If this were my daughter, I think I would try to teach her careful reading and scepticism. I'd find a bunch of ads like that on the internet and also some in the regular snail mail. I would have her read over them with me, emphasizing how you have to read everything, every last word. Show her how to follow asterisks and footnotes. Show her where to find the fine print. Show her that sometimes the fineprint and details of the deal are not even spelled out in the initial come-on ad, but will follow later, after she puts in a first round application, such as with many credit card offers. Teach her that there are many people out there trying to get her money by making their deals looks ridiculously good when they are actually ridiculously bad. Teach her to be proud of herself for being able to spot the deceptive ads. When you read on this forum of rip-offs others have encountered, read her the posts so that she can see that the relative deception is widespread, that we are all targeted and must be on guard. Does your state attorney general publish a list of companies who've been prosecuted for illegal schemes taking people's money? Have a look at that with your daughter regularly so that she can get the sense that it is a real problem, not an unlikelihood. Tell her, too, how sometimes even people presenting themselves as charities will be rip-off artists.
While I was at it, I would teach her how to keep her name & number off of phone and mail solicitation lists. Tell her for example, how if she signs up for a lottery to win the SUV on display at the mall, or the six months of free gym use, she is adding her name to such lists...and that those lists get sold and resold. Teach her about opt-out lists for credit cards, for all junk mail, for phone solicitors (both the federal lists and any local lists). I would teach her to evaluate service packages for autos, and for new purchases. I'd teach her that contracts are generally unbreakable and that she needs to keep her word when she does sign them. But I'd also teach her about the few situations in which one can rescind a recently signed contract (such as within 24-72 hours of a door-to-door sale, even though right now those seem rare.) I'd talk to her about evaluating the source of merchandise sold on the street or in specialty shops that supposedly offer name brand items for tremendous discounts over the makers' own shops. (Such as purses or music recordings slashed to 10% or less than they sell for in any other store.).
Well I guess there are tons of things to teach her, but I'd start with the kinds of things that are already causing her problems, as in my first paragraph. I hope she will be not only cooperative, but interested. These are the kinds of things I talked to my child about "all the time" as he was growing up, so he learned about them gradually rather than having sort of a crash course. If we got a stupid time share come-on in the mail, we told him about it. If there was a dumb offer on the TV, we made mention of that. ...We of course also talked about really good offers that came along, emphasizing that even if we thought it was a good offer, we still had to check the details carefully and ask questions to verify.
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