“Free Gift Cards”, “Free Grocery Coupons”, Free “Gas” Cards… Myth? or Scam?

Dear Parents,

Many of you have written expressing your same concern for the recent downturn in the economy and are looking for some practical advice. We as parents have also begun to revisit a lost art form of clipping coupons to offset rising food costs. But what about these links we come across out on the net and emails in our inbox with promises of “free gift cards”, “free grocery coupons”, free “gas” cards? Well, watch out! We set out to get the skinny and test out what we “receive”.

Many of these links will instantly take you to a page with a simple email address fill-in promising that your “free gift card” is just a click away. From there you visit the next page in which you are asked to fill in your full name, address, telephone number, maybe even a birth date. Next click brings you to a “survey page” in which you evaluate maybe 10 offers such as “10 dvds for just $9.99″ or a special introductory credit card offer that you might be interested in.

For our research, we decided to take the arduous journey through one of these sites and see just what we would receive. During our journey, we were assured that just around the next click…  We read over and over again through out the survey that in order for these sites to offer these great deals, such as a $250 shopping card,  completing a few of the offers was necessary. After nearly two hours of wading through their “special offers” and even choosing 6 special offers, 4 of which required a credit card for either “shipping and handling” or “processing fees” we arrived at the end… an abrupt end in which there were 2 more offers to complete. One of which you could skip if you were a non smoker or yet another credit card offer. And that was it. It was the end. No confirmation that our gift card had been sent and no confirmation at another site that we would receive our grocery coupons. We are still waiting. :(

Unfortunately, there are many (too many) websites that unscrupulously delve into your personal information with promises of “free”. Private information that all too often is the same information we are continually warned against giving out due to rampant identity theft and the same information that plays a role in bombarding our physical mailboxes with the dreaded junk mail.

The lesson here is to guard your personal information tightly. In a down economy, the lure of “free” is magnetic at times but more often than not subscribes to the old adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”! Just so we aren’t ending this watchdog experiment on a sour note, we did compile some useful information for parents as you navigate these difficult financial times. Below are a few helpful articles pertaining to money saving ideas and sites that can get you onto the safe path of saving money honey ;)

Best to you and your family,

Michele Shepherd

{ Helpful Articles }

{ Sites We LOVE }

Posted by: parent2parent | 04-24-2008 | 09:04 PM
Posted in: Parent 2 Parent Column | Comments (0)

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