Top 10 Scams Of 2009

Jesus warned his disciples to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matt 10:16), something I think we could apply here.  This list is courtesy of ConsumerAffairs.com.

  1. "Free" trials -- Read the terms and conditions (the part nobody reads) before giving them your credit card for "shipping" charges.  If there are no terms or conditions, pass on the free sample or you might be in next year's story. 
  2. Mortgage motification/foreclosure "rescue" -- Obama isn't the only one claiming to give you help, and you might want to seek an alternative either way.
  3. Debt settlement -- Similarly, there are plenty of scams claiming to help your debt.  It really is disgusting, but expect that there are people who will prey on your crises. 
  4. Government stimulus -- Basically, if you get an unsolicited email from the government, delete it.  :-)
  5. Acai berry -- Scammers know how to harness the power of Oprah to fool us into thinking we can lose weight.  
  6. Work at home -- No.  Never.  (Well, almost never.)  Legit business should not ask you to front any money... YOU are supposed to be the paid employee.
  7. Kevin Trudeau -- buy his book, and he has your credit card for his next visit to McDonalds.  Now that is a debt cure.
  8. Online car sales -- Internet classifieds have rules in place to protect you from getting scammed.  Follow them.
  9. Auto warranties -- "Your auto warranty is about to expire.  Call ...." Oh, buddy, I received like three dozen of these calls this year on both my home phone and cell.  Of course, my past three vehicles have been used with no warranties, so I deduced that these were not legit calls.  I would save the phone number in my cell as "Do not answer" so as not to waste a minute on such calls, but in the end I had over half a dozen "Do not answers" before I just turned the phone off.
  10. Bank failure email -- The FDIC never asks for your sensitive information.  Our bank folded, and a new one took over with a seamless transition for us.  Didn't even have to change our internet log-ins (though  internet login information should change regularly anyway as an added security measure, FYI).

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