10 Signs Of Online Money Making Scams

[satrap]

i have seen many people here and else where talk about their experiences with money making scams. lets face it, for every 1 honest marketer out there, there is 100 scammers. so i thought i'd write a quick article that points out some obvies signs of scams that will help specially the beginners. i hope it helps someone save money and time and the most important thing, their motivation! its likeevery time you get scammed, you just want to give up the whole thing. please feel free to add on this list or correct me if am wrong on any of them.
satrap

9 Signs Of Online Money Making Scams!

1. Big Money
This is the biggest sign that should raise your red flag. i mean if a site is promising you $5 for a click on a link, or a program promising you make thousands of dollars in a week or while you sleep, of course its a scam. if it was the case why aren’t they doing it themselves, instead of trying to make money selling you this information?

2. Who Are You
If you cant find any information as to how and who to contact or who is responsible for the site, turn around and don’t look back. an established business always have its contact info up to date and easy to find, because they are not afraid of people knowing who they are or authorities coming after them.

3. Respond Time
Before signing up, contact the site/company, and ask a question or two. usually scammers don’t even bother to answer or respond to any email. or if they do it takes them a very long time to respond. ask your self if they take that long to respond to a question, how long is goanna take them to pay you (if they are going to pay)

4. Over Decorated
Scam sites for some reason tend to use a lot of flashy signs and big bold text. if there is big and colorful text about the amount of money you will make, rather than detailed explanation about how you will make that money, its a scam without a doubt. legitimate companies usually use a simple but elegant design for their site.

5. Testimonial
Most businesses use testimonial which is a good way to promote. but if you pay close attention, you can easily spot the fake ones.
for example, a testimonial about a product that helps you make more money with your site, says ‘”with the help of the x program i have made that much money on my site. regards, bill billy Bill.com – Paperless Online Bill Payment for Business ”. if you check the mentioned site, either it doesn’t exist or if it dose, no body by that name is responsible or have anything to do with the site. although many scammers try to have everything in place, most scam artistes (if you can call them artist) don’t even take the time to at least make sure the testimonial information is right.

6. Too Easy
If its telling you ” Make $2000 A Week, No experience Required, No Work Involved”, ask your self, what kind of job you can make that much money without any experience or spending any time and effort into it? while there are legitimate ways to make that much money in short amount of time, most of them require some experience and hard work, unless you have millions of dollars to put in bank and make money with its interest.

7. Email Offers
If you receive an email from someone you don’t know and its start with “dear friend” or something like that, and starts telling you how he/she knows this is the perfect opportunity for you to make money…. do i need to say anything about this. most people always look for ways to make more money, but i mean how could a stranger know you are looking for a way to make more money at this time, and how would he even know you? sometimes email comes from Nigeria and other places as well.

8. Pay A Fee And Keep It A Secret
What legitimate company that you have worked for before, required you to pay a fee i order for them to give you more detailed information on how to make money? and why would they be afraid if you told someone about this transaction if the company is legitimate?



9. Gut Instinct
The best way to recognize an online money making scam is your ‘gut instinct’. it is a known fact that 99% of the time, what your instinct tells you is the truth. so if you have this feeling of knowing something doesn’t add up or its too good to be true, it probably is. so don’t ignore your gut instinct.



i have removed the gmail thing, since warriors explained some things which made sense and i realized that i was wrong.
this is not aimed at just one industry, its just a general signs for programs from gpt to paid surveys to higher stuff. and please remember this is not presented as proven fact(but 1 thing) and its just from my experience and what i have seen. its not to slam any honest marketer or online money maker.
just my opinion and as i said please feel free to add to this or correct me if i am wrong.

[IdeasThatExcel]

Good info, here is another thing I look at...

If they have several testimonials on the website examine them closely and look for simularity in the use of language. I was looking at a webpage just the other day and for one of the testimonials I thought "that's an unusual sentence structure" and then I noticed a similar pattern in all the other testimonials.

