Articles
Would you just give your social security number to a passing stranger?
by Cheryl Baumgartner Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance For those who know me; you know that as far as I am concerned, Any online biz op hiding behind Who Is Guard should be treated as a scam. Especially if the internet is being flooded with affiliate pages for that particular program.Right now there is one that is in my bullseye:
Direct Pay Profits yes I know there are members here promoting it, if you aren't promoting it then you need to think twice!
You see this program claims to pay you in USD So they want you to give them your Social Security number or EIN From Their terms of service:
U.S. based members earning over $600 are required to have a taxpayer ID number of some kind linked to their account, at a minimum a social security number. If inputting a social security number, be sure to use the proper 9-digit format including dashes: 123-45-6789.
DirectPayProfits encourages U.S. based members earning over $600 a year to obtain an IRS issued Employer Identification Number (EIN) to input into your account as a taxpayer ID number. If you do not have one already, you may clickhere to get yours at the IRS web site. Note that this is a free process. The IRS will either provide your number online, or mail it to you. Once you have obtained your EIN please be sure to key it in to your DirectPayProfits account, in this 9-digit format: 12-3456789. This helps to simplify the year-end 1099 reporting requirement.
Note: The taxpayer ID number input to your account must match the payee name on the account. If you are utilizing a business payee name but reporting under an individual social security number, you will need to submit a completed IRS W-9form to us.
Second note: If you are utilizing a U.S. address but are a beneficial resident of a foreign country, you will instead need to submit a completed IRS W-8ben form to us.
Call me crazy but don't identity thieves use Social security numbers to steal identities? Now that statement above is actually factual and yes as an independent contractor they must issue you a 1099. So who exactly are you giving your social security number to? Do you know or are you simply assuming that because that statement is there this is legitimate? I'm going to tell you right now as a Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist, DO NOT GIVE YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER TO ANY PERSON, ORGANIZATION OR ENTITY THAT YOU CANNOT IDENTIFY AND REASONABLY VERIFY THAT THEY ARE WHO THEY SAY THEY ARE!
This means that you need to find out who is behind this and then be able to confirm the information. That is not possible with this 'program'. You are giving your Personally Identifying and sensitive information to an entity that you cannot identify!
Direct Pay Profits claims to be the brainchild of Derrick Van Dyke and Todd Gross. Odd that neither of these men in their own blogs mention this. As a matter of fact neither of these men is even promoting Direct Pay Profits! And Todd gross is supposed to be in charge of the promotion side of things. Does that sound like it's legitimate? Why would someone create a program and not promote it themselves? After all the more people join, the more money they stand to make. Todd Gross is even a semi-celebrity and he's not promoting something that he created??
So what happens when you try to confirm that these men are behind this? Well this is what you get from Whois.net:
Protected by Who Is Guard.
Now why is it that this is 'protected'? Maybe because these two men are not the ones behind this and someone else is? And the someone else behind it is an identity thief. That someone has created a form letter which affiliates are using to promote this and that person claims to be Derrick Van Dyke in that form letter. So what do you think an identity thief is going to do with your social security number?
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About Cheryl Baumgartner 
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
1,142 connections, 69 recommendations, 4,101 honor points.Joined APSense since, May 18th, 2007, From San Antonio, TX, United States.
Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.
