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Jun 28, 2006 12:21 am US/Eastern
Got The Pop-Up Ad Blues? You're Not Alone
Just Closing Them Doesn't Always Mean You're Free
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Melody McCrea loves to shop online, but she said she hates being barraged with pop-up ads.
"I just always 'X' out," she said.
We all do, but the Federal Trade Commission's Greg Ash said that doesn't necessarily get you out safely.
"We often see pop-up ads as a common form of negative option marketing," Ash said.
With negative option marketing, companies take your silence as acceptance and bill you until you opt-out or cancel. Ash said pop-ups are the newest form of attack by unscrupulous marketers.
"Even hitting that 'X' signs you up to the service," Ash said.
According to the FTC, these sneaky pop-ups appear after you've bought something online. The store is partnered with the marketer and gives them your credit card number. Consumers don't know they're enrolled until they notice the charge. That's what happened to melody.
"I noticed toward the end of the month, every month since January, I've been getting charged this $14.95," she said.
The company told melody she accepted a free gift card after buying a present online and that automatically enrolled her in a buyer's club. Melody said she never accepted any offer, and probably just X-ed out of a pop-up.
"You think, 'oh, that's never going to happen to me. If I'm X-ing out, how can they possibly trace it to my email or my credit card?' "
So, how can you get out of a pop-up safely? Hit 'alt-f4,' and that will close out the window, or "control-alt-delete" just once. That's what Melody is doing now.
"I'm going to be more aware when I look at credit card statements, look at all the charges," she said.
Obviously, not all pop-ups are sent by unscrupulous marketers, but experts said it's hard -- if not impossible -- to know which ones are, so it's important to avoid clicking anywhere in the ad and to use your keyboard to close them.
As for melody, she fought the company that charged her, and eventually got all her money back.
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