What Are Reloading Schemes?
Reloading schemes are used to try to squeeze more money out of victims who have already fallen prey to other telemarketer and mailing schemes. Usually they will come in the form of some kind of ¿promotion¿ or ¿upgrade¿ for a product you have previously purchased from the same company. For example, if you purchased ¿discount¿ vitamins from a company, they may try a reload scheme in which they claim that since you have spent a certain amount of money you are entitled to a special prize¿for a small fee of course. Sometimes the telemarketer or mailed offer will say that you can recoup your expenses from your former purchase as well as any new expenses from the current fees you must pay to claim your prize. These fees will usually take the form of ¿taxes¿ or ¿handling fees¿ for the prize, which might be something like a car or an fully paid vacation to Hawaii or anything else that sounds too good to be true.
What is the Catch?
The catch is that the prize offer usually is too good to be true. As mentioned before, this is simply another scheme to extract more money out of a victim who has previously proven they have a hard time saying no to these kinds of offers. More frequently than not these offers turn out to be just cons, i.e. there is no prize to be won. The telemarketer will persuade the victim to send in money to receive the prize (and these fees are supposed to pale in comparison with the prize), and once the con artist gets the money he can no longer be found, or actually ends up trying to persuade the victim to give over more money. Even in the rare instances where the scammers provide the prizes to the ¿winners¿, the prizes turn out to have some defect or be of poor quality that makes them virtually worthless.
What Should I Do if I Feel I Have Been Defrauded of My Money Due to These Scams?
If you have lost money by falling prey to one of these scams you should contact local authorities (the police) as well as file a complaint with the FTC. You may also consider hiring a consumer fraud attorney. Your attorney can advise you of your options and help you decide what action to take next, including the possibility of compensation in a lawsuit against the scammer who took your money. |
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