Comments
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Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/InsuranceArsenio would definitely have included this one in his list! Mar 19th 2011 10:53 |
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Fred Mugone
 Health, Wellness, e-BusinessThanks for the info Cheryl. I've been seeing this DirectPayProfits being promoted quite heavily on the internet but something.... something just kept telling me that it was a scam. It gave me the creeps the way that Paybox.me scam did. I've just topped up this article and I encourage other visitors to do the same so that this information gets out to as many more people as possible. Mar 19th 2011 11:11 |
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Paul Hines
  LiveGood Health And WellnessI was promoting it myself until I read this and I have to admit you're right and will stop promoting it immediately. Mar 19th 2011 12:31 |
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Paul Hines
LiveGood Health And WellnessI forgot to say that although I trust the source I got this site from and I haven't seen this site on my scam list I'd rather be safe than sorry. Mar 19th 2011 14:27 |
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Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance@Fred Understandable when I saw the site Paybox.me was the first thing that popped in my mind, it practically identical in layout and color scheme, just like VirtuaPay. It also stuck me as odd that both of these programs suddenly appeared when Paybox disappeared. @Paul I saw the form letter first and here were two names and the person posted it is vouching for these two people. Suspicious me (Occupational hazard of 12 years with a police department had to check it out) And yes both Mr Van Dyke and Mr gross are easily found online including their blogs. Neither one of them is promoting this or even mention it. The information is masked by Who is Guard? You don't need a nose like Corporal Klinger to realize that something stinks here! Mar 19th 2011 15:29 |
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Tony P.
 MarketingThanks so much for the info, it gives me great pleasure to know that someone out there is trying to help us watch out for scams. Again, thank you Mar 20th 2011 04:51 |
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Phil Stan
Bloggeryou are very prudent pplcheryl, and I think that we should be same, because internet is full with scum people. Please don't stop to share with us how we can get these type of programs out of our life. Mar 20th 2011 07:08 |
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Phil Stan
Bloggerand I want to add, that you should make your title more clear and to the point. if I'd not have my daily mission to post a comment I'd never read your article, but there are some words what catches my eyes (and probably not only mine) like scam, be aware, or something like that. Mar 20th 2011 07:11 |
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Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance@Tony you are welcome. I'm just naturally suspicious of get rich doing nothing schemes @Phil The title was put that was because these people are asking for social security and EIN numbers and it looks very 'official' as it's worded in the TOS. I wanted people to think specifically about what was going on, that some unknown person(s) are asking for a key piece of identification that is used in committing identity theft. Mar 20th 2011 07:46 |
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Paul Hines
LiveGood Health And WellnessThank God I've learned how to reign in my ego and pride because there was a time I would have become defensive without even checking deeper. I used to take things as personal attacks all the time and I couldn't be more wrong. Mar 20th 2011 11:28 |
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Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance@Paul that is why I try not to attack a person and to point to the red flags in the 'program'. Some people will never let go of their ego and will take it as an attack on them. But as I have said I want someone to tell me I'm about to stick my hand in a hornet's nest not after I get stung! Mar 20th 2011 12:49 |
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Faye Owens
Internet MarketingThank you for sharing this. I did not join the program because it sounded to much like a scam to me. I will only give my ssn to places that I trust, not new programs just coming on line. Mar 21st 2011 13:04 |
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Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance@Deltastarf You're a smart lady! Mar 21st 2011 13:10 |
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Paul Hines
LiveGood Health And WellnessWe can still get caught sleeping at any time and just because I did doesn't make me a dummy. Mar 22nd 2011 08:20 |
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Paul Hines
LiveGood Health And WellnessDon't get me started because I'll start digging and find some dirt on every program, service and product in here. Mar 22nd 2011 08:29 |
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Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance@Paul everyone has been caught before and when someone you trust recommends something you tend to listen. Everyone can be duped-even the people we trust. Mar 22nd 2011 08:33 |
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Paul Hines
LiveGood Health And WellnessCool, I got carried away there, pay me no mind. Mar 22nd 2011 08:38 |
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Fred Mugone
Health, Wellness, e-BusinessCheryl, you put it so well: "everyone can be duped, even the people we trust." Experience is usually a good teacher. As far as business opportunities on the internet go, I also usually tend to do a lot of "listening" to a variety of people. Over here at Apsense, in addition to listening to members, I usually pay a lot of attention to what you (Cheryl) and bjantiques have to say. Both of you have proven to be brutally honest - which is what we need to avoid falling into these scam traps. Mar 22nd 2011 08:47 |
Things that make you go HMMMMM!
Mar 19th 2011 09:42