Avoid Unplanned Charges with Single Use Credit Cards

 

Over at George Gombossy's CT Watchdog Consumer Payback site, I read about a website called DazzleWhite Pro that lures you into filling out a form for a "free" sample of a teeth whitening product, then starts charging your credit card $58.76 per month for the stuff. (They get your credit card number when they ask for a $4.95 shipping and handling charge.)

The fine print on the DazzleWhite Pro page (shown above on the left; click for full-size) is in small gray letters inside a gray box, which most people probably ignore, especially since it runs under the headline of "Satisfaction Guarantee." If you do happen to read the fine print, you'll learn that not only will your credit card be charged $58.76 per month for the teeth whitener, but you'll "have also unlocked your fourteen-day and twenty-eight day trial to the celebrity-proven Insider Secrets Tips package and the Comprehensive Weight Loss eBook package for just $3.24 and $7.14 a month thereafter..." In other words, your $4.95 sample puts you on the hook for $69.14 a month, at least until you catch on to this sneaky trick.

I've got a free "Insider Secrets Tip" for you: Always read the fine print before entering your credit card number on a website. That's pretty obvious, but it's surprising how many people don't read the fine print for online offers. I've been burned myself, by freecreditreport.com. One of Gombossy's readers has another piece of good advice, which is to use temporary (also called single-use or disposable) credit cards. Many credit card companies offer this service. If you have a PayPal account, you can use the PayPal Plug-In to generate "Secure Cards" on the spot, which look like ordinary MasterCard credit card numbers complete with an expiration date and CVC2 number. The one-use numbers prevent unscrupulous merchants from charging you fees that you didn't think you were signing up for. (If you have a Mac, you won't be able to use the plug in, but you can still generate secure cards at PayPal.com).

If I were running the Federal Trade Commission, I'd make DazzleWhite Pro refund the charges of every person who fell for their come-on, and also I'd make them change their deceptive "Satisfaction Guarantee" to look like the one I whipped up on the right (click for enlargement).

Mark Frauenfelder – Editor-in-chief of MAKE magazine and the founder of the popular Boing Boing weblog, Mark was an editor at Wired from 1993-1998 and is the founding editor of Wired Online.

Comments

[Paul Tomlinson]

I was burned by a real estate investing website. Thought I was signing up for an ebook but in addition I (note to self... read the fine print) enrolled in a monthly service plan for which I had no use. Seems the company had scammed plenty of people before me as well.

[Grant Gould]

It would never have occurred to me to use single-use CC numbers for "free" things to prevent recurring-charge scams. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

[Dan Gillmor]

Looks like these fine folks have raised the price -- to $96.85 a month. Makes you want to gag...

http://www.dazzlewhite.com/confirmOrder.php

[Bob Johnsons]

There is another company pulling the same scam called EZ White. Ask for a free trial for a nominal fee and you get 78.93 charged to your account every month for a "subscription".

I don't like using PayPal. Can you tell us which banks provide these single use cards?