Internet subscription sites



There are many types of internet subscription sites. The main aim of these sites is to make money by asking people to subscribe to them.

Some internet subscription sites involve requests for you to supply bank or credit card details.

If you give someone your credit card details they can debit your account with charges/debits and in many cases you will have an impossible time trying to get your money back or you will have a very short time in which to do so depending on what you agreed to. Worse still, some of the people running the internet subscription sites are nearly impossible to contact and periodic charges can appear on your credit card statement that you can't stop. Sometimes the only option might be to cancel your credit card and have your bank issue you a new one.

Here is an example of an internet subscription site which debits you with an amount of approx $79.85 per month after saying it only requires a dollar or $3.95 for your processing charges and it asks for your credit card details. You can find this type of arrangement on Success Grants website.

The small print of this site suggests they will debit you with $79.85 per month to keep you up to date and informed which is something you have now agreed to either knowingly or unknowingly by entering into the initial agreement with these people to supply you with information to obtain Government grants.

The advert implies Government grants are easily obtained and just waiting to be claimed and it mentions the Austrlian Government as handing out cheques of grant money funds.


Firstly, you don't need to join a website to access information about Australian Government grants. The information is all there on google.

Secondly, grants are made in return for project submissions or agreements to undertake various things, no grant money is just handed out for no reason.

Thirdly, once you subscribe to this website you will be charged approx $79.85 per month (at the time I looked into this). Imagine if 1000 people sign up to this seeing the cheque in the advert and the low entry fee of approx $3.95 or less. 1000 people x $79.85 is $79,850 dollars most of which people will not get back. No wonder this site can afford paid adverts popping up on the internet.

Another interesting thing about this site is the cheque in the picture. Look closely. It is a Canadian cheque with an Australian flag on it.



Also when you click on one part of the advert, it takes you to a blog which is supposed to be the blog of an Australian citizen who received a grant cheque. Another site I found complaining about subscription sites said the same person in the blog lived in Toronto (this must have been advertising Canadian or US grant cheques).

Erin Grant's blog - Australia or Toronto?

Click here to go to Wiki answers which has the following comments on a subscription grant scheme

Is 360 grants a scam?

In: Credit and Debit Cards, Internet Security and Privacy, Online Forums and Message Boards [Edit categories] [Improve]

Yes it is a SCAM indeed. I found this out by doing a little research. A website somehow popped up on my laptop called Erin's Grant Blog, wherein this Erin Jones described herself as from Toronto, Ontario and one whom was able to score a grant from the Canadian Gov't for $11000. By just going to this website successgrants.com, she was able to download the kit for only $2.95 and then apply. Underneath are a number of comments thanking her and also stating that they had found similar success. (Where I may add a comment to the blog, however, is "Temporarily disabled due to spam"--one obvious sign already.)

I was drawn in at first, until I got to the part where they asked me for my credit card and paused to wonder if I might be doing the wrong thing. I started to Google the terms along with 'scam' and could not find an answer for that particular website, but came across several complaints for Grants360, which used a strikingly similar website. Its all the same b.s., but these websites are extremely well detailed to make themselves look legit; they even have SET UP WEBSITES WHICH ARE SUPPOSED TO DIRECT YOU AWAY FROM GRANT SCAMS BUT THEY ACTUALLY DIRECT YOU TO THEIR OWN SITES, WHICH ARE ALL SCAMS. Another example from Erin's blog, are a few pictures of a happy and smiling fictitious Erin Jones with her family from Toronto; when I found out there is also an Erin's blog, telling of the same person who lives in California, who has has scored with Successgrants, I had to chuckle at their lack of thoroughness.

Actually, what they're doing does not seem to be illegal, which is the real kicker. The way it works is they get you to buy the package for $1.95, or $2.95, and you don't realize this, but after the "free one-day trial," you are registered as a member of their club. And they charge you anywhere from $35-80 a month for registration. The successgrants club is called "Grants Money". What does being a member give you? Nothing! They don't purport to give you anything either, because most people don't read that far in the Terms and Conditions link which they are legally bound to provide at the bottom of the webpage.

They tell you in the Terms and Conditions page that there is a live operator who can support you through the week, which is true. This person's job is none other than to return some portion of money to your credit card once you found out you've been scammed. Their job is rather pitiful indeed--but they are the outside's only link to this cabal of scammers. I hope they are paid minimum wage at least.

End of quote from Wiki

So before you subscribe to anything, think carefully. Once people have your credit card details it can be very hard to stop them debiting your account. Also look at the service being offered. Is it a service you need to pay for or is the information available elsewhere.

If you are Australian and you have trouble with any scams, contact the ACCC in Australia. The ACCC run scam watch and you can phone or email them.
Click here to go to the ACCC scamwatch site

Be careful on the internet and read the print very carefully before entering into any agreements where you give out personal details or your credit card or bank details. If in doubt, contact the ACCC or search the internet for comments about the site you are interested in and educate yourself. The bottom line is that your actions come down to "Let the buyer beware" and also if you see things on the internet that seem to good to be true, most times they are too good to be true.



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