Nancy Barnes says a pop-up ad on the internet for a free laptop caught her attention, but little did she realize what she thought was free left her with close to $400 worth of charges on her credit card.
"Don't have any idea what they are or where they came from," she said.
Barnes says the charges happened after she clicked on a pop-up ad on the internet for a free laptop.
"I thought it would be nice to get a new laptop," she said. "Our computer is like 10 to 12 years old."
After clicking on the link, she had to register her information.
"Name, home address, e-mail address and credit card," she said. "I didn't even consider it was not legit."
After registering, Barnes says the only way she would qualify for the free laptop is if she signed up for several different free trial offers.
"It said you need to do at least 10 offers that come up and there's all different kinds of offers that come up," she said. "Ordering free 30 day trails, if you didn't like it cancel it, if you like it keep it."
Barnes says the products quickly showed up and she says she canceled the trials she didn't want.
Despite saying she canceled the free trial, big charges started showing up on her credit card.
She says some of the charges are for products and services she never heard of or got.
Even worse, while Barnes has more than $400 worth of charge, she says she never got that free laptop that started it all.
"When you see those pop-ups and it seems like something great, don't do it, don't do it," she said.
While the ads use big company names to get users' attention, in real small print in the bottom on the ad, it says that the promotion is not affiliated or sponsored by any of the retailers or manufactures.
Barnes has disputed the charges with her credit card company and also canceled the card, so no more charges can be added to it.
Experts say while these deals do sound enticing because it seems like you get the product for free, anytime you have to put in your credit card information, realize you are authorizing charges for some type of product or services.
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