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Facebook is now filled with so many different scams that look like legit advertisements. By the replies in the comment section, I so surprised so many have fallen for these scams (or maybe those replies were also scams).


The postage stamp discount advertisements are a huge scam. The Post Office does not discount stamps. These ads are from overseas, printing up counterfeit stamps and postings ads here in the States. The Post Office is fighting these scams, and will toss out any envelope that has one of these stamps. Yes, it does look like a good deal on those stamps. Buyer beware.


The other day Facebook had a "sponsored" advertisement saying that Singer Sewing Machine was selling overstocked machines for $9.95. Wait.... what? Yes, for $9.95 but somewhere in the very fine print it will say your credit card will be billed $29.95 every month on a subscription. That happened to me when I took an on-line IQ test posted on Facebook. One had to pay $1.95 to get the results... then I noticed a billing for $29.95, so I quickly tracked that down. Yes, I lost that $29.95 plus the $1.95 because I didn't read the fine print buried in their ad. Lesson learned.

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Thanks everyone for their suggestions and comments. Recently I order items from Avon from an advertisement I saw on Facebook, but I went to Google to find the company's official website, and it was the same. Ok, this looks good.


The items shipped didn't come in a shipping box marked Avon, but in a LG box which was probably first used for an appliance part. The Avon products inside the box were in good shape even though the packing material was skimpy. Guess this was shipped by an Avon sales rep from her home. So even "official" sites now has me wondering if it is the real thing... (sigh).


Now, don't get me started on AI.
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I've been amazed at some of the postal mail that includes surveys, forms, etc., that appear to be from the government, especially Social Security, with messages suggesting that responding will gain you funds --- and these are from nonprofits! Some have been pretty convincingly formal, and now my first look is at postage -- if it's from a political action or other NP, it'll have NONPROFIT and their permit # in the indicia on the envelope.

The other big one that wastes my time on mail are anything that pose as renewals or warn that something is running out -- house or car warranties, security software, etc. Some poses pretty well as coming from a property tax or government agency.

No helpful suggestion...we've been able to pretty much redirect and take over review of both postal and digital content coming in, but I can't believe how aggressive and convincing a lot of the content that's utterly targeting seniors is.
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If it’s too good to be true, it likely is.

Never, ever click on unrecognized links or sudden surprises. Delete and block them out for your protection. Contact your known source to verify legitimacy.

As one friend once told me, “Delete, Delete, Delete!”.
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freqflyer: Yes, you are right; one must be savvy enough to avoid those scams.
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Hidden and never ending subscriptions scams have been around forever, that's why in the long ago days I always used a cheque and not my credit card.... they could send me their crap forever but I wasn't paying for it (I'm looking at you readers digest). Some scams are fairly easy to spot but they are getting increasingly sophisticated, I mentioned before how scammers weren't able to get any money out of one elderly family member but they did glean enough personal information to convincingly target a different family member. And there are even scammers who will follow up by showing up at your door in "uniform" to put on pressure and/or collect.
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AARP Newspaper just FULL of the newest in scams this issue! Happy reading; they are all there, including one woman who gave 800,000 to three romance scams. That's the hard way to buy love, huh?
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