The Free Thrifty Thanksgiving eBook

When thinking about holiday spending, most people typically fast-forward to December’s big budget busting holidays. However, it pays to think thrifty all season long—starting with Thanksgiving. While a turkey alone might not tip your financial scale, holiday food, travel, decorations, and entertainment can really add up. Thankfully, Thrifty Thanksgiving includes a lot of ideas to help you trim the fat from your Thanksgiving budget. In addition to ideas on how to stretch your dinner and budget, Thrifty Thanksgiving covers:

• Step-by-step instructions for decorating on a dime
• 5 ways to keep tradition
• 5 ways to break tradition
• Travel tips
• Tips for staying in the black on Black Friday
• How to make the most of leftovers
• Ways to incorporate “thanks” into your Thanksgiving

Thrifty Thanksgiving also offers a holiday checklist to help you organize your plans. After all, a little planning can help you enjoy and tasteful and thrifty Thanksgiving.

What more could you ask for? It’s a free eBook that helps you plan out hosting Thanksgiving while saving money without compromising traditions. If you’re cooking the turkey this year, this eBook is a must read.

Download it for free: http://thanksgiving.moneymanagement.org/
Read more at: http://blog.moneymanagement.org/free-thrifty-thanksgiving-ebook/

Holiday Mail for Heroes

Red Cross started a program two years ago that delivered your letters to service members throughout the holiday season. Cards are delivered to both veterans and those on active duty. The Holiday Mail for Heroes program allows you to “send a touch of home” to those in the armed forces.

We have established an extensive process to ensure all cards sent to our service members are safe and arrive in time for the holidays. Holiday cards will be collected through a unique P.O. Box address from Monday, November 2 through Monday, December 7*.

First, cards from across the nation must be sent to this address:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Every card received will be screened for hazardous materials by Pitney Bowes and distributed to participating Red Cross chapters nationwide. Once the cards arrive at the Red Cross chapters, they are sorted and reviewed by volunteers who then distribute them to service members, their families and veterans in communities across the country.

Your card must be received by December 7th for it to be delivered. Otherwise the card will be returned to you. Other than that, the Red Cross has just a few more guidelines for you to follow.

Do…

• Sign all cards
• Entitle cards “Dear Service Member, Family or Veteran”
• Limit cards to 15 per person or 50 for school class or business group
• Bundle groups of cards in single, large envelopes

Don’t…

• Send letters
• Include personal information such as home or email addresses
• Use glitter – excessive amounts can aggravate health issues of wounded recipients
• Include inserts of any kind as they must be removed in the screening process

That’s all! I’ll be mailing out a batch of cards later this week. Let us know if you send out any as well!

Read more at http://www.redcrosschat.org/

The Premium White/Dazzel White Pro Scam

The scam itself is not with the product your ordered, but rather the monthly memberships you are automatically enrolled in after giving away your credit card and private information. If you go through the site and sign up for the $2.95 free trial, you will be billed monthly for $112.44. That’s right, each month they will deduct over one hundred dollars from your bank account until you call and demand that they stop.

Customer Testimonials

Don’t just take it from me. Here are horror stories from those who have fallen victim to this scam.

These people are scam artists and have so mant telephone numbers and highly automated, efficient and crooked to the core and will charge your account and you can not cancel. They sucker you in by a free trial offer and then subcribe you to all kinds of crap and charge your account. The confirming email was for the correct amount of $1.95 but they charged my account $48.92 and will charge again around $80 and try as I might, I could not cancel all these extra garbage. These free calling numbers are worthless and you can talk to these people who are nice and polite but they have no authority. The system is purposely set up to take your money only. The “Terms and Conditions” Are burried way at the bottom of the page in fine prints and if you go to that link they will tell you some of the bad news and imply you can cancel any time. They said they will have to ship all the products and that I had to return it paying for Insured, track-able return to a different address than the one that came from. If I had not received the phone call from my credit card fraud division, I would have not known to at least cancel all additiona shipment. They enroll you automatically into these expensive automatic subscription. They said they sent me emails for returns and I never got them. I gave alternate email and I still did not get any emails. PLEASE do not giove them your credit card number or do any business with them. THey should be put out of business.

