Free trial scams: Don't click that link! (Marketplace)

caught in a trap it was supposed to be for free and now I'm enrolled in something thousands of Canadians tricked by free trial these companies are scammers and they need to be shut down and we'll show you why this dragon thinks free is now a four-letter word that's just pure opportunistic we go searching for answers this is your marketplace we're about to unbox a scam these little samples of anti-aging cream are supposed to be free for us to try it says this is one that actually did rejuve I knew my essence and rejuvenates but as you'll see they're gonna cost us hundreds of dollars that's anti wrinkle cream and they gave me anti wrinkle serum what's the difference between a serum and a cream Deena and they'll lead us into a sketchy world of online marketing that has Canadians everywhere feeling ripped off you can say buyer beware either because they didn't know they were buying anything I was under the impression there was a free trial offer available a sophisticated scheme that hides the fine print and targets your credit card there's ever a class action lawsuit against these people count me in [Music] it was in Bobcaygeon that Jan Baird fell for it I know you don't want to go swim and do you look at shimmerin she with her wife Karen is among more than 25,000 people who have complained to either us or the Better Business Bureau about skincare scams he's just heard a lot colder water than for Jan it all started with her love of Ellen DeGeneres I was on Facebook and Ellen popped out and it said that Ellen was gone away she's talking about an article supposedly from People magazine it claims Ellen is leaving her show to promote a new skin cream and that leads to this chance to try it out free trial' send away free trial doesn't cost anything normally I wouldn't even think about that but my dermatologist hasn't have very dry skin so I have been thinking about more moisturizing I thought Greece I could do it for free so I send it in Jan uses her credit card to pay about 5 bucks and shipping charges and gets herself some hydraluxe to help with the dryness but the free trial doesn't end there then I got the third one and that's a knife something's wrong here so that's when I checked my visa more closely and I started seeing charges for 161 dollars hundred fifty four dollars and there's more somehow Jan has signed up for monthly skin cream subscriptions he liked my old calculator she didn't mean to and she's still not sure how much she's out so we asked her to add it up the bottom line is astounding one thousand six hundred and eighty two dollars and 53 cents [Music] that's a lot that's crazy how did it get and she thought it was a free trial thanks to Ellen we found out about this fake endorsement bull because a few weeks ago viewers started riding into the show other skin creams are using other celebrities without permission and no one seems able to stop it this skincare company that we can't really locate so they're like really fly-by-night and and people are getting these ads saying that I'm leaving the view so far what we found there are at least eight websites that have used Robyn's name and image to promote multiple skincare products even one of CBC's very own Arlene Dickinson from Dragons Danton has been linked to the skincare scam we catch up with him angry Arlene on a backstage break out I'm sorry I'm you know like I don't call people slimy and fraudulent without purpose these people are frauds she's best known of course for helping out entrepreneurs on Dragon's Den I actually would like to make you an offer please I'll give you exactly what you wanted that's great thank you some of the people running these face cream schemes think that they're entrepreneurs what do you say to that they're not entrepreneurs they're shysters they're their hucksters they're their complete people that is not entrepreneurial that's just pure opportunistic well what upsets her most is that so many Canadians are being duped in her name including a viewer who lost nearly $400 she goes on to say the culprit had used the Dragons Den as bait I was thus led to believe in the offer having watched many episodes of this program and especially trusted the integrity of Kevin O'Leary and Arlene Dickinson it would appear that they endorsed and continued to endorse the product what are you it's horrible I actually felt physically sick when I was reading these letters because they believed it because of me and I had nothing to do with it I've never seen that essence instant wrinkle eraser we show our lien one of the creams we purchased that's linked to Dragon's Den and it's advertising she's not impressed coming out of that oh my goodness it's got like crystals in it oh that's disgusting she's hoping we have more luck than her in finding the bad guys I talked to our lawyer and they did everything they can't find these people they're changing addresses or changing locations they even their websites change on a regular basis so there's they they they're slick so who exactly are they who's pushing all these face creams online and creating all those fake ads if celebrities with deep pockets can't find out what chance have we got our research takes us back a decade to this guy Jesse Wilms from a suburb of Edmonton wills made a name and a fortune for himself at a very aged through free trial offers of weight loss products teeth whiteners and deception mr. Wilms and his companies were advertising these products as free trials when in fact they were soliciting sensitive personal information from people including credit card information and unwittingly committing people to ongoing subscriptions sound familiar US authorities eventually sued Wilms he agreed to pay