Or if many of the testimonials include the same word when describing something... "my earnings were fantastic", "the earnings possibilites of this system are fantastic", "I've had fantastic results"

[satrap]

Originally Posted by IdeasThatExcel

Good info, here is another thing I look at...

If they have several testimonials on the website examine them closely and look for simularity in the use of language. I was looking at a webpage just the other day and for one of the testimonials I thought "that's an unusual sentence structure" and then I noticed a similar pattern in all the other testimonials.

Or if many of the testimonials include the same word when describing something... "my earnings were fantastic", "the earnings possibilites of this system are fantastic", "I've had fantastic results"

yeah, very good point. and some times you can tell by he style of the writings, each person has its uniques style and scammers sometimes ovrlook this, so if you pay close attention you can see that actually all the testemonials are written by the same person. not to mention that these dats you can buy testemonials online(which i dont get it, if your going to fake it why paying for it, make up some on your own.)

[Emily Meeks]

Another one: some scam artists will ask for your banking info and tell you that they pay through direct deposit. This is a lovely way to clean out your bank account through no will of your own...

[satrap]

Originally Posted by moneysoapbox

Another one: some scam artists will ask for your banking info and tell you that they pay through direct deposit. This is a lovely way to clean out your bank account through no will of your own...

good one, in case if you are trying to get paid from someone.

[SageSound]

This is the 2nd or 3rd time this list has been posted here!

It's just a bogus now as it was the first time.

Some of the points I'd say are "interesting"; but, eg., the use of GMail addresses is on the RISE, for EVERYTHING, not on the decrease. So you're telling the world that if there's a GMail adress there, it's probably a SCAM? Yeah, right.

The truth is, most people either cannot figure out how to set up mailboxes on their own domains, or they just don't bother. So that makes them SCAMMERS, eh?

The rest of these are found in varying degrees in just about EVERY sales letter online.

Which means, basically, that you're saying virtually everybody advertising anything is a scammer!

-David

[mywebwork]

Originally Posted by satrap

lets face it, for every 1 honest marketer out there, there is 100 scammers

So you are saying that over 99% of Internet Marketers are scam artists? Did you just pull this figure out of thin air or do you actually have verifiable evidence to back this up?

With 156,439 members (as of this writing) on the Warrior Forum does that mean that 154,890 of us are scammers? As I've never knowingly scammed anyone in my life I'm hoping that I'm included in the 1549 honest marketers in here!

Your post is well-intentioned and raises a few good points (most of which are obvious), but there are several generalizations that you've made that are not necessarily concrete proof of a scam. By your definition the use of GMail and sites with bold text highlighting earnings claims are all scams, without question. I seriously doubt this to be true, in fact I know that it isn't.

I'd be interested to see if you have any proof that backs up some of these claims - and I'm sure that the other 1548 honest Warriors would be interested as well!

Bill

[jrmnlitt]

Yes, there are people out there that do nothing but scam people but I don't believe its that high. I believe most internet marketers try to give their customer a good product because they know it will get returned if it is junk. You have to look at what people call a scam outside of the out right in your face scams. I believe most people think internet marketers are scammers because them are lazy. I m not saying all but there are alot of people looking for the get rich overnight while I sleep or watch TV dream that isn't real. So they don't put the work into it to see the results that could be life changing. Most people jump from product to product looking for the next headline that catches their attention with out focusing on what they have. Its easier to say something doesn't work than to set down and put in the work to make it happen even if you know it could change your life for the better. I believe its just human nature. With all the information available on the internet today, even if a product was missing or did not explain something in good enough detail but gave you the direction for making money you could more than likely find the information somewhere on the internet(youtube) if you are determined to make it work. This is no excuse to make junk products but what I am trying to say is there is always away and it is usually this one drive that stops most people from making money.

[rwb24]

Your gut feeling is certainly a good indicator and I believe is right 99% of the time. Problem is many people are so desperate the don't want to believe their gut feeling and fall for the scam any ways.

[Profit-smart]

I have to comment on the emails thing; Gmail is VERY popular with pretty much every professional I know.