Ali

Another:

I feel very silly to have even fallen for this but, the ads were very convincing. I followed a link to a Consumer Weekly ad about a mom who had experienced a very inexpensive way to get whiter teeth. The blurb made it sound like you only paid shipping and handling for free trials for Dazzle Smile and Smile Brite and so I followed the link and signed up for my free trials with the understanding that I only needed to cancel before the trial period was up to avoid the monthly fees of $87 and $92 US.

Wrong! Had I read the terms and conditions closely nearer to the bottom of the page, it states that the trial is the first monthly supply so if you don’t cancel before 14 days (Dazzle Smile) or 10 days (Smile Brite) then you will be charged the monthly amount. However, it starts from when your credit card is charged for shipping not from when you receive the product. It took nearly 10 days to get the product!

The real catch is that someone from Smile Brite called me and I said that I changed my mind and didn’t want any of it thinking that was enough, however, I didn’t cancel it on the website and so 10 days later, my credit card was charged $92. No one answers at the phone number that was listed with the charge.

When I received the Dazzle Smile trial I immediately tried to cancel it but, also couldn’t get a hold of a customer representative. The number was either busy or I was immediately on hold for extended periods of time so I tried the chat. They will only confirm a return address so I sent the trial back Express Post so I could track it. Interestingly enough, not even a week later, the company name on the return address changed from Farend Services Ltd. to Premium White although the address is the same.

No one on the chat will confirm they received my trial return but, keep telling me to phone a customer service rep with whom I cannot reach. In short, I ended up canceling my credit card to avoid any further charges after doing more research and hearing people say that more charges were incurred on their credit cards for other products that they knew nothing about.

I strongly advise that you stay away from this scam!

And there are literally hundreds more just like this. I don’t understand how these guys are getting away with absolute thievery.

How to Get Your Money Back

To be honest, I don’t know. I have been trying to find a verified method of getting your money returned, but there are dozens of different email address, websites, and phone numbers. They make it damn near impossible to get in contact with them.

The most common number I’ve seen for the teeth whitening programs is: 1-866-528-6214. You need to make it very clear that you want to cancel every single monthly charge and that you want a refund on the money that they have taken out of your bank account.

If they refuse to refund you, demand to speak with a supervisor. Let them know you will be filing a chargeback through your credit card or banking company and you will be reporting everything to the FTC. Usually these threats are enough to get your money back.

You now need to do three things:

1. File a fraudulent charge claim with your credit card or bank if they refuse to give you a refund. Explain to them your situation and the refused refund and let them know this company is notorious for taking money. Insist they perform a chargeback. They have the tools and information available to fight for your money.
2. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. It is their job to monitor and go after these types of scams. Visit: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/contact.shtm
3. File a complaint with your state Attorney General. Contact details here: http://www.naag.org/attorneys_general.php

If all else fails, you will need to cancel your credit/debit card and get a new one issued. This is the only 100% guaranteed method of stopping these guys from stealing your money.

If you have fallen victim to this scam, PLEASE do everyone else a favor and file a complaint with the FTC. Hopefully if enough complaints are received, we can shut these guys down for good.

The Online Cash Success Kit Scam

The scam isn’t with the product itself, but rather the various monthly memberships you are immediately signed up for upon joining under a free trial. The fine print on the website claims that if you do not cancel your free trial within 7 days, you will be charged a monthly membership fee for various programs. Despite the 7-day warning, we’ve read numerous reports from victims stating that their trial money was taken, and then the following day around $80 in unauthorized charges was pulled from their bank accounts.

You do not want these people to have access to your personal and banking information.

