Articles
Victim or scammer?
by Cheryl Baumgartner Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance Almost everyone has fallen victim to a scam at one point or another. There are so many scams out there that we can't avoid them all. I know I have been scammed. I used to be a good mark for the street corner peddler. Yep most of them are scammers. That dirty raggedy homeless vet is not always what he seems. He might just be driving a Porsche while you are driving a Honda. But among those scammers is the homeless vet looking for a little money for his next meal. Point is I'm sure I have given a dollar to the guy driving the Porsche somewhere along the line, that made me the victim of a scam.However when it comes to online marketing it's not so clear. People fall victim to scammers online who create these 'programs'. They join and they become a victim. The problem is that many of them soon join the ranks of the scammers themselves. People fall for the to good to be true(that should tell you something all by itself) hype and get sucked in. Okay you are a victim at this point because only you have been scammed.
Then you promote the scam yourself and someone joins this program through your affiliate link. You have now become a scammer yourself. You have helped to scam someone else. It's even worse when people are pointing to the scam, denouncing it and directing to the information that indicates it is a scam because you have now gone from inadvertently scamming someone to willfully scamming them.
Maybe you are just trying to recoup your losses, someone else is losing for you to do so. You are willfully defrauding someone and that is a criminal act. There will be repercussions for you. Maybe you will be lucky and manage to stay under the legal radar but your reputation is now in tatters. Everyone around you sees you promoting the scam when the evidence points to it being a scam. Who is going to trust you now? Only your scam buddies who were promoting it right along with you. maybe the newbie that wasn't around to see your promoting the scam but the community around you sees what you are doing. That is going to jump up and bite you on the rear end from now own.
So is it worth it? Some victim's take a different route. When they realize they have been scammed they will warn others. That is also seen and noted. When they realized that they were a victim they tried to prevent others from being victims. Those are the ones who will be trusted.
Sponsor Ads
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
|
Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/InsuranceThat is why here in the US You can be arrested indicted and convicted of promoting scams. people are getting caught all the time Oct 16th 2010 10:50 |
|
Cindy Bolley
 HHCTB?It is not only your business but it is also your reputation. I always try my very best to take care of BOTH. Good stuff Cheryl Cindy Oct 16th 2010 10:52 |
|
|
Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/InsuranceMost of us who are serious marketers are very careful of our reputations. What do the scammers care. the creators of the scams are hiding behind who is guard type programs. when scam A gets shut down and the people promoting it face the music, the creators just disappear for a minutes change the name of the scam and bring it back as scam B to shaft a whole new group of people. and of course the promoters who did not get caught with scam A jump all over scam B now once again promoting some idiotic cannot possibly survive scam to others. Oct 16th 2010 10:58 |
|
Dawie Bezuidenhout
Systems Engineer I.T.Just this past week a couple of people got sentenced 12 years here in South Africa. It is a case that took 8 years to conclude. Now the interesting fact is the main culprits lost their assets and got jail time, and some of the early investors that got money back and promoted it was treated in the same manner. I am 100% for this, the harsher the law deals with these individuals the better the chances are of ridding society of these types. Oct 16th 2010 11:06 |
|
Cyn S.
 Our Food As Medicine, Health and Wellness BloggerI'm new to all of this online marketing stuff, but I'm learning fast. There is a website for legitimate mlm or direct sales business opportunities for people who are looking for some help here. Has anyone ever heard of DSA.org? It give real businesses the opportunity to be recognized as an honest business effort, sort of like Better Business Bureau. Although, not all new opportunities are listed, so sometimes you are still shooting in the dark I guess. Oct 16th 2010 11:23 |
|
|
Cyn S.
Our Food As Medicine, Health and Wellness BloggerI guess you can post links here. Oh well the organization name is Direct Selling Association. www dot dsa org Oct 16th 2010 11:24 |
|
|
Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/InsuranceYes direct selling association is a good site to check if you are looking at an MLM opportunity but like with everything else you do have to be careful. It sometimes takes complaints for them to recognize that something is a scam. Oct 16th 2010 11:29 |
|
Philippe Moisan
Tutorial videos, sci-fi writerI thought I had registered to a real good program with Paid In Seconds. It did sound too good to be true. After getting to 10 positions, I decided to stop reinvest and withdraw some money, and it worked. So, there was my proof. Then, a week later, it stopped earning, they said there were problems with the site, it would be back on its feet soon. A few days later, my sponsor sent me an email asking to register to phase 2 of Paid In Seconds, that if I had any people in my downline, they would still be there. The so-called 2nd phase was a 2nd site. On that new site, I was back to square one for positions. He recommended I start buying positions to make money, that the 1st site would be back soon. This was a red alert for me. I told me it sounded fishy, he responded he had made $700 with the 1st site. I kept saying I hesitated, it sounded like a scam, he kept saying "It's an exciting opportunity", I unsubscribed from his list. There's no way I will put a cent in that "phase 2" thing. You know what ? 3 weeks later, the 1st site still hasn't earned me one more cent. I was right to be suspicious. Oh well, I have about $250. Sigh... Oct 16th 2010 11:34 |
|
|
Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/InsuranceI'll bet you don't promote it anymore either. It's the people who keep promoting these scams that make the scammers money. Most people just don't want to believe that too good to be true means just that. Oct 16th 2010 11:52 |
|
|
Cyn S.
Our Food As Medicine, Health and Wellness BloggerThat's a true pyramid scam isn't it, when there is no product or service? Oct 16th 2010 12:07 |
|
|
Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/InsuranceYes Nifty that is the normally the case either no product or a cheap product not worth the value of what is being paid Oct 16th 2010 14:36 |
|
Chuck Bartok
Veteran Entrepreneur now SharingWe have always made money the old-fashioned way. Provide buyers with quality products they need and want. Scammers succeed because most people buy what they WANT and not what they need. Oct 16th 2010 17:05 |
|
|
Andy Anderson
Owner Yuma BloggersLegally the point one becomes a scammer in the eyes of the law is at the point they have a knowledge that something is wrong. You can join and promote unaware but when someone says it's a scam here is why and show proof to the claim and you continue you are now guilty of collusion. If you talk to the spammer and get talking points to deny the legit claim and thus help cover up the scam complaint, things like these sites that say Kooday is a scam but then give a sales pitch about it not being a scam because you go paid, or Brian is such a nice guy on the phone, instead of addressing the law. These things will add another felony charge to your rap sheet called Conspiracy to commit fraud. Most of the time the scammer lives in non extradition countries like Singapore, Nigeria, the Philippines, etc.. so the only people federal authorities in your country can snag are people like you. Oct 16th 2010 21:25 |
|
|
Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/InsuranceThat is so true and there is 10 women in Arizona that will back you up on that since they were all arrested/indicted and convicted for promoting either the Women empowering Women scam or the Dinner party scam. And there are still women out there who will promote this and defend it even when it comes with jail time. Believe me after working for a police dept and seeing how the system works; If they can't get who they want, they WILL take who they can get. Oct 16th 2010 22:56 |
|
Bhavar Singh Rathore
 affiliate marketerI am the victim of the scam called PTR and 99% of the PTR (Paid to Read) Admins are scamsters. Beware of this cheat bots and keep away from this scamsters. Oct 16th 2010 23:50 |
|
|
Cheryl Baumgartner
Medical Billing/Coding/InsuranceI know many people who have been caught with the pay to read scam. Oct 17th 2010 00:01 |
|
|
This is what they don't seem to realize, they are the reason the SCAM is successful because they promote it as if their life depended on it.
If some of these guys can just put half the effort in to promote something that is legit, they will actually make some real money.
Oct 16th 2010 10:44