The following is an excerpt from Brian Morton's article:
 
We have copied the part that relates to the scam blog we posted.

Vancouver's Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to be wary of free trial offers online, including those by a Vancouver-based company that markets acne medication largely to U.S. citizens.

"We want to remind people to look at the terms and conditions," Simone Lis, vice-president of operations for the Better Business Bureau of Mainland B.C., said in an interview Wednesday. "A lot of times people think they're getting a really good deal and don't realize there's hidden conditions."

According to the BBB, the deceptive free trial offers are everywhere online and include those for diet pills, acne medication, work-at-home jobs and teeth whiteners, among other products and services.

This year alone, she said, BBB has received thousands of complaints from consumers who thought they were getting a free trial, but ended up losing hundreds of dollars in recurring credit or debit card charges.

The one thing these companies all have in common, she said, is that they rip off consumers under the guise of a no-risk trial offer.

Another company cited by the BBB is XM Brands, which has an "F" rating with BBB, and has received nearly 2,000 complaints to the West Palm Beach BBB. The company sells roughly 40 teeth whiteners, acai diet pills and colon cleansers online.

Complainants say they agreed to pay anywhere from $1.49 to $3.87 to cover shipping for the product trial but were charged as much as $87 a month, sometimes before they even received their trial in the mail.

The BBB said complainants report getting the runaround from the company when they request refunds or ask to stop being billed. One consumer, it said, claims to have lost more than $860 as a result of recurring charges.

For more advice on avoiding scams and fraud, visit www.mbc.bbb.org