Thursday, March 20, 2008

How to Avoid Money Scams

"You Can Earn Millions Overnight", "Secret Internet Secrets", "Quit Your Job Today", "Have Money Tomorrow" "Make 30,000 Monthly"...

Sounds too good to be true, right? Usually because it is! The advertising world reeks of selfish, ambitious, greedy individuals who like to make money. There is nothing wrong with making money, but when it comes being dishonest, misleading and lying to others just to elevate yourself, then it becomes a problem. In fact, within the last several years, it's been a very big problem. And sadly, some of us still fall for it. We're watching our favorite television show and then the commerical comes on. It has caught our attention, piqued our interest and 5 minutes later, we're pulling out our wallets and giving out our credit card information or bank routing number from our checkbook.

This really isn't news, is it? We know this already, don't we? So why do we still fall for it? More importantly, if we have made the bad decision and feel foolish for doing so, what can we do about it?

First of all, we have to be realistic here. There is NO WAY IN THE WORLD WE CAN MAKE HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS OVERNIGHT - legally. It just cannot be done. Sure, we hear about people who have quit their jobs and turned into instant millionaires within weeks or months and feel soooooo compelled to share their secrets with you. Oh, we should feel so privileged...no, we should show caution.

Most of these individuals have one thing in common: greed. And because of this, they will lie and misrepresent themselves and their situation to satisfy their greed. And that's where they come up with their gimmick - oops, I mean their money secret. And now, you can learn their secrets. Do you think it's free?

I saw this online advertisement: "You can make $30,000 a month just like my son". I filled out this online form with my email address and a few minutes later, I received a form letter and it goes on to say how I can sign up with this Internet marketing person and they will create a website for me, have all sorts of traffic drive to my website and that's how I can make money.

I'm thinking to myself, wow, someone can do all of this for me and I don't have to do a single thing? Someone is telling me I can make all this money and they're doing all the work? What was my opening statement? Yes, this is too good to be true. After I read the form letter, I noticed that the price to download the information was $97. Ahhhh, so it wasn't free. I had to PAY money in order to make money.

I chose to download the information only to receive another form letter. $97 for a form letter? I emailed the individual to confirm what all I was to receive and he never replied back to me. I just got played. I filed a report with the Better Business Bureau and RipoffReport.com and I emailed the person again to let him know what I did. This time he responded and my $97 was refunded.

Come to find out, there were similar reports about this particular individual. Take note of their web address below and you'll also notice that they lowered the price - don't get suckered into it like I did!

www.3500weekly.com

Interestingly, when I visit this website, it is identical to the form letter that I paid $97 dollars for! Go figure.

I discovered a similar situation with an individual by the name of Jeff Paul who actually does his advertising on television. It's amazing to me how the media doesn't even question the integrity of these infomercials and the people that are basically putting themselves on display. It truly stuns me. I guess the media is doing its job, giving people, no matter how dishonest they are, their turn in the spotlight.

www.jeffpaul.tv

When you call to order their system, you've literally opened yourself up to a can of worms. There are telemarketers that call you constantly, making you feel like you're the only one in the world who can be qualified for their money-making system and that's what it's all about. They want you to spend their money on them so they can make money. They make money and you're left broke.

Look up Jeff Paul on ripoffreport.com and see how many complaints there are about this individual.

There are also scams that involve online businesses such as: data entry and keyboarding where you type up ads for different companies. The latter seems to be getting a lot of advertising time. I have not looked into particular one myself, but they're asking that they be sent $49.95 for your start-up kit. See, that's a reason for caution. Any time these 'online businesses' require cash upfront, is not good. Do not fall for it.

And yet another scam is the surge of email messages that ask for your financial and personal information. This should a no-brainer for us, but sadly there are some that fall for it. If we don't recognize the sender and the content in that email, we should NOT respond to it. Our social security number, banking information, credit card info should NOT be given. Yes, we know this already but it's good to be reminded.


Before you invest your time and energy into these online marketing businesses, check them out beforehand. Do a Google search on them and see what comes up. Also do a search for them on Ripoff Report.com or the Better Business Bureau homepage. In this day and age, when it comes to online opportunities, you want to be careful and as the old cliche goes "Better safe than sorry"!

1 comment:

Shirley said...

First I want to say thanks for visiting and leaving a comment on my Common English Grammar Mistakes blog.
This is one of the best post I have read on a blog in weeks. It is so amazing what people will do to make a buck. I sure am glad to hear you got your money back. And most of all thanks for the warning I know this will save someone from being ripped off...again.