Facebook Quizzes Could Cost You Money

PHILADELPHIA - If you are a Facebook fanatic, you know one of the best things about the social site is that it's free. But consumer reporter Michelle Buckman says if you're not careful, you could lose money surfing the site.

If you're on Facebook, you have no doubt been invited to take a quiz of some kind, like an IQ quiz. Well, you won't feel too bright if you fall for this. Some quizzes may look like they're recommended by a friend, but it could actually be a pop-up ad.

After taking the quiz, you may be asked to enter your cell phone number to get a text message with your score. The problem is you may be agreeing to a text messaging service that charges you a monthly fee! Then, the worst part is trying to opt out of the service.

"Usually you have to call an 800 number, which is manned by one person. Sometimes you have to send an e-mail. I've seen things that you have to send notarized letters that you actually have to sign,” says Anthony Mongeluzo of Pro Computer Service. “They make you go completely out of your way to do this and a lot of times the charge is so nominal. If you're spending $3 a month and you have to spend five hours to cancel it, you might just let it go for the year.”

The fees could go as high as $15 a month. A spokesperson for Facebook tells me these ads are deceptive and they are investigating. In fact, two advertising networks providing quiz apps on Facebook have been banned from the site for pulling stunts like this.

Cell phone companies are also trying to put safeguards in place. And you can try to reason with your cell carrier to get out of the charges.

Remember, you have to be able to distinguish between what's a free feature of the site and what is an advertisement. Before you take any more quizzes, read the 'Terms of Service'.

A Facebook spokesperson issued the following statement:

"In response to reports of deceptive content in ads placed within third party apps by developers, we investigated the ads in question to prevent any potential threat to our user’s experience. As a result, we recently prohibited two advertising networks from providing services to applications on Facebook Platform because they were not compliant with our policies and failed to correct their advertising practices.

To ensure the long-term health and viability of Facebook’s ecosystem of developers, users, and advertisers, we’ve developed policies to explain what sorts of content and experiences are appropriate to present to users and will take action against those who do not provide trusted experiences. For Facebook Platform, these policies apply to all aspects of an application, including any advertising."