Are marketers desperate?

I follow a couple big-name marketers and so far they've always sent emails and promotions that were very related to their own content - Internet Marketing.

Recently I was surprised to get two different offers for "coaching/mentoring". They setup a free call to see if you "qualify" for their coaching.

In both cases they ask a couple questions about what you're doing in Internet Marketing so far, etc. Then they want to talk with my wife (who was never available) to make sure she's "on the same page with me" to be a success in Internet Marketing.

Then the rest of the call (or several calls if they don't want to proceed until after my wife speaks with them - I just keep waiting them out and they get around to eventually, that's how salesmen are...) is all about my finances. How much I have in debt, do i have any open credit cards, can I get a loan, etc...

BIG ALARMS START GOING OFF.

In the mean time they gave me their website addresses. When you go look at them they have a bunch of stuff about forex, investing, real estate, etc. I think one blurb on seo. Nothing else even closely related to IM.

When I ask the guys on the phone what their exact plan is for helping me develop my marketing they say they have to pass me on to an account specialist who will help me draw up an exact plan, bla bla bla.

We don't get a lot further than that. They want to know how much money I could afford to invest, talk about OPM principles, and you can start seeing where this is going - they want to take your money and show you how to buy some package of theirs (the lowest of which was $600) and invest some of it (all at your own risk I'm sure).

So I'm thinking marketers must be getting pretty desperate. They can't make money with IM products so they're resorting to sending referrals to these scam artists that have nothing to do with IM.

What do you guys think? Have you seen this stuff before?

Are these guys desperate? Is this stuff legit?