell for this scam again!  In all faireness, and as a disclaimer, Amazon probably has no knowledge of this otherwise “legal” deal, since the information is provided in small print!

I erased my card information as fast as I could and decided to share with you the BEAST has many faces!!! This time the “face” was a purse!

Morale of the story:

Read the fine print!

If it looks to good to be true, it probably is!

Please comment and share your stories.

Wishing all wisdom and trusting knowledge is POWER!

Where You Affected By The Equifax Hack? How to find Out!!!

It just occurred to me that even if I am not rich and famous or either, my identity might have been stolen and the most confidential information about me could be used to harm me!

With that fear in mind, I did a Google search: How do I find out if the Equifax hack affected me?
After about a dozen advertisements on how to pay for protection, I came across the article which should have been top!!!
So… don’t waste your time, I wasted it for you! Just go to:
wwww.amp.cnn.com and read: “How to find out if the Equifax hack affected you!”

If you are impatient, and you trust WHAT I read, just go to:
http://www.equifaxsecurity2017 to find out if you may have been affected by the hack!
To find out, you will be asked for the last six digits of your social security and your last name. Based on this information you will be informed instantly IF you may or may not have been affected by the hack!

Shockingly, in my case the answer was I may have been affected by the hack and was offered one year of free monitoring by signing up at http://www.trustedID.com, which is an Equifax company.
Before the transaction was completed, I was asked to agree to their terms and agree to give them access to my already stolen information!

I signed up because at this point, why not!
Does this prevent me to join some class action lawsuit in the future? May be, but there are so many wrong things with this picture that a potential lawsuit would only be a small problem!
Anyway, I hope this information helps people.
Please share if you have comments, experiences anything that will educate us and teach us how to protect ourselves.