CONSUMER ALERT
Be Alert When Dealing With Pop-up Ads Online

Consumers should proceed with caution when following up on unsolicited online advertisements, especially pop-up advertisements. My office has received reports of people being scammed by sweepstakes offers.

The reason the scam works is because of an appealing risk/reward factor. The pop-up ad will offer you a chance to enter a sweepstakes with a lucrative pay out, for a very small amount of money, in some cases just a single dollar. You will then be asked for your bank account information.

When victims review their accounts, they find that there have been periodic debits of $15-20 or more. In some cases, consumers reported being charged for two or three years.