There are many websites that say their service is free, or “free to join (or register)” (like Classmates.com), but many times this is just a way of misleading you to give personally identifiable information like your name, year of birth, last name at graduation – which discloses any maiden names or changed names, and e-mail address. The really good (what many or most people want) parts of these services are NOT FREE. But, you don’t know this until you register first. The home page may say something like “It’s Free!”, and that’s it. While there are privacy policies with many of these sites, most people don’t take the time to read them carefully. If they did, they would find that there are ways for these misleading sites to give your personal information to “third parties”, which increases your risk no matter what precautions are taken. They can also sell their company and not be responsible for what happens to your info after the sale. The Choice Point debacle can happen too.
Ilist a bunch of sites to report to under the “been scammed” section
http://www.jimmyr.com/online_money_scams_&_fraud.php
whoops lol, linked localhost
http://www.marketingtips.com/sr/t.x/820905
PIPS: http://pluginprofitsite.com/main-5335
Free: http://pradeepmv.reseller.hop.clickbank.net/
New: http://www.Learnonlinebizfree.com
http://www.100000usd.com/?afid=AF16O4543N
http://homebasedbizonline.com/pradeepmvpp.html
Report Spam/Abuse
The Better Business Beuro takes complaints, but you need to be very sure that they actually did present false advertising. Many websites, like you wrote, say “free to join” and that is true…they never say it isn’t free to upgrade. Or “free trial”. Also, the customer is responsible to read the fine print in the privacy policy, and also in the terms. There is software you can use to look for undesirable phrases in the fine print if you don’t have time or patience to read every word.
If you can find evidence that the main intent is to harvest personal information, then you can complain and shut a site down easily, but otherwise I’m afraid it’s a matter of buyer beware.
http://www.marketingtips.com/sr/t.x/820905
PIPS: http://pluginprofitsite.com/main-5335
Free: http://pradeepmv.reseller.hop.clickbank.net/
New: http://www.Learnonlinebizfree.com
http://www.100000usd.com/?afid=AF16O4543N
http://homebasedbizonline.com/pradeepmvpp.html
Report Spam/Abuse
You can complain to the Federal Trade Commission.
Their website says:
The FTC Act prohibits unfair or deceptive advertising in any medium. That is, advertising must tell the truth and not mislead consumers. A claim can be misleading if relevant information is left out or if the claim implies something that’s not true.
…..
The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit http://www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/ruleroad.htm
Report Spam/Abuse