I am a fan of many types of food, but crow is a dish I don’t fancy. Be that as it may, I have to confess that, in a moment of carelessness, I let my guard down on the Internet.
Constantly fighting the battle of the belly bulge, I was sucked in by an ad on Facebook touting two herbal supplements as having miracle-like properties and at only six dollars and change for postage. Silly me.
The old adage, ‘if it looks too good to be true, it probably is,” continues to reverberate in my head – loudly.
The ad that extols the virtues of certain herbal supplements was accompanied by (I have since discovered) a stale and well-worn interview in which Dr. Oz confers with some medical expert in California.
OK. So I am not a daytime television fan. This was my first viewing of said clip and Oz has apparently since disassociated himself with any particular marketer.
The two-week ‘free’ trial added up to four charges of between $97 and $100 each on my MasterCard. So far, I have received the two “free trial” bottles, and then two more arrived in the mail, unannounced and with no invoice.
Fortunately, the MasterCard people were exceptionally helpful in putting an end to the unwanted supply of “miracles.” I was warned not to simply return the unwanted items but to call ahead to make arrangements.
“How’s that working for you,” asked a customer care rep in Tempe, Ariz, who remained silent when I expressed my view on using a very public figure to suck people in.
I was given two 17-digit numbers to accompany the product to be returned to an address in Aurora, Colo. and informed I would be charged a roughly $20 re-stocking fee per item.
Interestingly, daily checks reveal that the ad I responded to several weeks ago is no longer appearing on Facebook. But the same old Dr. Oz clip is now on the site of a popular women’s magazine.
Jeff Meerman, manager of corporate communications for TD Bank, says I did one thing right: I contacted MasterCard as soon as I saw the charges. He says this is very important because after 30 days, it gets much harder for the credit card company to act on a cardholder’s behalf.
“Check your statement over carefully and keep an eye on your transactions,” he says, calling ‘free trial’ a red flag. “Credit card fraud is growing in sophistication, but the ways of combatting them are also getting more sophisticated.”
Meerman recommends checking the lower corner of your browser for a padlock and key. If the padlock is closed or the key is intact, security technology will scramble your credit card number and personal information as it’s being transmitted to the merchant.
Print out the screen that confirms your transaction and hang onto it as a receipt. Carefully read privacy and security statements before you buy and never provide your credit card number via email. Other safety tips are available at www.tdcanadatrust.com/products-services/banking/credit-cards.faq.jsp#3.