Actual Customer Testimonials

I paid the $3.00 to find out what the earnings were all about. They use Googgles name as a lure to sucker you in. It has nothing to do with Google. In 1 day my credit card was charged $79.86. I called today, Monday, and the girl said she would cancel my membership. I insisted on receiving a refund, but, that is not their policy. I told her to send me the merchandise then because I wasn’t going to just let them have the money. I was transferred to a supervisor where I made a much bigger stink telling him I would file fraud charges with the bank and anyone else I could. He then told me he would see that I got my refund. We’ll see! Too bad our Gov can’t stop these scam artists.

We signed up for what we thought was a legitimate Google company. We still don’t know for sure who is running this company. The terms and conditions said we wouldn’t be charged for 7 days. This is what printed out after we signed up. We were charged $79.00 in 2 days. The terms said $47.50 on the 15th day after we signed up. Their customer service claimed this wasn’t their terms and conditions. How could they make that claim when the name was exactly the same and printed out on the screens we signed up on? Either someone didn’t proofread their terms or they are cheating the public using Google’s name to do so.

How to Get Your Money Back

Call this number: 1-888-591-2190. You may have a long wait, but it’s one of the few numbers out there that work. You need to make it very clear that you want to cancel every single monthly charge and that you want a refund on the money that they have taken out of your bank account.

I’ve read multiple reports that they have flat out refused to give refunds. If they refuse, demand to speak with a supervisor. Let them know you will be filing a chargeback through your credit card or banking company and you will be reporting everything to the FTC. Usually this is enough to get your money back.

You now need to do three things:

1. File a fraudulent charge claim with your credit card or bank if they refuse to give you a refund. Explain to them your situation and the refused refund and let them know this company is notorious for taking money. Insist they perform a chargeback. They have the tools and information available to fight for your money.
2. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. It is their job to monitor and go after these types of scams. Visit: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/contact.shtm
3. File a complaint with your state Attorney General. Contact details here: http://www.naag.org/attorneys_general.php

JustThink Media Contact Information

These guys are operating more scams than we could count. They range from teeth whitening, to Acai Berry, to Google money scams.

Just Think Media
Corporate Head Office
Suite 204, 85 Cranford Way
Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA T8H 0H9
Phone: 780.416.0211
Fax: 780.416.0218
Careers@justthinkmedia.com
Corporate@justthinkmedia.com
Legal@justthinkmedia.com
Customer Service
1-888-591-2190
customerservice@justthinkmedia.com
Owner: Jesse Willams

If you’re fighting for a refund, I wish you luck. Be sure to outline any details in the comments below. It would be great to have verified methods of getting your money back from these guys.

The Job Application Email

My name is Christopher Lewis and I’m the representative of HR
department of Electronics Shopping Store known as CarolPady (Carolpady.com). As our 10′000 associates can attest,
working for CarolPady is the chance to be a part of a company unlike
any other in the world. It’s more than a job; it’s a place to develop
your skills and build a career with competitive pay and health
benefits for you and your family. To work for CarolPady is to be welcomed into a diverse family, where the individual contributions of every associate are respected and valued. Above all, it’s an opportunity to join a team 10 thousand strong who is helping the world live better every day.

We do this by saving our customers money on the things they need for their families, their homes and their businesses. We do it by reaching out and giving back to the communities where our customers and our associates live. And we do it by working together to solve some of the biggest challenges facing our world today, like the environment, energy and health care.

We require 16 dispatchers. We need persons of maturity age, graduators of a high-school, basic users of PC with Internet connection. All expenses are held by our company and you DON’T need to PAY ANYTHING.

