Scams du jour

Heather Robison of Billings has been dancing fast to keep a “superfood” berry company from eating up her bank account.

After seeing an online ad for acai berries, featured on Oprah and other TV shows as a weight loss aid, she used her debit card to pay $5.95 in shipping and handling for a free sample. She declined a follow-up call to buy other “free” products. After no berries arrived in 10 days, she tried to cancel her order, but was told the product had been shipped.

Then, after a two-week vacation, she spotted a $96 charge on her debit card. All five telephone numbers given by the acai berry company were disconnected. Eventually, she got through, and a company spokesperson told her it was her fault for not reading the fine print, saying she’d automatically be charged about $90 every three weeks, unless she canceled her order within 15 days.

Then her local bank told her there is no such thing as stopping payment on a debit card, as you can with a credit card.

However, because of an unrelated security breach at her bank last week, her debit card was canceled and reissued under another number. That means the acai berry folks can’t hit her account again. The Better Business Bureau issued a warning in January about sales tactics surrounding this product.

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• Careful, Those Free Acai Products Might Come Attached To A Delicious Scam [Scams] (consumerist.com)

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