Internet scam games are pretty common, even back in the late 80s and early 90s, there were hundreds of them that were rampant. Today, Internet scammers are more prolific than ever and they are preying on people who are smart enough to steer clear of fake product offerings.
But the story remains
Unfortunately, many work at home scams hide behind a cloak of legitimacy. They "claim" to have been highlighted on popular television stations, claim a "relationship" to popular websites and display other signs of being legitimate. Unfortunately, you do have to spend some time digging around these sites to find the "real story".
Taking advantage of bad situations
While it may not be readily evident, when the unemployment rates creep up, more scams tend to rear their ugly heads. This is largely because these con artists depend on people being desperate enough to try anything to get money in their pockets. It's not just work at home scams that seem to get worse, it's a whole host of other scams that become more prevalent including mortgage fraud scams, credit repair scams and even cheap gasoline scams. It never seems to end.
People need something to believe in
I am of the mind that most of us feel that people are good in their hearts. Unfortunately, some of these scam artists actually wind up getting conned by someone else and then sharing their scam with unsuspecting people. I equate this to brainwashing - Remember the old shampoo commercial that was "if you tell two people and they tell two people....and so on and so on....". These scams depend on people to fall for "thin" air and pipe dreams. Some are extremely clever and tell you that you need not worry about spending a red cent.
A new twist on an old scam
Some of you may remember the scam back several years ago that "claimed" to be willing to compensate members for referring other members. The "general" idea was that you signed up for free, you signed others up for free and the site would then "share profits from advertising" with the members.
This scam was taken to entirely new levels when the company launched their site after getting more than 200 million dollars in venture capital funds. The trouble started when members started spamming information about the site all over the Internet promoting the benefits of the program. That program for those who do not remember was All Advantage. You can read the All Advantage Edgar filing and see for yourself what that model looks like. So you see, Internet marketing scams are not new, they've been around at least since then!
People still get conned
Ironically enough, there are still people who get conned into signing up for these types of scams because it's easier to depend on someone else to offer them a "turn-key" way of making money than it
is to find your own way. Let's face it, making money online is HARD WORK and if there is a way to shorten the process, it may be worth pursuing. Add that to the fact that many of these scam artists claim that you pay nothing for their opportunities and presto, you have a ready-made scam.
is to find your own way. Let's face it, making money online is HARD WORK and if there is a way to shorten the process, it may be worth pursuing. Add that to the fact that many of these scam artists claim that you pay nothing for their opportunities and presto, you have a ready-made scam.
The fact is that even if you are not paying anything, you are probably getting their hyped-up emails regularly, they are encouraging you to post about their "opportunity" everywhere you can and chances are that they are probably building up a user base for the potential of adding common revenue sharing such as "AdSense", "Commission Junction" and others. While many of these sites are offering their services free, you can rest assured that there is going to be some "matrix" of who earns and how. Everyone cannot make the same amount!
50% of profits sound good?
Yes, of course it does. But there's a catch even in the language. PROFITS is NET that means after expenses right? So how are you to know (as an affiliate) how much the PROFIT really is? If it's 50% of revenue, that's ok too but how do you know how much revenue is being generated. Then there's the other problem -- If I promise you 50% of revenue on a specific advertisement or page that's not bad. If I made $1.00, you make $.50 right? But, if I promise that 50% of revenue to 50 people then each one of those 50 people get $.01 right? So, you see where the problem lies. You can only dilute a dollar so far before it becomes next to useless.
The final decision is yours
Of course, the final decision of whether to fall for these claims is purely a personal one. We can't protect you from yourself! Remember a few key things about earning money online:
- If it sounds too good to be true - it probably is
- Just because there is no fee involved does not mean it's real
- Scam artists are getting more clever. They are "promoting" their scams through multiple sites and they are also claiming "not a scam <name>" for their own URLs so that the REAL TRUTH is masked behind marketing.
- If the information on how payments are made, who is making payments and where revenue is coming from isn't evident, it might be worth checking into.
- Any claims that are being substantiated without REAL proof are just that - they are claims. Remember, images can be manipulated and just because someone shows you an "image" of their PayPal, bank account or their AdSense revenues doesn't make it real.
It's probably a far-fetched dream to get the Internet free from frauds because some people are always going to look for the easy way out of financial challenges. There is no "easy" way to make thousands of dollars a month online. It takes time, dedication and persistence. If you think that you have found a super simple way, I'm sorry that you're so delusional.
