You may have noticed that there’s a new health fad in town, and it’s called CBD oil. If you’re someone who listens up when new investments come onto the scene, you may want to take notice of this one.
Because America has recently loosened its laws around using cannabis medicinally in almost every state now, this is a new industry to be putting your money into, because it’s pegged to become incredibly profitable.
Naturally, a new industry will always bring with it a host of brand new companies as well. For CBD consumers, this can actually spell nightmare, because what this also means is that there are a host of dodgy companies now on the market that wants you to buy their products, no matter how bad they are.
Let’s take a look at the CBD oil industry from an investment point of view and also take a look at some issues people have run into as a result of such quick growth – in fact, there are many patients out there that have lost money as a result.
Free Trial Shipping Scam
When you have potent CBD oil that’s pure as well, it can be incredibly expensive. This is why it’s normal to want to perform a test on it before giving away a more significant amount.
There are a considerable number of CBD oil companies who now offer a free sample of their CBD oil – or almost free. They plug it as the price of their shipping. This means that you could end up getting a small bottle of CBD oil for as little as $5. This may sound like something that’s a bit too good to be true – and most of the time, it is.
Another way of offering this deal is by promoting it on various social media website throughout the holiday season. However, there’s more than meets the eye here.
Once you accept your ‘free’ sample, the scam company behind it will then have your personal information. This is obtained when they ask you to pay for the shipping costs.
While you may get your ‘free’ sample in the mail, something you may not be aware of is that the company is continuing to charge your credit card for an ongoing subscription service without your permission. Before you know it, there’s a worryingly high sum of money being drawn out of your account every month.
If this has happened to you, the best thing to do is to contact your bank immediately. Through them, you can dispute the withdrawals. While the bank can try to locate the scammer for you, the chances of catching them are going to be slim. This is because scammers like this change their identities and locations often.
How to Avoid this CBD Oil Scam
The first and most obvious way to avoid a scam like this is to only learn about and purchase your CBD oil from reputable companies that we’ve already reviewed.
The next way is to never give out your personal card details if you’re just being offered a ‘free’ sample of something. It’s also worth searching the company you’re dealing with through Google, and seeing if anyone has got anything to say about them.
You may even want to check out their website and even call any numbers they’ve provided on there. If you can’t get through on the phone or it’s an unidentifiable number, then there’s a good chance that they’re scammers.
The tricky thing about companies like these is that they can technically say they aren’t a scam if they disclose the information about the deal in their terms and conditions. Of course, these companies know from experience that you’ll most likely not bother reading their T’s and C’s.
Trusted CBD Oil Vendors
These companies are trustworthy, provide real CBD, and they test their products in laboratories.
| Brand | Prices |
|---|---|
 | |
| Royal CBD | |
| Zion | |
| Absolute Nature | |
| NuLeaf Naturals | |
| Endoca | |
| Hemp Bombs |
I’ve Been Caught in the Trap, What Do I Do?
The most important thing to do when a company like this has scammed you is to act as quickly as possible. Here’s what you should do:
- Contact the company straight away and demand that they give you a refund. Make it obvious that you plan on filing a ‘fraud chargeback’ against them with your credit card company and you plan on making a formal complaint to the attorney general. However, there’s also a good chance that they won’t even pick up the phone.
- If you do get through to them and they promise you a refund, contact your bank and confirm with them that you have in fact received the refund. It’s even worth canceling your card and applying for a new one, just to make sure that they can’t take any more money out of your account.
- Explain to your credit card company that any withdrawals made by them weren’t authorized by you. This is when it’s a good time also to file that ‘fraud chargeback’ too.
Final Thoughts
It’s no secret that the CBD oil industry has a lot of people interested – both in the product and the investment opportunity. This will only continue to increase as the years go on.
As always, where there is money to be made, there are scammers to take it away. The most important thing to get from this is to make sure that you never give your credit card out to anyone who you can’t verify is entirely reputable.
Also, if you do fall victim to a scam, make sure as many people know about it as possible – that way they can avoid falling for it in the future too.
Anne Keiley
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Thank you for the warning! I didn’t know that free samples may be actually a scam. I’ll tell my husband about it because he’s the one who’s using cbd oil in our family. I know that he likes to order from new vendors sometimes when he finds a nice deal so it’s better to be wary of a possible scam.