a staggering settlement of 359 million dollars but more than that Wilms helped pioneer a way of doing business online that others are still using to scamp Canadians along with free trials it uses something called affiliate marketing here's how it works if you've got something to sell on the internet like face cream you're known as a merchant but with so much competition it's hard to get anyone to notice your product solution you hire affiliate marketers these are people who agree to promote your product on their websites blogs and through internet advertising the best part is you don't have to pay affiliates unless they get someone to buy what you're selling but that's also the tricky part because affiliates want to get paid merchants want to sell and there's lots of money to be made that combination can lead to some questionable practices I had no idea that I was to cancel this subscription because no one told me that I had a subscription I have no explanation for the charges I have no way to return the product and I'm these companies are scammers and they need to be shut down here's another way they do it with fake consumer surveys using real company names like Costco Air Canada and Rogers well I was just checking my email and then all of a sudden this Rogers survey popped up it sure seems convincing well it knows that I'm a Rogers customer it knows that I'm from Toronto the survey wants Juli Gallagher's opinion about Rogers service and is offering her a reward for giving it question 1 of 6 have you had Rogers cable service for over 6 months the survey in fact is the result of malicious software and an internet marketer who wants to trick Julie into signing up for face cream have you ever had a call to Rogers cable technical support due to a problem Julie though is our producers wife and familiar with this scam they capture it in real time now they're submitting my answers searching off her inventory anti-aging cream Julie picks the anti-aging cream for her reward regular price is 139 95 but today's price is $0 all I have to pay is shipping at 495 she ends up at a website this is the merchant now that wants her credit card info to pay for shipping but nowhere does it mention a monthly subscription not unless you scroll way down to the bottom and click on the Terms & Conditions every 30 days we will send you a fresh 30 day supply of Vontae advanced wrinkle cream and charge you eighty nine ninety seven plus six ninety five shipping and handling it was supposed to be for free and now I'm enrolled in something to give you an idea just how lucrative this scheme is check out this website this profits and all these free trial offers for face cream this profits is one of many places where merchants can show affiliates which products they want promoted and how much they'll pay in commissions thirty forty fifty dollars every time an affiliate convinces one of us to go to the merchants page and sign up for a free trial think about that merchants are paying affiliates forty bucks to get us to pay just five bucks in shipping fees it doesn't add up unless the merchants are pretty sure they'll get hundreds of dollars more out of us perhaps by hiding the truth of what's really going on as we dig deeper we finally track down one of the merchants and one of the places where some of this begins right here on my trusty laptop that's where the magic happens you can say Chad Hamzeh is a full-time internet marketer who claims to make a lot of money doing it I personally and myself we'll six-figure than a year [Music] he's a former mixed martial artist fighting here in Thailand where he also first studied online marketing and before that he ran for mayor of Calgary I am the youngest candidate and really going for the sex appeal really going for that sort of thing now Ham sees living in California selling this face cream online the same one we showed our link from Dragon's Den well when I first saw it I thought oh this is gonna be I'll just call my lawyer and your lawyer will shut it down better babysit can't even find them but we can our search takes us from face cream to face time what are you doing on-camera interview with us - this is your marketplace got a story you think we should investigate email us marketplace at CVCC a unboxing a scam down there in the suburbs of San Diego California is a man we want to talk to but he doesn't want to talk to us [Music] we don't normally travel so far without an appointment for this guy though we have a lot of questions [Music] Chad ham C sells anti-aging cream online something called rejuvenex it's the way he does it that's the issue and a lot of Canadians have lost a lot of money we've asked ham C for an interview and six times he said no I think there's some moving up there by the garage so now we're in his neighborhood hoping to catch up with him and the products were these Judy Mayer from Aurora Ontario is one of Han C's unhappy customers I got caught up in a scam after ordering a skin product that was advertised on my Facebook homepage her story is like so many others a trial offer turns into a trying ordeal with consumers out hundreds of dollars before realizing they're trapped in a subscription scheme and because I ordered the sample and didn't cancel my subscription they sent me three more samples and then charged my MasterCard for about $400 we want to see for ourselves says the original price is 7495 an order several different creams including Chad ham C's product rejuvenant you can see here the price says free just 395 for shipping and no sign of an expensive monthly subscription but within weeks strange charges are popping up on our MasterCard statement nd Ventures LLC $120 75 cents smooth renewals skincar one hundred thirty six dollars and