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The currency Scam.

I have read many articles about doing your Due Diligence.
However there is one item that I have noticed is never mentioned in the things included to do.

That very important bit of Due Diligence is to look at what currency unit the program is using.

The question is, is it a REAL Currency or something the program owners dreamed up.

In most cases the currency the program refers to will be US$ or in some cases Euro's

However if they refer to xyz$ (xyz often being the name of the program) then they are referring to a fictitious currency which the program owner can change the value of at any time they feel like it.

There are two main scenarios to this type of Scam.


Scenario one

For example lets say our scammer starts a program called MyScam.
Now in the blurb on the site they say
Earn $20 MyScam Dollars per referral
Earn $1 MyScam Dollars per down line member through levels 2 to 5.

What most people will see is the $20 and the $1 they will not register the fact that it is MyScam Dollars and not real Dollars.

The greed factor makes most blind to the qualifying text and only see the $ figures.

The brain goes click click click and figures well if i can get 10 people that will be $200 I will earn.

WRONG

You will be credited with 200 MyScam Dollars which have no real value.

The blurb will tell you you can exchange these MyScam Dollars for certain goods and or services at certain places, often stating that they will have a US$1 for $1 MyScam Dollar value.

So the program suckers in lots of people who in turn sucker more in with the promise of making so much per referral, and so the program membership grows.
Note this is usually done through a pre launch period.

The day of launch arrives (or is a couple of days away) and what happens?

Everyone is told "Sorry we hit a couple of technical snags and we need to get them fixed so we are delaying the launch. Don't worry keep on promoting it just gives you more time to build before we go live".

Now everyone knows that there can be technical snags so no alarm bells go off in any ones head. The members figure oh well we just have to wait a little longer, and keep right on promoting.

This time gives the program owner more time to build their membership base and thus when they go live the potential income from those that decide to upgrade and pay to benefit from ALL the sites facilities, will be greater.

Then comes Payout time. Again a new delay "Sorry but we are having a problem with the payment processor" or "Sorry the payment system is not functioning correctly there will be a short delay"

This short delay could be anything from a couple of weeks to a couple of months with extended excuses being issued as time goes on.

Then the next problem that arises is there are problems with one or other of the companies supplying the goods or services that you can exchange your MyScam Dollars for.

And so it goes on until people wise up and stop paying and pull out, causing the collapse of yet another Scam program.


A second Scenario.

MyScam charges for example US$40 per month membership fee and says it will pay you $20 MyScam Dollars per direct referral and $1 MyScam Dollar per indirect referral through levels 2 to 5. and that the MyScam Dollar is worth US$1 So members promote and build up a nice amount showing in their back office earnings.

Again various delaying tactics are employed. then finally when it looks like everything is set and payment time comes.

Then the truth hits home.

Lets say a member has worked really hard and has a Back office Balance showing of $500 MyScam Dollars

The go ahead is given to request payment. Payments are received but instead of getting $500 as was expected this member gets only $5. just 100th of what they were supposed to get.
The member complains and asks where is the other $495.

The reply received is "You have received full payment $1 MyScam Dollar is equal to US$0.01 therefore $0.01 x 500 is $5.

What the program owner has done is devalue the MyScam Dollar down from US$1 to US$0.01 or 1 cent, and conveniently forgot to announce this although when the member checks their back office they will find in (very) small print somewhere that it says $1 MyScam Dollar = US$0.01.

It is no good trying to fight this either as somewhere in the TOS will be (again usually in very small print) "We reserve the right to change the value of the MyScam Dollar as we see fit. (or some such get out clause)
You agreed to the programs TOS when you Joined, even if you did not read them.

All the program owner has to say is well sorry but things didn't work out as they were planned and we suffered financial losses so had to revalue the MyScam Dollar, and pay out something rather than the members getting nothing.

This makes them appear to have been willing to pay even though they had it planned from day one not to, and they walk away with a nice fat profit and close the site down leaving everyone out of pocket.


There is also a currency scam that has been used with payment processors although I am not aware of any currently operating.

You Should NEVER use any online Payment Processor that does not use real currency.
If they are using what ever fancy name currency unit as their currency this means that they are NOT a registered financial transaction company and are therefore NOT governed by the financial laws of any country.

You are effectively exchanging hard currency for credits, and as described above the credits can be revalued at any time or even declared to have a zero value, thus leaving you out of pocket


Lessons to learn from this are

DO NOT Join ANY program without reading the TOS first.
DO NOT Join ANY Program that is not referring to REAL CURRENCY.