The solution
In July 2019 WIRED reported that DoNotPay, the app built by 22-year-old Joshua Browder, launched Free Trial Card. It is a virtual credit card for signing up to free trials under any name, email or address. When the trial ends, the card declines the charge, so the user need not remember to cancel; the app can also send a legal cancellation notice and emails the user at sign-up and trial end.
It works because DoNotPay is the one approving transactions. A purchase request goes to DoNotPay rather than a bank, and an algorithm the team spent six months building checks whether it is a free trial. WIRED's reporter used the card for Spotify and CBS All Access and found it declined a $48 purchase of period underwear. It is a real Visa backed by a community bank network that gives DoNotPay a business card to act as an agent for consumers.
Browder said the idea came after he noticed a $21.99 gym membership he had been charged for over a year. He called requiring a card for a free trial deceptive.
What it achieved
Issue a real virtual card that DoNotPay itself authorises, approving $0 trial sign-ups and declining the first real charge.
Why it worked
DoNotPay controls the authorisation decision, so it can approve $0 trials and decline anything else.
The card refuses real purchases, so users cannot be charged by accident.
A forwarding email address strips location and read-receipt tracking, so trial sign-ups reveal less.
Reminder emails nudge users to hand over a real card only if they actually want to continue.
What can be applied
If you control the payment authorisation step, you can make a safe default (no charge) automatic instead of relying on users to remember.
Aftermath
WIRED found weak points: Browder would not name the bank network, saying it did not know the card was used for free trials and might shut the service down, and a payments expert said the issuing bank should be disclosed. Browder said three other banks were lined up as backups. The article gives no usage figures; the account of how the product works is from WIRED's own test and Browder.
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