Louisa Dyson, 48, fell victim to an online subscription scam, which she says targets those who are most vulnerable.
The scam is designed to tie customers up in monthly payment plans without them realising. Customers are enticed through special promotional offers on products like weight loss pills, CBD, or muscle supplements.
Individuals will see adverts for these products on Facebook, sometimes with a fake celebrity endorsement attached saying how amazing they are.
This is to really try and convince the customer to make a purchase however Britons are warned that “there is a catch”.
Once the customer has signed up and bought the product, they are signed up for a monthly subscription without realising it’s happening.
On BBC Money Box, reporter Athar Ahmad investigated the scams and spoke to Louisa who had fallen victim to it.
Louisa, who has fibromyalgia which causes “crippling headaches, muscle pains and exhaustion,” tried a range of medication but nothing had worked for her so she went online looking for alternative remedies.
She said: “There was an offer, buy one get one free on CBD gummies. So I thought, ‘Okay, it’s worth a gamble’.
“It was £38.99. As I put the last digit of my security code in, the pay had just flipped and changed and I had checked out.
“When I looked at it I saw that I had got these two products which…