I usually stick to my @domain.com email, at least when brokering deals and so forth; but I have had lots of really standup guys- with huge networks of site, contact me from Gmail addresses. They have company branded emails; but they just prefer gmail. It makes things more personal I think.

But then your talking about Business@gmail.com, and the people I speak of usually have Myname@gmail.com

[satrap]

Originally Posted by mywebwork

So you are saying that over 99% of Internet Marketers are scam artists? Did you just pull this figure out of thin air or do you actually have verifiable evidence to back this up?

With 156,439 members (as of this writing) on the Warrior Forum does that mean that 154,890 of us are scammers? As I've never knowingly scammed anyone in my life I'm hoping that I'm included in the 1549 honest marketers in here!

Your post is well-intentioned and raises a few good points (most of which are obvious), but there are several generalizations that you've made that are not necessarily concrete proof of a scam. By your definition the use of GMail and sites with bold text highlighting earnings claims are all scams, without question. I seriously doubt this to be true, in fact I know that it isn't.

I'd be interested to see if you have any proof that backs up some of these claims - and I'm sure that the other 1548 honest Warriors would be interested as well!

Bill

where did i say 99% of the marketers are scammers?
i said 99% of the time your gut instinvt are right, which is a proven scientific fact.

ok i looked back and i see what you mean. and yes in that sense i do believe 99% are scammers, but keep in mind i am including the guy from Nigeria who send you an email and wants to transfer you millions of dollars, and every other thing like it as well. so considering how many marketer there are, that 1% is a big population. and my interpretation of scam may be different than others, as i believe if you lie about any part of your product/service to the buyer you are a scammer. i know many justify it by saying "well i have to use that little lie to get them to buy the product which may help them". but to me no matter how big or how small of a lie, its a scam. and believe it or not 99% of the time i count my self as scam also becouse of those little lies here and there. which i try to correct myself when i catch my self. no body is perfect.

[Gene Pimentel]

82% of all cited statistics are made up on the spot and do not provide a reliable reference. Or was that 83%? Or 96%?

[satrap]

if you guys pay attention to what i am saying, i never said this is a concert proven fact, except the gut thing which is a fact. i have respect for everyone who is trying to feed their family with honesty and integrity, just like many great warriors. although in my life i am always seeing the full half of the glass, but when it comes to this i can not close my eye, i am sorry to say this, i do believe there are more scammers than honest people. about the gmail thing i get your point and i am wrong on that. about the list being obvies, don't we know a lot of simple things but since they are simple and ordinary we forget about them until someone remind us of that? that's the whole points. and please don't say "so you believe most warriors are scammers?" when did i say such thing. and don't forget that i didn't put a big old sign up there saying its all fact. its just simply some warning signs specially for beginners like my self.

another point i want to make is, when you arrive on a sales page or whatever you call it, and it says "this is the last day(last minuet, last hour...) you can get this for this price" and you go back 2 weeks later and it still says the something, isn't that scam?

paying someone to give you a fake testimonial(which i have seen on many forums, thank fully not here) and putting it on your sales page, isn't that scam?

telling people you will get this, this and this when you pay, but when they buy it, there is no sign of mentioned stuff, isn't that scam?

when sales page says "you can easily (with the word "easily" being bold and colorful and the high point of the sentence ) make this much money" and the seller in his heart knows its not really easy, isn't that scam?

i can go on and on about it. but the fact is trying to justify your acts by saying hey i put small prints on the bottom that explain this and that, or hey the massage says this but i didn't use this exact word... its all that, justifying it.



if i said something that hurt any honest worriers feeling, i am so sorry, that wasn't my intentions. i have learned many great things on this forum and since i believe people on this forum are sincere and honest, this is the only forum that i am really active in between 7 other forums that i used to participate. so i am not pointing fingers at people, its just a general warnings for beginners like my self. i hope i made sense and i hope there is no hard feeling between us. i am sorry i have seen so many people bean cheated and scammed that its just hard. you know i just wish people were more honest and money wasn't the center of our attention. i know we all have bills to pay but ....

