http://pr.cannazine.co.uk : When unemployed single mother of two Katrina from Cheshire in the UK, stumbled across a free offer for a trial of an Acai berry based product, she readily admits she found herself hugely tempted to subscribe.
Katrina had been reading all about the benefits which come as a direct result of consuming Acai berry extract, including the weight loss benefits as well as the much publicised anti-oxidant properties, and with some heavyweight celebrity endorsements from the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Rachel Ray doing the rounds on YouTube, Katrina says it was very easy to get carried away on the whole Acai berry wave of euphoria.
"We have a history of Rheumatoid Arthritis in the family" said Katrina, "So I was obviously interested in the anti-oxidant properties of the Acai berry".
"Having watched the Rachel Ray clip" Katrina told CannaZine News, "It was very easy to wish to become involved in the Acai revolution".
"Ordinarily when a celebrity endorses a product via the popular daytime TV slots in the United States, they tend to be quite reserved in how far they are prepared to back a product" continued Katrina.
"Especially one with as much controversy surrounding it as the Acai berry has".
"But Rachel Ray made it quite clear she thinks everyone should be consuming Acai berry products, even saying as much to her TV studio audience. Perhaps she sells the stuff herself"?
After spending some time surfing the Internet Katrina says she became aware of a number of companies who were offering a free, no obligation trial of Acai berry product.
"It sounded great" she said. "Just what I was looking for".
"I signed up, and was surprised to find out I was being asked for a credit card number. But on digging a little deeper I was assured by the website frequently asked questions section, this was simply a security feature and the one week trial of product I was signing up for was indeed, free of charge, apart from the postage, which would be debited from the credit card".
"I don't even have a credit card" said Katrina, "So it was necessary to involve my mother, who allowed me to use hers".
"In hindsight, it was the worst thing I ever did".
Initially Katrina thought the 'priority' shipping charge of $29.99 a little high, and again with the benefit of hindsight, she says she is now able to recognise the fact she was constantly beset with nagging doubts even as she filled in the online forms.
"I suppose I wanted above all else to ignore the doubts. Or even to write them off as something else altogether, so dead set was I on trying this little super-berry".
Eventually Katrina's 'free' sample of Acai capsules arrived and she took them religiously throughout her trial week. But while even Katrina admits she was feeling great as a result of taking the Acai capsules, something else a lot more sinister was going on in the background.
'trouble ahead' "The company which took the credit card details started making all sorts of unauthorised charges to my mothers credit card", said Katrina. "This was January 2009 and as such, in the post-christmas doldrums of a national recession, times were hard for everyone and my mother simply couldn't afford these unexpected charges".
"On top of this payments were being taken which would ultimately use up funds which were put aside to pay for other charges my mother had made to her card, which eventually led to bank charges, and even worse, to my mothers creditors threatening her with legal actions and bailiff's.
"In the end, things got so bad, the only way we could stop the payments was by cancelling my mothers credit card, and arranging an appointment with her bank manager to explain how a woman with an unblemished credit record for over thirty years, suddenly found herself under threat of legal action and county court judgements against her name. I joined her at her interview and told the bank manager exactly what had happened. Exactly how my poor mother had found herself in this unpleasent situation".
"By May 2009 we had thankfully sorted out all of the problems which had manifested as a result of my wishing to take advantage of a 'free offer', but as my mothers bank manager said throughout, there really is no such thing as a free lunch".
"So my advice to anyone who is tempted in signing up for any online free offers is don't", because they do not exist".
Giving away free samples of a new product has been a part of sales since before the Internet even existed. In our supermarkets and high streets we're often offered a taster of a new product for us to try before we buy.
But alarm bells should start sounding when your free offer concludes with you having to fill in credit card details and if that ever is the case, Katrina says you should hit the 'back' button on your web-browser and get out of the transaction before you input your all-important credit card details.
"There are plenty of legitimate companies offering Acai extract both in juice and capsule form, and at affordable prices" concluded Katrina.
"Lets face it the news is full of the stuff so if you need to do some research, all of the information exists already, both good and bad, without the need for almost 6 months of legal wrangling as you try to stop your credit card from being abused".
You have been warned!
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Its worth mentioning the fact we received quite a few e-mails in response to this article, stating the fact there are great differences in the amount which is being billed for "shipping" these free offers.
But it doesn't matter whether the initial charge is $2 dollars or $200.
The point of the scam is to harvest your credit card details, and once they have been captured, the Acai vendor can then make unuathorised charges to your account.
Green/Eco/Environment 