DISPATCHER Monthly Salary $1900 (+$100 – Gas Compensation)
- Handling customer complaints and concerns (through email) in a professional manner.
- Communicating with customers when necessary to advise shipments delay and/or information necessary to process orders (online chat and email support)
- Developing delivery schedules and route plans to facilitate rapid and efficient deliveries to customers.
- Initiate orders for replacements parts and/or for correcting errors (shortages, wrong item shipped, etc.).
- Stay at home (or have someone at home) to receive packages and mail during working hours (9a.m. – 4p.m.) and report on each received package or envelope through the dispatcher control panel or email.
- Receive packages with goods (usually electronics, jewelry) and envelopes with documents.
- Repack following the instructions (will be sent to you via email once the shipping label is available for download).
- Log into dispacther’s control panel and download prepaid shipping label and print it (we do not provide with the printer and do not compensate the ink).
- Attach the shipping label to the parcel and ship the parcel same day you received it.
- Update dispatcher’s control panel with tracking number from the printed shipping label once you ship the package.
- Other duties may be assigned to meet business needs.

During your training period you will work only with international
orders and customer complaints. After one month of training you will
be able to start working in one of our offices or continue working
from home with a salary of $2200 (+$200 – Gas Compensation).

Your payment is sent to you by check or can be direct deposited to your bank account once a month.

If you are ready to start please fill in the attached application form and email it back to me to receive the contract and we will start.

We’d be pleased to work with you.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Cristopher Lewis
CarolPady
1800 Middle River Drive
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Http://www.Carolpady.com

The Scam

Simply put, you will be receiving good purchased with stolen credit cards and then you will ship them overseas to the scammer. This is not a job, but rather a serious offense that can cost you thousands of dollars. The USPS has issued a warning against these types of scams.

Reshipping Fraud

Reshipping, or postal forwarding, scam victims are typically offered an at-home job that involves repackaging stolen goods — frequently consumer electronics — and forwarding them. Scammers ask victims to shell out their own shipping charges, and pay reimbursement and compensation with a fake check.

In addition to seeing their own pay checks bounce, those who fall for reshipping scams may be liable for shipping charges and even the cost of goods purchased online with stolen credit cards. They could also be liable for handling stolen goods.

Avoid any job that has you deal with receiving and shipping packages. They are almost always scams and working for a scammer could land you in a lot of legal and financial trouble. Always do your due diligence before accepting a work at home position.

The Email

The unsolicited email comes from Fredrick Brugh at fredrickbrugh949@hotmail.com.

Hello,

I am Edward Sutton, a job officer of G and M Stacey, Inc. Currently we are hiring additional personnel. If you are looking for a primary income or for an extra income it should be a great opportunity for you.

First, let me tell you more about our company. G and M Stacey, Inc. were established in 1964 by George and Mary Stacey in a Denmark as a family business. They were a second generation of jewelers and we still have a hand on approach with our business. Any jewelry needs at all when you want to give a remembrance gift that comes from your heart.

Currently we are expanding to North America. As most of businesses we are working on Buy and Sell principle. It means that we can buy something from a manufacturer and sell to customer without any production teams. Our experts examined the USA domestic market and it is obvious that a great taxation system creates a best price for such kind of jewelry like a diamonds, and factory-made gold items.

It means that the same thing for example a 2.5 ct. Round diamond VG/I/VS1 w/GIA certification costs ~USD16,300 in US and ~13,000 Euro (~USD19,200) in the Denmark. So all we need to do is just to buy a diamond or gold it the States and sell it in the Europe. Yes, we are a middleman.

But most of U.S. wholesale jewelry companies (such big as Szul), doesn’t offer an international shipping. We need someone to buy the merchandise and to ship it abroad.

To prevent the further questions – you will not cash any bogus checks or fraud transactions. Also you will not spend your own money for the merchandise. You will receive Company’s funds directly to your account and buy the merchandise only when the funds will be available.

Do not hesitate to contact me though email employment@gandmstacey.com for any further information.

Edward Sutton, G and M Stacey, Inc.

The Scam

There are two lines from above that should immediately set this one off as bad news.

1. But most of U.S. wholesale jewelry companies, doesn’t offer an international shipping. We need someone to buy the merchandise and to ship it abroad.
2. You will receive Company’s funds directly to your account and buy the merchandise only when the funds will be available.

