The internet is a wonderful place. It’s the greatest communications tool ever invented, and probably the biggest gold mine the world has ever seen. In my opinion we haven’t even come close to seeing the riches that this wonderful medium has to offer. I love the story about the 17 year old girl in Michigan who makes up to 70,000 a month giving away myspace layouts. John Chow’s monthly income reports are serious inspiration to me. The guys over at Stompernet provide so much valuable information for free that I can’t wait until I can afford to join to get access to their faculty. Look at what Dr. Carol offers pet owners!
With all the legitimate businesses out there working diligently every day to provide us with a great internet experience it’s no wonder that bozos like STUPID METER piss me off.
These guys may be operating with in the letter of the law, but somehow this thing still feels like fraud to me. Here’s what they’re doing. As you’re surfing the net you hit a website that they’re buying ad space on. Their ad pops up underneath your current window so you don’t even know its there until you close your window. The offer is a stupid meter quiz, how dumb are you
. I’m not sure why this sucks people in, but it must because they’re paying good money to put this in front of you. My first reaction was to just close this out. Then I considered sending them an email invoice billing them for a consulting fee. After all I didn’t ask to see this ad so they must have wanted my opinion of it. Then I thought that I would jump through all the hoops using their contact information to register. That’s how I got through to the final page that you see in the image above.
They want WHAT? These bozos really think we’re all stupid. They want to charge your phone $14.95 per month to look at the results of their little quiz. On top of that they’re then going to ask you to select a smorgasbord of offers which I’m sure would cost you another healthy sum of money before you see the results of this quiz.
Now most of us are probably smart enough to recognize this for what it is, a bald faced RIPOFF! But most of us are probably not the young teenagers and twenty somethings that this ad is targeting. How closely is the JACKASS crowd going to look at this? They’re going to get sucked into filling out the quiz to learn that they’re Smarter than x% of people on the internet
. Except that they’ve just committed to something over $14.95 per month for the privilege.
I don’t mind ads on the internet. It’s one of the things that makes this such a wonderful gold mine. But this website and others like it are SCUM! I wish to Heaven there was a good way to send them packing with their mangy tails tucked between their legs. (apologies to all the mangy four legged dogs out there.)
How can you avoid getting sucked into websites like this? Pay attention to the terms and conditions. Although many people read these documents many don’t and therefore they don’t realize what they’re getting into. Pay attention to your phone bill, your credit card, and your bank statements. If you see any unusual charges contact your phone company, credit company, or bank immediately. If there is a phone number associated with the charge call it and do not give up until you get a live person on the line. The blood sucking bottom feeders will have set up a phone tree from hell, combined with a purgatory of a wait time to connect. DO NOT GIVE UP! Stay on the line until you get through to a live person! Even if it takes all day. If you don’t get through today, call again tomorrow and every day after that until you get the representative of the lilly livered sharks on the phone. Once you have them on the phone have them cancel the account. Have them cancel all recurring charges, have them refund your money if you’ve been charged. Don’t take no for an answer. Don’t be nice, don’t let them intimidate you.
Once you’ve managed to get them to cancel the account and recurring charges I strongly recommend that you call your phone company, credit card company, and your bank to get a new phone number and have new credit and debit cards issued.
You know, you can just click “pass” for that offer instead of paying for it. That is, you don’t have to pay to see the results. You just have to click “pass” a lot. For me, it’s still not worth the hassle of clicking that much.
Hi Gennette, Thanks for visiting and leaving a great comment. You certainly can click pass. Managing to get through that maze will require an individual to very carefully check or uncheck dozens of offers that will end up charging your phone, credit, or bank card automatically. Some of the offers are also worded so that a means and means . Not always easy to figure out. In the end it’s a hassle, and still a rip-off isn’t it.
i think it’s great that you mention these scams in your blog, i think those scams are aimed at people less computer savvy than us, but it’s good to mention it all the same. i think my mom would be the kind of person to get sucked into these things, luckily she hasn’t so far and is getting better at surfing the web.
big hugs,
kimmy
You’re most welcome Kimmy. Thanks for the great comment and big hugs back at cha!
Philip
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