work at home
Steer Clear of these 10 Online Business
Scams
Steering
clear of scams online is pretty simple if you use some common sense. But
there are a few devilish schemes that have bilked many unsuspecting folks
out of their hard earned money.
So today I'd like to share with you the... "Top 10 Scams Online", courtesy of
Audri and Jim Lanford of Internet ScamBusters (tm)
Scams on the Internet are growing -- and with the vast selection, it was hard
to only choose ten. We've tried to soften this list with a bit of humor. But
please don't let the humor make these scams seem any less serious than they
really are.
Some of these scams are very dangerous.
A word of warning, so to speak. These aren't ranked by dollars lost or people
scammed. There's nothing scientific about the list. It's just the ten scams that
we find the most disturbing.
You'll note that most of these involve spam. There's a reason for that. The
mentality of a spammer is exactly the same kind of mindset as a con artist.
As we always say: "If it's spam, it's scam."
Here are the top 10 scams of 2001...
- Herbal Viagra
This is really a whole category of scams, relating to the sale of medical or
"alternative" medical treatments online. Usually using spam to get to the
"customer."
If you're lucky, these products will do nothing at all. Some of them are
seriously dangerous by themselves. They promise cures for life threatening
illnesses, causing those who buy the promise to delay proper medical treatment,
sometimes past the point where it would have helped.
Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before buying into any of these nostrums.
It'll save you a lot of headaches and heartache later.
Folks, consider this: If you wouldn't trust a spammer to handle your money,
why would you take medical advice from them???
- Internet Investigator
"Be the first kid on your block to know all the dirty secrets your
neighbors are hiding! Find out what your prospective mate has hidden in his
past! Find the lost city of Atlantis! Find your lost remote!"
This one is more an annoyance than a real problem. It serves as a great
example of the pure hype that you should watch out for in online advertising.
Filled with promises of secret knowledge that's not available to anyone else,
it delivers nothing more than a list of places you can pay to search for
information. It's the perfect example of a pitch that's not quite a scam -- but
clearly misleads in its promise.
Ask yourself this: If this stuff was as easy as the ads make it out to be,
wouldn't you see these "secret techniques" in magazines and on TV?
- Pump and Dump
You've probably gotten these. The subject line or first part of the email
says that this is "Highly confidential information."
This scam is based on touting "advance information" on specific stocks in an
attempt to drive up the price past its true worth, so the promoters can sell at
the higher price.
They pump it up, and then dump it. Hence the name.
This is generally illegal. And certainly a bad way to get investment
advice...
- Ask yourself
- If it's so confidential, why are they spamming it to millions of people?
- Credit Scams
There are all sorts of these that prey on the desires of people to repair or
establish credit.
The worst are the alleged credit repair services. They promise to help you to
remove accurate but negative information from your credit record, or to show you
how to get a federal Employer ID Number, usually in very questionable fashion.
Not only do these techniques not work, they can get you in deep trouble for
committing fraud.
You're not going to fix your credit while you're in jail.
As far as easy credit, guaranteed approval credit cards, and home equity
loans that don't require equity in your home... forget it.
This one should be obvious: Cheap money? From a BANK???
- Auction Antics
You can get a lot of terrific deals through online auctions, but you need to
be careful. Before buying anything that seems too cheap, or that shouldn't be on
an auction site at all, ask questions.
Look at the seller's feedback rating and comments. You'll get a lot of clues
from that. Check the retail price of the merchandise. If it's new merchandise,
you can probably expect to pay 1/2 to 2/3 of retail, even at auction.
Remember the old story of the fellow who raffled off a brand new Lincoln at a
small town carnival? Tickets were $1 each, and everyone figured they had a good
chance.
He sold a lot of tickets, and, as promised, he delivered a brand new
Lincoln... penny.
- Chain Letters
"Add your name to position X, move the name in
position Y to position Z, send 200 copies of this letter to your closest
personal friends, and very soon you'll have no personal friends left!"
Don't believe the claims about legitimacy, folks. These things are illegal,
immoral, and probably fattening.
- Viruses
Get a good anti-virus program, keep it updated, and keep it running.
Huh? What are viruses doing in the ranks of scams?
They're actually among the more clever of scams, if you think about it.
Deceptive subject lines, hidden code that causes you to spread them to your
friends, and almost always appealing to the most common desires.
- Nigerian Fee Scam
This is an oldie, and a real baddie.
The basic line goes like this:
"I represent some high mucky muck who wants to get
a lot of suspicious money out of my country, and we need help from you to
do it. We'll pay you stupid amounts of cash to be a front person."
The system escalates until you've got money sunk into the scam, and they want
you to visit the country in question in person. There have been people who
played along with this and never made it home alive.
Originally this was focused through Nigeria, but with recent events, you may
hear about Taliban leaders wanting help, or people from other war-torn
countries.
Don't respond to these people in any way. People die falling for this one.
- Identity Theft
This is a VERY serious problem. The bottom line is NEVER give your social
security number to anyone you do not know and trust. Always destroy credit card
solicitations and use common sense with your personal information.
- WTC Scams
The spams relating to the World Trade Center began within an hour of the
attacks. They range from appeals for aid to the victims, usually sent through
the spammers' web sites, to fake news items concerning reported attacks.
There's nothing funny to be said about these.
Don't pass them along, and don't contribute through any site that doesn't
belong to a recognizable charity, such as the Red Cross or the United Way.
When you consider doing any sort of business online, look over this list and see
if the appeal sounds like one or more of these scams. If so, check it out
carefully before sending money.
Most online businesses are run by honest folks and are quite safe. Just use a
little common sense and caution, and you should be fine.
~~~
Thanks again to Audri and Jim Lanford of Internet ScamBusters (tm) Don't get
scammed on the Internet. S
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