If you were to agree to work for these guys, they would deposit money into a bank account of yours and have you purchase some big ticket items and ship them overseas. The only problem is the money is either non-existent or acquired through some illegal means and now you’re spending tens of thousands of dollars of it and sending your purchases abroad. There’s no way this can end well.

There are two possible scenarios for you now. Either the money that was sent to you bounces or disappears and now you’re tens of thousands of dollars in the hole with no possible way of recovering it or the authorities come knocking and hold you liable for accepting large sums of money and sending goods overseas to potential criminals.

In addition to having you launder money/goods, these guys now have your personal and banking information leaving your identity ripe for the picking. These are not the types of people you want to have access to your private information.

Bottom line: avoid any type of “job” that has to do with you accepting money or dealing with a company’s finances. Major corporations don’t hire people from home to handle their money. It just doesn’t happen.

Let’s make this Noah’s best Christmas ever by sending him Christmas cards!

Five year-old Noah Biorkman is in hospice and we need your help to make this the best Christmas ever by sending him Christmas cards! His family will be celebrating Christmas this weekend.

Noah was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma in February 2007. He went into remission in August 2007. In September 2008, Noah relapsed with lesions in his right arm and right leg. After going through six different trials, the cancer continues to spread. Noah is an angel and we are blessed to have him in our lives.

Please help the fulfill the Biorkman family’s wish to make this the best Christmas ever for Noah. You can send your Christmas cards to:

Update Nov. 17: Noah’s family requested via Carepages.com that no more cards be sent. They were grateful for the outpouring, but now they need to focus on him.

My card is already in the mail. Be sure to leave a comment below if you send a card out as well.

Confirmed by Snopes and Noah’s CarePages website.

]]> http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2009/11/06/noah-biorkman-a-5-year-old-dying-from-cancer-wants-a-christmas-card-from-you/feed/ 8 http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2009/11/04/beware-of-the-surefire-money-maker-system/ http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2009/11/04/beware-of-the-surefire-money-maker-system/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:55:28 +0000 Steve http://www.ivetriedthat.com/?p=4138 I love coming across a system with a bit of confidence. There’s just something about the certainty in the name that is attractive. Surefire. Strong, bold, guaranteed to work. It’s almost as good as the name I have picked out for my upcoming work from home program, “Steve’s 100% Guaranteed Method to Teach you How to Rock Off the Faces of Others Whilst Becoming a Billionaire.”

What is the Surefire Money Maker System?

The Surefire Money Maker System lures you in with promises of free information. The majority of this information consists of vague references to earnings and how you can start making $200 a day by giving stuff away for free. Of course, to find out how to actually make money doing this you need to spend $37 first.

SPOILER ALERT!! The method on how to make money? The eBook teaches you to give away the intro to the Surefire Money Maker System for free and to sell the eBook on how to sell the eBook. Hooray recursion!

There are a few stock images and fake names selling this product including Rosie Peterson and Alex Cadens. They are selling from twaeresources.com, fastwebcash.com, realmoneyonlinenow.com, and 100plusaday.com. All the sales pages are exact carbon copies of each other which confirms the recursion method from above.

There’s only one thing surefire about making money online and that is there is nothing surefire about making money online.

]]> http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2009/11/04/beware-of-the-surefire-money-maker-system/feed/ 1 http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2009/11/02/read-the-fine-print/ http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2009/11/02/read-the-fine-print/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:54:10 +0000 Steve http://www.ivetriedthat.com/?p=4130 How often have you checked that little box next to the statement ‘I agree to the Terms and Conditions’ without ever reading over the terms you were agreeing to? I know I’m guilty. But, you can save yourself a ton of trouble by simply spending a few minutes reading over the fine print of a sales page. I know the countdown timer says there is only 14 seconds left before the offer runs out FOREVER, but ignore it for now.

Is AcaiForceMax a scam?