three cents we managed to locate a customer service number for ham C's company and try calling for an explanation I have to say it's unclear that after the fridge file that you get these charges on your credit card when you're signing up it doesn't say either at least not anywhere that I was looking where is it oh yeah that page buried at the bottom in a link that's so many myths we're down the street from chat ham C's house in San Diego he's not the only one running this sort of skin care scheme was this him but he's a player and a former affiliate marketer and a Canadian whose business has upset a lot of others in a lengthy email exchange Pam Z has told us he always lists the billing turns on his rejuvenate and he says it's up to consumers to read the terms of any subscription offer but when we send these screenshots of his check out page showing the lack of any clear and conspicuous terms he says he never would have approved it ham C also says affiliate marketers are to blame for the methods used to promote his product like those fake Dragons Den endorsements we want to know why MC thinks he's so blameless in all this and decide it's time to knock on his door hi Chad yeah I'm Asha Tomlinson with CBC market plays hey this is my producer Greg you've emailed him back and forth for the last couple of weeks and that's our cameraman Dave the cameras are rolling I just want you to let you know okay and we've come a long way to ask you will you do an on-camera interview with us about rejuvenex and the complaints behind it no I mean we uh we discussed that an email sorry and I mean it's we've discussed on email all about that so I don't see any point in discussing further I mean Greg you know my opinion on it oh yeah so there are a lot of Canadians who have been out hundreds of dollars because they thought they were signing up for a free trial mhm what do you say to those people those Canadians who are really angry we keep hearing from them well I mean like I don't really have a comment on it other than you know we've explained that we have I'm sorry my kids are here the terms and everything on the page and whatnot so no I'm good guys thank you pansy says his kids are inside so we back off and exchange more emails about a possible interview but he won't agree hams he tells us he's getting out of the business I'm not authorizing these purchases why is Master Sergeant why don't credit-card companies do more to shut down this scam this is your marketplace get more marketplace sign up for our weekly newsletter at cbc.ca slash marketplace the real deal on your marketplace Jam Baird is calling her credit card company hoping for a little help after losing a lot of money I ordered a free trial of two different skin care products and then they started sending me more and charging me and I didn't know that was going to happen she's out 1,600 bucks and she's not alone are you getting a lot of calls about this Jen wishes the same thing seems no matter who you ask the credit card companies won't do much even though these schemes are considered deceptive and fraudulent under the law I'm not authorizing these purchases why is masters are charging me they should be taking away a legal action against these scammers and the sooner the better what I am also really missed that is he turning a blind eye by the credit card companies which directed court in directing dates and abates dispensed Arlene Dickinson whose image is being used without permission to promote some of these creams thinks credit card companies could and should shut it down well it's not their fault they they can stop it so my request to them is stop it stop letting them charge on credit cards through through the system maybe that's too simplistic but that seems like the solution to me or a solution we try MasterCard to ask about the charges we got after ordering our free trial how do I dispute this they tell us we should have read the fine print so just out of curiosity have you ever looked at these websites yourself myself yes did you notice how buried those terms and conditions are they can have them in difficult places to see and whatnot unfortunately it is the merchants the terms and conditions are there for you to view so you're saying if they exist somewhere then it's my responsibility to find them at the bottom hidden in a little thing they tell their customers to read the Terms instead of telling their merchants to stop burying them we ask mastercard several times for an interview but they decline so we show up at their headquarters with a suggestion like on this mock checkout page right where you enter your info credit card companies could insist that merchants tell you exactly what you're signing up for and what you'll be charged [Music] there we go let's go show him our idea [Music] at MasterCard headquarters though they still don't want to talk so we drop off our suggestion and a bunch of face cream they never ordered for Chivas and some some hydraluxe package delivered busting super foods super scenes super greens super food at what makes me stop and read the label too good to be true lower cholesterol prevents cancer reduces risk of Alzheimer's companies using the word superfood without any scientific base we put them to the test if you're gonna advertise it it should be regulated is this misleading consumers prevents cancer [Music] you [Music]

Channel: CBC News

Views: 840,505

Rating: 4.7736697 out of 5

Keywords: free trial, scams, bogus, endorsements, surveys, tricking, products, subscriptions, signing up, RCMP, fraudulent, deceptive, credit card, companies, customers, responsible, CBC, Marketplace, Asha Tomlinson

Id: NikuIurQtiM

Length: 22min 26sec (1346 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 13 2017