With marijuana use being legalized throughout much of the United States, Cannabidiol (CBD) products are quite popular for a number of uses including decreasing anxiety, pain relief and as a non-addictive sleep aid. Scammers are always using whatever is popular with the public as a vehicle for scamming you so it is not surprising that many people are seeing ads on social media, websites and emails touting free bottles of CBD Oil or CBD Gummies. All you need to do is to provide your credit or debit card to cover the small cost of of shipping and you are told you will receive your free CBD product. Unfortunately, the truth is that these free offers are scams and if you read the fine print you will find that you actually have signed up for monthly deliveries costing you anywhere between $80 to $100 per month. Calling the company and trying to cancel the order generally is futile.
Some of the brand names tied to this scam include HempVive, Pure CBD, New Leaf Naturals, True CBD and Pro Naturals. Also remember B.S. – Be skeptical. Many of these scams appear to be endorsed by celebrities such as Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, Oprah, Willie Nelson and Steve Harvey. The truth is that none of them are endorsing these scams. The scammers are just using their names without permission.
TIPS
It is always important to read the “fine print” in any contract for the ordering of products. Rarely will you find anything “fine” in fine print, but in many scams, buried within the long agreement will be a term to which never agreed upon. Also, it is important each month to carefully go through the charges on your credit cards to make sure that there are no fraudulent charges. The earlier you catch a problem, the easier it is to fix it. Also, as I constantly remind you, don’t use your debit card for anything other than an ATM card. It is much more difficult to stop fraudulent charges such as are found in this scam if you used your credit card rather than your debit card to make the initial payment.
If, as expected, the company refuses or delays cancelling the ongoing order, contact your credit card company and tell them to stop future payments and ask them to file a “fraud chargeback” against the company to get the refund of money you gave them under false pretenses.
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.” Scamicide was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”