I've been hosed!

I can barely see around the egg on my face for falling for the stupidest scam ever. My only defense is my ill-placed trust in a news articles. Here's what went down:

Prior to leaving for a 9-day trip I read a news article about a woman and her husband in California who made $5,000 a month posting ad links on websites. It was a bonafide, real, journalistic news article - not an ad! I thought, "How perfect!" She gave the correct information out and I was so stoked to discover it was a very low cost to get access to these sites. Dum-da-da-dum!! Speaking the words now, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," doesn't really help after the fact. Agree?

So, I bit - hook, line and sinker - and spent a few days trying to discover how in the world I'm supposed to attach these dang links. It was hard so I assumed that's why the cost was so low (still in the dark, folks), but by golly, I was going to be one of the people who figured it out and made a little fortune.

Lo and behold, two separate charges of $69.90 and $82.13 hit my account and were processed through one week after (while I was on vacation with dial-up service.) In my flabbergasted state, I called my bank, unable to answer the most basic questions about the website I used. I have since discovered both and have discovered that the price I paid was for a 7-day trial period and that the real charges were listed in the terms and conditions (which I didn't read because the print was so dang small and there were miles and miles of text), so therefore, I'm paying the high cost of my own stupidity. My only gift back to this company (GOOGLE sponsored) is to warn my dear friends and family to stay away from the scam.

One is Profit StudioLearning and the other goes under the two different names of Cash Secret Club and Hot Buzz Market Club. Before you start judging, let me assure you that I know how ridiculously "scammy" it seems now. Even going back to the website, I'm appalled that I fell for it. I suppose it's not really a scam, as people do make money off of it, but I was fully unaware that prices could be hidden in the terms and conditions. I thought "full disclosure" meant that people had to be aware that they would be getting charged. I usually pride myself with being able to find the hidden fees (hello, pride comes before the fall), so it was an extra painful sting to have to suffer.

I tried to tell my husband today, but the words got stuck in my throat. Since I handle the bills, I'm going to scrape some dirt over the problem and attempt to forget about my brainless moment. Of course, if he reads this he'll know and to that I say, "Sorry, Shawn...but do you remember the Firm vitamins???? Ha-ha, just kidding babe. That's water under the bridge, let's not go back and judge now, people make mistakes...."

I'm going to go hug my kids and pray that my streak of naivety does not get passed to them. Be blessed!