[satrap]

Originally Posted by Gene Pimentel

82% of all cited statistics are made up on the spot and do not provide a reliable reference. Or was that 83%? Or 96%?

i am sorry i don't understand why you guys think i am saying these are facts? i pointed these things as a general warning signs to be aware of. when did i say anything about this having a concrete evidence and its a proven fact?
again i am not selling facts here, its just from my experience and its to serve as a general warning signs to keep in mind.

[Gene Pimentel]

when did i say anything about this having a concrete evidence and its a proven fact?

Relax... your post is a very good checklist of what to watch for. My comment was just in fun. But since you asked... here's where you claimed proven fact:

"i said 99% of the time your gut instinvt are right, which is a proven scientific fact."

Again, no need to get upset. Your post is very helpful.

[satrap]

Originally Posted by Gene Pimentel

Relax... your post is a very good checklist of what to watch for. My comment was just in fun. But since you asked... here's where you claimed proven fact:

"i said 99% of the time your gut instinvt are right, which is a proven scientific fact."

Again, no need to get upset. Your post is very helpful.

i am sorry if i sonded rude. but i mentioned above answeing another comment about the only time when i said its a fact about the gut instinct, which its a fact.
i hope i am not being so rude to people. please forgive me if i am being rude or unfair unintentionally. its just i am so emotional about these, i hate to see people get scammed.

[da1fitz]

Hey don't take the comments to heart mate...

I personally think /actually am pretty sure that anyone subscribed to the warrior forum is\are genuine marketers selling genuine content, but also think that the WF subscribers probably make less than 1% of the entire IM arena - therefore what you say about the scammers makes lots of sense...

[Bebebun]

Even in the world of Internet marketing, common sense still reigns supreme. You should apply the same precautions you will take in the real world and investigate products and services that you want to buy. Always check to see if there is a return policy and other contact information apart from the e-mail address provided.

[satrap]

Originally Posted by Nathan Segal

Unfortunately, there are a lot of scams online and get rich quick methods. What few people seem to realize is that with the exception of the odd home run from one shot, building a successful business requires a consistent amount of work. Short cuts quite often lead to disaster.

i agree, at the same time though i think part of the problem comes from people who believe you can make tons of money quickly and easily with no hardwork or no nothing and they go on a hunt to find it, which of course tempt many people to take advantage of it and sell them garbage.

[3vmarketing]

Originally Posted by satrap

i have seen many people here and else where talk about their experiences with money making scams. lets face it, for every 1 honest marketer out there, there is 100 scammers. so i thought i'd write a quick article that points out some obvies signs of scams that will help specially the beginners. i hope it helps someone save money and time and the most important thing, their motivation! its likeevery time you get scammed, you just want to give up the whole thing. please feel free to add on this list or correct me if am wrong on any of them.
satrap

9 Signs Of Online Money Making Scams!

1. Big Money
This is the biggest sign that should raise your red flag. i mean if a site is promising you $5 for a click on a link, or a program promising you make thousands of dollars in a week or while you sleep, of course its a scam. if it was the case why aren’t they doing it themselves, instead of trying to make money selling you this information?

2. Who Are You
If you cant find any information as to how and who to contact or who is responsible for the site, turn around and don’t look back. an established business always have its contact info up to date and easy to find, because they are not afraid of people knowing who they are or authorities coming after them.

3. Respond Time
Before signing up, contact the site/company, and ask a question or two. usually scammers don’t even bother to answer or respond to any email. or if they do it takes them a very long time to respond. ask your self if they take that long to respond to a question, how long is goanna take them to pay you (if they are going to pay)

4. Over Decorated
Scam sites for some reason tend to use a lot of flashy signs and big bold text. if there is big and colorful text about the amount of money you will make, rather than detailed explanation about how you will make that money, its a scam without a doubt. legitimate companies usually use a simple but elegant design for their site.

