A Bait and Switch scam is one of the oldest retailing scams in the book but some unscrupulous retailers still try and pull it off. Here is how it works.

A store will advertise a product, let’s say a CD player for a really low price. They might say that supplies are limited and the sale ill start on Saturday morning when the store opens. You go to the store on Saturday to pick up one of these goodies. Guess what? The salesman says that they are sold out however he has a much better deal for you. He tries to sell you a different model worth twice as much.

You have to wonder how many of the ‘on-sale’ CD players were actually available. Probably none. In this case, the store may have had only one or two such models knowing full well that they would sell quickly and they would have many other customers wanting to buy the sale item. So they set up the ‘on-sale’ item as the bait for consumers and then pulled a switch with higher priced items.

Bait and switch Frauds are illegal in most jurisdictions.

Have you been the victim of a Bait and Switch? Let’s hear your story. Post to my blog.

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