Do you ever have a question about anything—food, health, cars for example, and just type it into google? Like magic, the answers pop up to every question you can imagine.
I have said many times that I’m a student of “Google University,” I have a Google Pixel phone and I have several Gmail accounts. This is all good until it’s not.
I have received several emails from people who I have emailed back and forth for years, but in the last few months, I am either not getting emails or the emails have been flagged with this notice:
I called the company hosting my email account and was told to call Google and explain the problem to them. I found a Google Customer Service number, explained the problem and was told they were going to connect me to a specialist.
Now comes the interesting part! Before I could talk to a specialist, I had to pay $1. Sounds crazy, especially since Google has a net worth of $900 billion. They said I would get the $1 back which sound crazier, but I paid the dollar through Paypal and told the “specialist” that it sounded like a scam.
Of course, his response was “No, it’s not a scam. Just white list the emails you are having a problem with.” I asked him where I could find the white list and he sent me the url. Still not sure why I would pay $1, but it’s done, so I thought.
I had to apply to get the dollar back which, as I got busy, went on my to do list. Then they wanted me to rate them but my time is worth more so I ignored it.
Then. . . I got an email from JustAnswer.com thanking me for the $46 payment for the membership and $46 would be charged to my PayPal account monthly for my membership.
I have never heard of JustAnswer.com and not impressed with their business plan (scam). I did some research on DuckDuckGo.com and found a site that explains what JustAnswer.com is all about. Check it out HERE. It’s very disappointing that Google with be involved with such a company, just maybe this is what the world is moving towards.
I am sharing my experience to warn everyone that scams come in every size, shape and form. According to reports, phishing scams and a few other cyber scams cost Americans nearly $100 billion each year. USA.gov is a site explaining common scams and frauds.