5. Testimonial
Most businesses use testimonial which is a good way to promote. but if you pay close attention, you can easily spot the fake ones.
for example, a testimonial about a product that helps you make more money with your site, says ‘”with the help of the x program i have made that much money on my site. regards, bill billy Bill.com – Paperless Online Bill Payment for Business ”. if you check the mentioned site, either it doesn’t exist or if it dose, no body by that name is responsible or have anything to do with the site. although many scammers try to have everything in place, most scam artistes (if you can call them artist) don’t even take the time to at least make sure the testimonial information is right.

6. Too Easy
If its telling you ” Make $2000 A Week, No experience Required, No Work Involved”, ask your self, what kind of job you can make that much money without any experience or spending any time and effort into it? while there are legitimate ways to make that much money in short amount of time, most of them require some experience and hard work, unless you have millions of dollars to put in bank and make money with its interest.

7. Email Offers
If you receive an email from someone you don’t know and its start with “dear friend” or something like that, and starts telling you how he/she knows this is the perfect opportunity for you to make money…. do i need to say anything about this. most people always look for ways to make more money, but i mean how could a stranger know you are looking for a way to make more money at this time, and how would he even know you? sometimes email comes from Nigeria and other places as well.

8. Pay A Fee And Keep It A Secret
What legitimate company that you have worked for before, required you to pay a fee i order for them to give you more detailed information on how to make money? and why would they be afraid if you told someone about this transaction if the company is legitimate?



9. Gut Instinct
The best way to recognize an online money making scam is your ‘gut instinct’. it is a known fact that 99% of the time, what your instinct tells you is the truth. so if you have this feeling of knowing something doesn’t add up or its too good to be true, it probably is. so don’t ignore your gut instinct.



i have removed the gmail thing, since warriors explained some things which made sense and i realized that i was wrong.
this is not aimed at just one industry, its just a general signs for programs from gpt to paid surveys to higher stuff. and please remember this is not presented as proven fact(but 1 thing) and its just from my experience and what i have seen. its not to slam any honest marketer or online money maker.
just my opinion and as i said please feel free to add to this or correct me if i am wrong.

Thanks for posting this...
For sure lot of people could fall into such scam especially nowadays that it hard to earn money and there are lots of people are seeking job...
Again thanks a lot!!!

[George Wright]

Hi,

My gut instinct tells me that my gut instinct your gut instinct or anyone else's is not right or wrong or anything else 99% of the time and any gut instinct I have should be proven by further investigation. That is why many successful people from Internet Marketers to Scientists say "Test, test, test, research and test some more."

I respect your "thoughts" and opinions on the matter and it is a well written article. However, it is presented as facts not opinion and there are people who could disprove just about any point you make as "Fact," if opinion it's yours and you have rights to it and thats OK.

There are people who make money while the sleep, making $5 a click and thousands of dollars. And so on.

George Wright

[showbizvet]

Excellent post and valuable information for all.. especially us that are looking for opportunities. I will admit to falling victim to more than one hype artist over the years, wish I had this post then... Or as the as the expression goes... "Wish I knew then, what I know now."

[palmdale]

very good post, but how can find useful information from real thing from vritual ones.

[Torreylee]

Originally Posted by satrap

i am sorry i don't understand why you guys think i am saying these are facts? i pointed these things as a general warning signs to be aware of. when did i say anything about this having a concrete evidence and its a proven fact?
again i am not selling facts here, its just from my experience and its to serve as a general warning signs to keep in mind.

I understood your post perfectly well and agree with most of it, especially the broad claims of big money and the fake testimonials that cannot be authenticated. Good post bro, no worries.

[Fazal Mayar]

Good post, I think there are thousands and thousands of online scams, we just have to pay attention! Just investigate the owner and the site of the offer and you should avoid a lot of scams!

[The Niche Man]

Scams are on the rise (that's a fact), so anything someone can do to help others avoid them is helpful.

Plus, it helps keep more people buying on the net for all of us to market to ... instead of quitting because they got scammed once.

Marketers who give fanatical customer service helps everyone, those who don't - or does just enough to get by hurts everyone.

Think About That.