Baby Boomers beware – The scammers are out there and they are coming for you. I know because I was recently a victim myself.
I was recently searching for a powered handsaw to cut down an overgrown bush when lo and behold an ad by Nicely Stores appeared on Facebook presenting what looked like a perfect answer for just $25. So I used my PayPal account to buy it:
 🎅Christmas Pre-Sale 50% OFF- Rechargeable MINI Wood Cutting Lithium Chainsaw × 1MINI HANDSAW $24.99 Subtotal $24.99 Shipping $4.95 Taxes $0.00 Total $29.94 USD |
Now, several weeks go by and then I receive this:
Not satisfied with basically a mini hand saw, I begin a long discourse with Nicely Stores customer service. At first, they tried to convince me that I misunderstood the ad. After sending them a copy of my receipt and demanding to either be reimbursed or receive the product I ordered, they said it would be $30-$40 to ship it back to China and offered to settle the issue for $5. At this point, I saw the light.
Yep, I’d been had and there is nothing I can do about it. Oh yes, I reported the ad to Facebook, so I don’t see it anymore (but I’m sure other Facebook users do). With a little research, I discovered this is not the first time that Facebook has been guilty of running scam advertising.
Just out of curiosity, I googled the mini saw and discovered that the same misleading ad is running on eBay and several other websites with strange names like www.hotnowok.com.
The lesson here is, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is a scam.” I knew this, but succumbed anyhow….and paid for the experience. Thank God I didn’t give them a credit card number.
I urge my fellow Baby Boomers during this holiday season to be wary of ads like this that seem to present wonderful bargains. They are plentiful on the Internet this time of the year. If you are not sure of the vendor, google them or the product. Your research will likely discover someone like myself who has shared a painful experience to warn others. A good way to prepare yourself for the holiday season is to read “BBB Warns of 12 Scams of Christmas.”
