The internet saves me money yet again, and again

[Exile]

I just received a text message from the "Philippines Charity Foundataion" informing me that my cell phone # had won P650,000 (about $14,000 USD). Sounds fishy, so I googled the name of that organization and included the word "scam". Sure enough, I received several hits in the search results confirming that this is indeed a bogus offer. The Internet is invaluable for uncovering such ruses.

[disneysteve]

Exile, surely you didn't need the internet to figure that out.

[Exile]

Exile, surely you didn't need the internet to figure that out.

True, but it's interesting as well as instructive to see how people let themselves get burned and then complain after the fact. BTW there is a legitimate government-run organization called Philippine Sweepstakes Charity Organization (PCSO). So when a scam outfit uses a similar sounding name, people easily get fooled. And that's my point: Looking up dubious propostions on the Internet is a great time saver and makes it easy to alert others as well.

[disneysteve]

True, but it's interesting as well as instructive to see how people let themselves get burned and then complain after the fact. BTW there is a legitimate government-run organization called Philippine Sweepstakes Charity Organization (PCSO). So when a scam outfit uses a similar sounding name, people easily get fooled. And that's my point: Looking up dubious propostions on the Internet is a great time saver and makes it easy to alert others as well.

Yes. When friends forward me e-mails with product warnings or boycott info or other things that sound strange to me, I always check snopes.com, 99.9% of the time find that the e-mail is false, and send a link back to the person who sent it to me so that they'll stop forwarding it.

[KatieNK]

Doesn't your bank give out registers for free?

My bank does and they used to give out deposit slips for free too, but then they started charging. So I grabbed a handful of balnk ones from the counter, and printed out labels at home of our account info and stuck them on, hehe

[yams]

i couldn't agree more with everyone else here. the internet has become the primary way for smaller, little-known companies to advertise and introduce themselves. for example, i've found that buying a USA made, extremely high quality, CUSTOM-ORDER cowhide bag from customhides.com would cost me $300, as opposed to nearly $700 from the well known outdoor company Filson.

[disneysteve]

Doesn't your bank give out registers for free?

I honestly never thought to ask.

I don't get my checks from them and it never occurred to me to try and get the registers there. And it certainly never occurred to me that they would give anything out for free.

[KatieNK]

Well mine still does, so it doesn't hurt to ask! Also, I don't get my checks from the bank either.

[Exile]

Oops! My bad. The correct name of the organization that I mentioned in my previous post is Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Organization.

[michaelo]

Good points about checking for scams and misinformation. While the internet is an amazing resource for saving money, it is also rife with scammers. However, it is everyone's responsibility to do their due diligence.

With the internet, there's no excuse for not checking.

Steve, do you find that you can almost tell whether or not forwarded messges are true or not just by the wording? I know after I looked into a few of them on Snopes myself, that I've developed a kind of radar for the bogus ones.

~michaelo

[cptacek]

It saved me a lot of money when planning for my wedding. Ebay was a godsend for that!

[atomicrc11]

One thing to think about with photo printing is the quantity. If you are printing over 50 photos, it is generally cheaper to use Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, etc. Typically the cost of the photo paper, ink and wear and tear on your printer is going to cost you more than paying as little 9 cents per photo.

I personally send my online to CVS and then pick them up. It costs 12 cents per photo for a 4"x6" print and they are close to my house. I also find their quality the best for the price. If you need them right away you can go in-store and have them instantly for 25 cents, but I can usually wait an hour for the 12 cent photos.

100 Photos at 12 cents is $12 and it cost you nothing in ink, which in my printer is about $15 for black and $8 for Yellow, Cyan, Magenta, Photo Cyan and Photo Magenta. It can get quite pricy.

[disneysteve]

Steve, do you find that you can almost tell whether or not forwarded messges are true or not just by the wording? I know after I looked into a few of them on Snopes myself, that I've developed a kind of radar for the bogus ones.

Oh, I always know they are fake. They all are. I only go to Snopes to prove it to the person who sent it to me. It really annoys me that people forward items that are often offensive and inflammatory or at the very least outright lies without checking into them first which is so simple to do.

[michaelo]

Oh, I always know they are fake. They all are. I only go to Snopes to prove it to the person who sent it to me. It really annoys me that people forward items that are often offensive and inflammatory or at the very least outright lies without checking into them first which is so simple to do.

Sad thing is, too many people are still willing to believe the BS, in spite of being presented with the facts. But you're right, it doesn't take much to check. [/rant]

Another way the internet saves money is through online bill pay. Our bank offers an online bill pay service, but it isn't free. We WON'T use that. Most of the bills we pay already have an online option. It saves a bundle in stamps, is easy to check previous statements, and takes a few mouse clicks and we're done.

~michaelo

[Exile]

Another way the internet saves money is through online bill pay. Our bank offers an online bill pay service, but it isn't free. We WON'T use that. Most of the bills we pay already have an online option. It saves a bundle in stamps, is easy to check previous statements, and takes a few mouse clicks and we're done.~michaelo

I second that emotion. Paying bills on line is one of the most efficent time and money savers of the Internet. I also don't understand why some banks charge for on line bill paying when most businesses who accept Internet payments do so for free.