During a time when consumers are conservatively monitoring their wallets and bank accounts, online businesses are deceptively advertising “deals” and running up charges on your credits cards.
The deceptive marketing tactic occurs at checkout, after consumers have purchased the product or service they intended. A new screen or ad pops up offering a discount, coupon or some enticing savings that seems too good to be true. The mere clicking on that ad leads to your credit card information being passed from the legitimate business purchase to the fraudulent advertiser, who runs up unknown, excessive charges beyond what was expected by the consumer.
Since 1999, Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty have lured 35 million consumers to join various “memberships” in exchange for a lieu of fees. E-commerce grossed $60 billion the first two quarters of 2009.
Online retailers, including Expedia’s competitor, Orbtiz, are suspected of receiving kick-backs from the various direct online advertisers on their websites. An investigation is underway of Orbtiz’s and other retailer’s relationships with their hosted online advertisers.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is pursuing lawsuits to abort deceptive, fraudulent online marketing. The FTC has also partnered with Microsoft’s Bing and other businesses in running an online ad campaign to educate consumers about the issue.
While many efforts are being made to curb online advertisers’ preying on customer confusion, your best defense is to simply avoid clicking any ad that “seems too good to be true.”
The FTC provides 7 guidelines for safer online shopping and tips for prudent holiday shopping. If you have been scammed, file a confidential complaint with the FTC and contact us for further assistance.
Sources: ABC News, Clickz
