Money for nothing
A few years ago Dire Straits had a hit song called Money for Nothing. This is a concept that has been around as long as well, civilization has been around. There will always be those looking for the easy buck. Scammers know this. Scamming has been around as long as civilization too.
Swindles, Confidence games, Scams and they continue to this very day. They will continue until civilization itself collapses because someone will always be looking for the easy buck. Even with all the knowledge and information on scams available people still fall for it. because they want to believe they will be the one to beat the scam.
How many of you remember the story of Jack and the Beanstalk? Jack got scammed. He sold the family cow for magic beans. The reason scams persist and thrive is people still want to believe that they will find the magic beans. It's not going to happen Jack and the Beanstalk is a fairytale.
No you are not going to get money for nothing. That's the whole basis of the scam and why it works. The scammer leads you to believe that you fill get something for nothing. They are giving you "free" money when you sign up, right? Are they giving you legal tender? No they are giving you 'X' dollars which have absolutely no value at all. Those 'X' dollars have the same value as dog poop. So you have $1000 in your account with the scam program? it's worth just as much as 1000 dog turds on your front lawn.
When you sign up for this program are you giving them information of any sort? Name, email paypal or bank account info? Then don't be surprised if you find yourself a victim of identity theft in the future. You just gave them what they needed to steal your identity.
Are they creating some sort of account in your name? Are they moving money through that account? Where is that money coming from? Legitimate businesses or criminal endeavors? Would you be willing to let the Mafia use you to launder
money made from drug trafficking, arms running or prostitution?
Protecting yourself from scams is not that hard. but like anything else you have to want to do it. Stop listening to the greed impulse:
1.There are no free rides, no money for nothing. If you are getting money you are doing something for that money even if you don't know what it is.
2.If it sounds too good to be true why would you think it is? Too good to be true means exactly that.
3. Find out about the company. Forget the scam and investigate the company. Do they have a corporate website. Meaning do they have a website available that you can look at which is not a signup site, affiliate site etc. I mean a corporate site complete with address and phone number.
4. Does the phone number or address exist? Call the number and see if someone answers or if it is a FAX number. Don't just assume the because someone answers the number is 'good' question them on the company, you may find out that the number is to a residence or a different company that has nothing to do with the scam company
5. Check with the proper authorities such as the FTC or whichever agency oversees consumer protection in your country. If it is a scam or if it is under scrutiny by the authorities you will know.
Unfortunately most people will not do these things. They are going to give into the push of the greed button and sign up for every scam that comes along and worse yet work hard at convincing their friends and family to go along with them. So even if your own sainted mother tells you to join, do your homework first. Your mother could very well be taken in by the scam just like everyone else.
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Comments (33)
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
Now I like that play on words!
Jeff Greene8
Online Marketing Specialist/Consultant
Most of the Hopeful Schemers actually end up in Dire Straits...hmmmmmmmm! :)
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
Thank you Khazars, The new person who gets scammed has their dreams completely shattered and then they become so gun shy that they will label everything a scam, even if it is not.
khazars elena6
seo
You got me at the first sentence with Dire Straits:-)
Very good style of writing.
And even better, text is very usefull for people who are new and in start believe in every internet scam.
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
you are welcome
Rosyel S.10
Financial Advisor, Blogger
Thank you for this. Some very good advice here indeed.
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
@Zac & Thomas I don't why it's such a hard concept to understand. The FTC Estimates that 80% of online Marketing programs are outright scams or unsustainable gotchas
Thomas Jungblut7
Entrepreneur
Nothing really new, but it was about time that somebody put it in words... in Plain English. Thanks for Sharing this, Cheryl.
Zac Josevski14
Internet Marketer
Excellent and very informative article.
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
you are welcome hopefully it will get he stardust out of people's eyes and make them take a critical look at that scam they are all promoting right now
Damodaran K raman7
freelancer
Thanx for this eyeopener.
Expect more.
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
you are welcome
Eddie Wong Lai Huat6
Internet Marketer's
Good information to share. tk
El Houssine Fawzi8
Web Designer
I just hosting my websit and I sweer that i'll not pay for nothing
hhhhh
Thanks ddawi for your efforts
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
@Meghan You would think that would be standard for everyone but people just don't think when the greed button gets pushed.
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
Thanks Pete. You are one of the ones who has been around long enough to have seen scam after scam pop up and die.
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
@David If you google it with the keyword "corporate website" and you get nothing but affiliate links and no corporate site with corporate contact information that pretty much a guarantee that you are dealing with a scam of some sort. Every legitimate business provides a way for people to contact them.
Meghan7
Great points, Cheryl! Do your due diligence before signing up for a program and never give any sort of financial or sensitive information.
Pete Balasch Jr.14
Internet Marketer Pod caster
Great Stuff as always.
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
@Cherryflag & Bronnamdi You are welcome.