'Free' Offers (Pop-Up Ads)
‘Free’ offers displayed on the internet often turn out to be scams. They might offer you free access to arestricted site, free shares, free downloads, free trials of certain products or even a free holiday. They can appear as annoying pop-ups while you are on the net or as ads at the tops or on the sides of websites. Sometimes entire websites could be set up to advertise a ‘free’ offer.
Usually, the offers either require you to provide credit card, bank account or other personal details, or they require you to pay a fee to claim your ‘free’ prize or product.
Scam WARNING SIGNS:
Source: http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/FreeOffersOnTheInternet
Usually, the offers either require you to provide credit card, bank account or other personal details, or they require you to pay a fee to claim your ‘free’ prize or product.
Scam WARNING SIGNS:
- You follow an internet ad or pop-up window that is advertising a free product or service.
- When you try to find out more about a free offer, you are moved to a different website with more advertising.
- The website offering the ‘free’ product does not load up correctly or not all its links work.
- The website offering the ‘free’ product may need you to register your credit card or bank account details.
- To claim the free product or service, you are asked to pay some sort of fee or charge.
- There might not be any legal information (copyright statements and terms of use, privacy policies etc) contained on the page.
Source: http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/FreeOffersOnTheInternet
Pop-Up Ad Example
These are what Pop-Up Ads look like. Pop-Up Ads appear randomly, when you click certain links or when you click on a suspicious Pop-Up Ad. This computer in the example is flooded with Pop-Ups. Even though they look promising and don't look harmful, these Pop-Up Ads can make you lose money and your personal details.
Picture Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop-up_ad
Picture Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop-up_ad
This is the 3rd type of internet scams. Click the button below to find out about the 4th and a very damaging scam