Protect Yourself From Scams - Do a Little Homework! Author: Joe Reinbold
SCAM -- a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation... We are all afraid that some business we get into might turn out to be a scam. But sometimes the personal needs of individuals outweigh the thought process needed to recognize that something could be fraudulent. Many people are looking for ways to make extra money and the Internet can provide many ways to accomplish that need. But it can also provide an easy vehicle for individuals to lose their hard earned dollars. We recently did some research on a program that we were interested in and found that the entire operation was quite questionable. While we couldn't prove that it was outright fraudulent at this point, we saw enough risks to say no, we are going to put up any money. We also advised the 90+ people who joined based on our referral and most have told us that they are passing it up too. Sometimes all it takes is to do a little checking on your own behalf. Sure it takes time but if you invest a little of that time up front you may save a lot of future headaches. Sometimes when you do a couple of checks you may find that a lot of the work has already been done for you and is posted on sites that are available for your review.
The following are some sites and suggestions you might consider in checking that program out that you are considering. These are by no means all that are out there. You can go to one of the major search engines and search on scams and find many more resources.
Look at a program and ask yourself some of these questions: - Is the product something that I would be proud to sell or promote? If the answer is no, then stay away. - Make sure that there is an actual service or product that you will be selling. If you are just going to get paid for every new member you recruit, then it may very well be an illegal pyramid or ponzi scheme. - Is there contact information easily available at the site? Do they show their email addresses, street address, names of principals, company name, telephone number? Send them a question and see if you get an answer or an automatic reply. - If you have a address or telephone number go to www.yellowpages.com or www.whitepages.com and check them out. You can use the telephone number and do a "reverse directory check" which checks the telephone number and gives you an name and address if one is on file. - Check out the web site's domain name at http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois Just enter the domain name i.e., whatevername.com and you can determine who the administrative contact, normally the owner, where they are located and how long the site has been registered. - Do they offer you a free promotional site for your use with your own personal referral code? If you have to pay your entry or membership fee and then find out you have to pay another $100 or so to get a promotional site and email advertising package, and that is the only way they allow you to promote it, be leery. They are making their money up front. I don't believe that you should have to pay a company for basic promotional tools to promote their company. They can take the expense off as a business expense if they are for real.
Of course you will still have to make an informed decision on your own after doing your research. But you may find enough information from any one of these resources or all of them to sway you one way or the other. Just make an informed decision before you spend your hard earned money and resources.
About the author: Joe Reinbold, publishes Home Income Quarterly E-dition, a weekly online marketing and home business newsletter. To subscribe visit The Entrepreneur's Home Business Link where you will find the solutions to your home business needs at: http://www.homebizlink.com/ ¶
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying returns to investors out of the money raised from subsequent investors. It is illegal in most countries. The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant to the United States. The manner of Ponzi's initial scheme was actually fairly crude, and the schemes are considerably more sophisticated in the present day. A set of online opportunities believed by some to be Ponzi schemes are now operating as "high yield investment programs." The idea behind the Ponzi scheme is fairly straightforward, and exploits the basic human tendency towards greed. The scheme then perpetuates itself using envy. ..."
http://skepdic.com/pyramid.html "pyramid schemes, chain letters and Ponzi schemes A pyramid scheme is a fraudulent system of making money which requires an endless stream of recruits for success. Recruits (a) give money to recruiters and (b) enlist fresh recruits to give them money."
and from Wikipedia
Written on 11/24/04 at 16:38:59 GMT by J. Fischer
"Pyramid scheme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pyramid scheme From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. A pyramid scheme is a business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, without any product or service being delivered. Pyramid schemes have been in existence for at least a century. The method of conducting business known as multi-level marketing (MLM), as well as matrix schemes, often closely resembles pyramid schemes. Pyramid schemes come in many variations. The earliest schemes involved a chain letter distributed with a list of 5-10 names and addresses on it. The recipient was told to send a specified small sum of money (typically $1 to $5) to the first person of the list. The recipient was then to remove this first person from the list, move all of the remaining names up one place, and to add his own name and maybe more other names to the bottom of the list. Then he was to copy the letter with new name list to the individuals listed. And hopefully this procedure was to be repeated and pass on and then he would be moved to the top of the list and receive money from the others. ..."
http://www.mlmwatch.org/ MLM Watch "Accurate information about multilevel marketing is not easy to get. Few publishers, editors, and broadcasters are willing to examine this topic in depth. Most reports reaching the public express what the companies and individual distributors would like people to believe. Nearly all MLM companies selling health-related products exaggerate their value, and the vast majority of people who become distributors do not make significant income. ..."
Consumer Information Pyramid Schemes
Written on 11/24/04 at 16:50:54 GMT by J. Fischer
http://www.dsa.org/selling/pyramid.htm Consumer Information Pyramid Schemes " Don't make a costly mistake! Thousands of Americans have lost millions of dollars participating in pyramid schemes. ...
MMF Hall of Humiliation
Written on 11/25/04 at 12:35:26 GMT by mbu
Link http://www.mmfhoh.org/ MMF Hall of Humiliation naming and shaming "Make money fast" fraudsters.
http://www.sangfroid.com/writes/hoaxes.html MAKE.MONEY.FAST and Other Internet Hoaxes "introduction to -- and warning about -- three of the most widely-known Internet hoaxes which never seem to die out. "Hi, my name is Dave Rhodes . . . "
US Post on MLM
Written on 11/25/04 at 12:39:48 GMT by mbu
Multi-Level Marketing US post Multi-Level Marketing Multi-level marketing is a system of selling in which you sign up other people to assist you, and they, in turn, recruit others to help them. ... http://www.usps.com/websites/depart/inspect/pyramid.htm
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