Fraud in a shoppine mall!

Melissa dear, be careful with people who approach you at the mall. They are mostly even in uniform, cheerful and charismatic. Sometimes they offer you free chance to win a set of kitchen wares, entertainment showcase, a car, free trip to Boracay. etc. etc. They will ask you to fill out a form for a chance to win. In a day or two they will call you to say you won. Then will be asked to report to their office to claim the prize. But before you can claim the price, you will be asked to pay big amount which if you wisely compute actually covers the whole amount of the product you supposedly won and should be given to you free. Can you imagine how many people fall into this trap because they don't think was enticed with the word free or gift or prize. There is a hidden scam in every offer to get something free. Why in the world they will give out pricey items for free? Just think about that. Some others offer small gift items like cloth bags or ball pens for free to get your interest. If you accept their offer of free gift, they will invite you to sit in their booth or stall where lots of products are displayed. Before giving you the gift, they will ask if you have credit cards and if you admit you have they they will entice you to buy their products by saying that when you buy one you will get lots of products for free. Many people are cheated by them because the victims do not know that those supposedly free gifts are not really free. The product you will buy from them is surely overpriced to cover all the free gifts. The victims are mostly enticed with the freebies not knowing that those were not actually free. I just wonder why the mall authorities tolerate this people. Of course they are paying for the space and earning money from their rental but but can't the mall owners protect the interest of the shoppers? These scammers are mostly in decent uniforms and they are standing in every corner of the mall. They usually offer amazing high tech products like induction oven, water purifier, massage chair and a lot more. So beware of them. If a stranger talks to you offering this and that just ignore and make him look like stupid.

Melissa, I'm glad you got your money back. You must have felt really terrible after being tricked into buying their items. But you did the right thing for researching about them and contacting DTI and the mall's security office. I can't believe the mall is allowing these scammers inside the premises. You've been very brave. I learned from your experience that when it comes to scammers, we shouldn't be embarrassed to ask them to give back our money. It's our hard-earned money anyway.

Typically speaking, the best rule of thumb is, if they are offering you an option that saves you money, it's a scam somehow. Generally no one is going to randomly give you an offer that reduces how much money they make on selling something. Any time someone make an amazing offer, the first thing I do, is ask "what is the catch?".... because if there wasn't a catch, they wouldn't be making the offer. Pretend you sell something. Whatever it is. You sell women's shirts. The shirts are selling for 100 Pesos. (I'm making this up). Are you going to offer the next person in your store "Hey, if you buy this coupon for 10 Pesos, you can buy the shirt for 80 Pesos!"? Why would you do this? You are losing money. You would make more money just not having the coupon, and letting people buy the shirts at the original price. If you thought you could sell more shirts for less money, you still wouldn't have the coupons. You would just lower the price. So if they are going to spend the money to have the coupons made, there has to be some way in which they are getting money from you, that's more than you would pay if you just bought the item by itself. There has to be a trick. There has to be a catch somewhere, or they wouldn't do it. Companies, stores, businesses of any kind, none of them are going to spend the time and money into making a plan, or option, or coupon book, or whatever... unless it makes them money. This will serve you very well for the rest of your life. Every time someone says "Hey you qualify for...." whatever.... just remember "what's the catch?" Where's the trick? How are they making money off of me, through this "deal" they have? Think that every time someone tries to get you to take their "special offer", so special it takes more of your money.

I don't entertain people who offers promotions inside the mall. These are all enticements to make you buy their products which they claim are given at a give away price. But why almost coerce people to buy these?

Oh yes! I had the same experience. The first one, I got away quick coz when they were asking for my credit card, I hurriedly ask them that I had it maxed out so I could not purchase all the items they were selling. Same modus I guess, telling you that you could get a wonderful price if I buy the things from them. The other incidence was when somebody approached me and said that it was my lucky day coz I was wearing red that time. And so they gave me a bag and umbrella. Then one of them told me that they would like to invite me for a short talk about their company. I guess there was no harm in listening. Then I met an another person from them, introducing the insurance they were selling. I had a low-paying job so I said that I could not afford to pay for it. And then he said that I could pay the annual fee through credit card on a deferred payment basis. And so, I agreed to sign up. When I returned home, I checked on the bank about the purchase I have made and realized that I was charge for the annual fee. I was furious. Even though I was on my 7th month of pregnancy, I went to their main office a week after and demanded that my money be returned or atlest reverse the transaction. They said they could not. SO even I was really infuriating inside the office, they would not budge in making it undone. SO I just came to terms to terminate my contract instead. It was obviously a scam, I learned that the company closed coz of a lot of poeple who got mad about it too. Just thinking about it now really makes me want to grip their necks!

The best rule - if it costs you anything - even one penny - it's a scam. It's not free. This is true whether in a physical store, or an online "giveaway".

It does sound like a really bad scam to pull on people that are walking by in the malls. I am lucky that where I am from we don't get that kind of pressure buying from stores sales people. I am happy to learn that you did get your money back before it was too late. I have seen on the news where people are pressured into buying a product or service from a deceptive sales person and they would make them sign onto a contract and then they would be stuck paying the company since they signed into a contract agreement with them.

Your situation had happened to my aunt. But, she didn't buy the scheme.