The Case of the Fraudulent “Free Gift”- Amazon.Com and Luminary Skin Care

Volume 1 - Issue 2

Cam Caldwell*

Received: February 16, 2018;   Published: February 22, 2018

DOI: 10.32474/PRJFGS.2018.01.000106

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Abstract

One of the realities of human psychology is that people want “something for nothing” [1]. Franklin P. Jones, the long-time humorist whose column in the Saturday Evening Post was its longest continually posted feature, once wisely observed, “If you get something for nothing, you just haven’t been billed yet [2]. ”Jones was only partially right in today’s credit card age when some fraudulent advertisers access your credit card balance without even the courtesy of a bill before the fact! Unfortunately, one of the more disappointing realities of business life is that the name of the highly regarded Amazon.com corporation-one of America’s most highly respected companies [3] has been used to perpetuate a fraud by Luminary Skin Care, yet Amazon.com is allowing this fraud to go on unchecked. Luminary Skin Care uses the Amazon.com name on a simple online survey which, when answered, informs the customer that (s) he has won a “free gift.” Among those gifts is Luminary Skin Care products advertised as “a free trial [3].”The ruse is perpetuated by having the respondents provide their credit card number “to cover shipping and handling.” Unfortunately for hundreds of recipients, Luminary Skin Care bills them for the “free gift” to the tune of $187.58, ten days after the product is received and sends these recipients more of the unordered products.

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