I don’t know and I have no intention of finding out. Instead, I want to take a look at their sales page and their fine print.

The sales pitch behind AcaiForceMax claims that the little Acai berries will help you lose weight, tone muscles, burn fat, and increase your energy levels. The page is littered with testimonials and pictures of these jacked dudes lifting weights and looking good while trying to maintain nonchalant and carefree poses.

If I was trying to lose weight, the sales pitch has me sold. I get to lose weight, build muscle, and have girls throw themselves at me from every possible angle the minute I step out in public. What more could you want?

However, I’m going to keep reading after I reach the bottom of the sales pitch. I’m going to go where few have gone before and I’m actually going to read the fine print. It starts off with…

* These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Please consult your physician before beginning any program. If there is a change in your medical condition, please notify your counselor immediately.

Hmm, that’s kind of disappointing. But just because the FDA hasn’t evaluated their claims doesn’t mean it won’t work, right?

1 Results not typical for any and all claims.

Crap. So all that stuff you said above probably won’t happen? But the testimonials looked so promising!

** All celebrity images were found on and obtained from public websites and are believed to be in public domain.
***Picture does not contain the likeness of the customer that submitted the testimonial.

Not even the testimonials were real! Well at least I can trust Fitness magazine, CBS, ABC, and Wall Street Journal for looking into AcaiForceMax.

+ Fitness Magazine, CBS News, ABC, and Wall Street Journal are registered trademarks of their respective owners.
2 Media elements deployed are those of paid actors.

IS ANYTHING YOU SAY REAL? You say as seen on ABC, but only because you paid ABC to advertise! I’m skeptical as hell at this point, but hey, it’s a free trial. What could go wrong about free?

If you do not cancel your Trial Membership during the applicable fourteen (14) day period as set forth in Section 7 herein below, your Active Credit Card will be charged the monthly Membership fee of Eighty-Seven Dollars and Sixty-Two Cents ($87.62) (”Monthly Fee”)

I. Give. Up.

Now do you see why we urge you all to read the terms and conditions? In about 2 minutes I found out that AcaiForceMax doesn’t work, the testimonials do not feature real people, and the free trial will cost me $87.62 every 30 days.

And that’s why I now take the time to read the terms and conditions to which I am agreeing to. You should too.

]]> http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2009/11/02/read-the-fine-print/feed/ 4 http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2009/10/29/probably-not-seen-on-cnn-abc-fox-and-msnbc/ http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2009/10/29/probably-not-seen-on-cnn-abc-fox-and-msnbc/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:01 +0000 Steve http://www.ivetriedthat.com/?p=4096 I really hate it when scammers use the logos of major networks to try and pass off legitimacy. The only thing I hate more is when people write to us asking us, “why would these news companies back this program if you’re saying it’s a scam? I trust CNN more than I trust you so I’m going to send my $2500 to Make-Billions-Online-Doing-Nothing.com.”

If a website was featured and backed by a major news organization, you could be damn sure they are going to be linking to the news article or video as proof. It would be great publicity and a surefire way to bring legitimacy and authority to their name. Any website can put up a picture of a CNN logo, but not any website can actually be featured at CNN. Odds are, if you come across a website claiming to be featured somewhere and they don’t link you to said feature, they’re lying to you.

Why You Can’t Believe Everything You See Online.

Perhaps you’ve seen I’ve Tried That’s newest spokesperson. He’s an old friend that goes by the name of President Obama and has been on a national campaign to bring awareness to our website.

No, you haven’t heard of him? Well then maybe you’ve been to the new I’ve Tried That arena in the south. It’s being hailed as the 9th wonder of the world (FYI the fact that we’ve been operating this long and still haven’t been sued is the 8th).

Not a sports fan eh. Well then surely you’ve had to have heard about I’ve Tried That’s space program. We’re sending Joe to Mars in search of life in April 2010.

And thus concludes my segment of why you can’t trust everything you read online.

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