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The Acai Berry has had alot of time in the market place around the world. It has only been in the last few months that scammers have been able to successfully get their way in to the market place. It is a real shame because the Acai Berry itself is a great fruit and has alot of things going for it. If it was not for such people it would be safe to say that the Acai Berry products out there in the market place would have increased in popularity and more importantly made a great market for businesses to target. Scammers however have left a sour taste in this sweet fruit.
Magic Berry is a site dedicated to the Acai Berry and is full of helpful information on what people have experienced and what scientists have found when researching this interesting fruit. In 2009 it was declared as the number 1 superfood. With such claims being made and such popularity it was naturally a matter of time before it became a victim of its own success. The Acai Berry began to be targeted as a great ingredient and the "perfect" solution when treating and assisting people with many different issues. It was not just limited to health but also to beauty and beverages. Infact we got many emails about the benefits and results people got from various products.
Approximately 2 or 3 weeks ago we got an alarming email from a visitor advising us that there was a massive Acai Berry scam floating around the internet. In true fashion it was decided that this would be covered on our website as a way to fight against the issue. The saddest thing of the whole thing was that alot of money and people were involved. Infact the number was that big that typing the amount of 0's involved for both people and money that this whole page would be filled with 0's. One of the scams floating around has been through the means of advertising a product dedicated to a particular part of the Acai market. It victimised people who were suffering from a somewhat common issue. The scam came through the means of a "Trial" product. Unfortunately it was not limited to just one product in particular but a range of them. The common elements was the Acai Berry and Colon Cleansing.
The advertisement from a particular website in question promoted the fact that the Acai Berry product in conjunction with a colon cleansing product would work wonders on your body. Infact they suggested that you would be so impressed in a couple of instances that you would want to give it to everyone. This sadly for alot of people in desperate need of assistance did not ring alarm bells for any of them.
One visitor who emailed us about this scam actually had fallen victim to it. For privacy reasons we will not be giving names but lets just say that this person is experienced in buying on the internet. The person had been to a website which told its visitors how great the Acai Berry was and that there was a "special" and "unique" way to get their health back on track. As an interested party they decided that they would sign up for the product. The cost was approximately $10AUD for the product. This all seemed ok until they checked their credit card statement a few days later. The shock was that they had been infact charged almost $300 in the space of a few days. From what we know this is not the only visitor who has had a similar issue. Infact we have had over 200 of them in the last week since mentioning this article on our website.
After a few more days only half the promised product was delivered. This was not overly concerning to the visitor as they figured ok they other part will be delivered in the next few days. Sure enough it did not come. This made the person worried so they decided to check out the website they had ordered the product from. After a bit of clicking around they found a "Support / Customer Service" link. They clicked on the link and it lead them to a half way house or middle man.
The site was simple in navigation and layout. Infact it would take only a few hours to build and design for an experienced web developer. The link to "Contact Us" took them to a page which displayed a phone number for their local country. There was an email address however there was no other information on the site. Not even a word about the Acai Berry or the specific product the customer had signed up for.
The customer continued to browse this website and they discovered that the site was infact that of a dropship organisation where they would handle the movement of products no matter what industry for smaller companies. The more alarming thing was that this site had support for many different languages and no actual information about the dropshipping service except for the fact of thats what they did... oh and they also stated that they would handle the customer service side of things. After many hours of surfing the internet they found a string of sites covering various products and services that was linked to the one web development company and dropshipping service provider.
How does the scam work? It is so simple it is not funny. A visitor to a somewhat legitimate looking website usually about 1 or 2 pages in size. This seems ok for alot of people so far and is probably ok in a large percentage of the time as the internet is filled with these size sites. The following part is where it gets interesting. A popup or some form appears or in alot of cases a message saying "You can get this free cleansing trial.blah blah blah."
The visitor clicks on the link and it takes them to another site which appears to be legitimate. Unsuspectingly you sign up for this cleansing product thinking you will get it and everything will be great. Well unfortunately it doesn't end there. After waiting for a couple of weeks nothing arrives. When you go to chase up about the order the site is still there however the contact address for the company in question is in the United Kingdom. After doing investigations you find out it is tied to "Vi" something. The phone number on the site has been disconnected or is no longer in service when you call it.
Where does the money side of it come in to play? Well the money is in numbers. The system is very clever as they scam artists work on the fact that they can get advertising companies or affiliate marketing companies to promote the product through their affiliates. This instantly means traffic which in turn means $$$. The problem here is that the affiliate companies often do not get paid from such people offering such a deal. So this means free advertising. The next thing is that they generally have a small number of actual product in stock if they have any at all. The first charge is a minimal amount to get the people to buy. The second is the sledge hammer in this particular instance because the second charge is for the first bottle and the second to bottle which will in most cases not even sent out. The sad thing in this case a couple of charges have been made to your credit card.
The supplier of the product agrees to dropship for the company in question. The money doesn't get paid for the first batch. This in turn means no product for the customer as the 30 day account with the supplier is burnt. The company promoting the product pockets the first lot of cash followed by the following months charges. This reoccurs each month on the month until you cancel the order. For one person at $130 per month x number of months (lets say 2) is $260. Multiply this over 20,000 people and very quickly that company has made $5.2 Million or there abouts. That is the the scam in a nutshell.
The solution to stop yourself falling victim is to take some of the following precautions when getting a trial from any website on the internet:
1) if you have attempted to contact a site with similar traits as mentioned above. Try contacting the site that referred you to this offer is probably a good place to start. While they operators of the site are not responsible in anyway shape or form for the order, any financial transactions or supply of the product they usually are willing to either help you track down thes dodgy companies or will help you get in touch with the right people that can help. If they cannot the next best thing is to ask the site owner of another site in the same industry.
2) The best thing you can do is cancel the credit card. While this seems like a very forceful and time consuming task it is going to be a safe bet that you wont get billed again. Even better yet
get yourself a Visa Debit card which enables you to limit the charges
to whats in a specific bank account. A great way of doing this is setting up a bank account with your banking institution and use that specifically for online transactions. This way if you sign up for such a trial and you have not recieved the product the most the scammers will get is the initial $10 or so they charged you.
3) Do everything in your power to contact the trial company in question (the people you get the trial from). This is NOT the people advertising the offer. It is the people who get your name, your address, your email address and most importantly your credit card details.
4) Before signing up for any trials chat to the live support / sales people. Get their names, email address and if possible their office number. This way if you have any problems you can contact them directly without hesitation to get a solution.
5) There is a link at the bottom of each site called "Terms and Conditions". Do the smart thing and READ them. It is not hard and it could save you $1000's and time. Often the trial is limited to 30 days. Should you decide to go ahead with the trial give it 2 days and cancel the trial just to be on the safe side. Do not wait until the product is delivered as often it comes from overseas and has to go through customs etc. This could take 3 weeks or longer.
6) If you do not recieve an email confirming the order go back to the website you ordered the product from. Give them your contact details and ask them to confirm the order and to email you the invoice etc. This way you have a clear paper trail.
If you are looking for a great Acai Berry supplement then you should strongly consider one called "Perfect Acai". It is only available on supply and demand basis. There are no trial offers for it and the best thing is it is 100% Acai Berry. Nothing else, no addatives just the product you want. you can get Perfect Acai by visiting http://www.perfectsupplements.com/ |
