Make Money Online Scams
I’m approaching this post with a bit of trepidation. The thing is I think there are a lot of ‘make money online scams’ being perpetuated and sucking in hapless newbies and desparate everyday folks, but it’s hard to be specific without flirting with the possibly of getting into trouble and finding myself looking for a lawyer. For this reason I’ve decided not to ‘name any names’, but to describe some of the more general things to look out for if you’re trying to learn about online business. I hope that these pointers can keep you out of hot water and help you to stay focussed on the things that work on the internet so that you can succeed.
The thing about the internet is that it is an easy place to commit scams. People have no idea who they are dealing with when they visit a website or get an email and so the anonymity enables unscrupulous people to prosper. Add to that the ease of contacting people online and the necessity of using credit cards and you’re staring at a recipe for disaster. There is also the fact that a lot of people, particularly in these tough and worrying economic times are looking for new ways to earn additional income. They are often desparate and desparation and money troubles make people ripe for being conned.
These scams usually go something like this:
Would-be entrepreur or financially troubled citizen wander onto the internet and start searching in Google for terms like, ‘how to make money online’, ‘work from home’, ‘make money fast’, ‘easy ways to make money’ or any number of phrases that you could think of along those themes. Not knowing anything about legitimate internet business practices and being desparate for money they aren’t held back by thoughts of hard work, planning and risk (as illustrated in particular by search phrases like ‘make money fast/easy/free/quick/today/now!’) This is a telltale sign that is picked up by scammers who prey on the needy and naieve.
Next, a list of websites is presented in the search results and the hopeful surfer starts clicking wildly looking for that get rich quick opportunity that promises instant success for no effort. They see headlines like ‘I earned $80,000 in one month – anyone can do it’ and they get sucked into some very powerful sales copy and before they know it they are pulling out their credit card and handing over their cash with the confidence of ‘knowing’ that they are ‘guaranteed’ to get a return on their investment so quickly that they aren’t even going to have to worry about paying that credit card bill next month. They’ll be rich by then. Of course, what they have probably purchased is an ebook or training program that will show them the way to great success – but only after much work and commitment, or something that simply promised a lot but didn’t deliver.
These make money online scams are somewhat subtle and really rely on people being able to be manipulated by marketing techniques into believing the hype surrounding a product. In short, they forget that something that is too good to be true really is. Making money online requires work and dedication along with specialised knowledge of the internet, business practises, marketing and in many cases technical aspects of web design, autoresponders and graphic design. It isn’t easy to make money on the internet and more than that, it often takes money to make it. This can be a real obstacle that the uninitiated don’t comprehend before they’ve started buying internet marketing products.
In exceptional cases our would-be entrepreneur stumbles onto something more sinister. These guys usually don’t find their way into one of the scams above from a search engine – where the results usually consist of legitimate – if overly hyped up – marketers. They find their way into trouble via another website (probably a dodgy porn site) via a banner ad or pop-up or from clicking a link in a spam email. This is where people really get themselves into strife. There is simply no telling what sort of problems can arise from giving your credit card to a site that doesn’t even have the professionalism to get listed in the search engines, but relys on flashing banners in the internet’s red light districts to lure in the unsuspecting. Everything from credit card charges with no refund ability through to full-blown identity theft have happened to these unlucky souls.
The best thing to remember with make money online scams is that the old cliche, ‘there’s no such things as a free lunch’, applies on the internet just like it does everywhere else. If it was really easy to make $80,000 per month then everyone would be doing it by now. The fact that they’re not, and you’re not already doing it means that there must be a catch. It will either require hard work, an investment of significant time or money, specific knowledge that is difficult to acquire or it is simply a bald faced lie and a scam.
For anyone new to the idea of making money online who is ready thing – STOP. Take a second and decide whether you are really willing to commit to an online business rather than a get rich scheme. It is only through a methodical, systematic, planned and well executed business model that you can succeed in any degree online and make money. It may take you months or years before you will see a cent, and then you are likely to be making so little that the affiliate or advertising networks that you are working for won’t be paying you for months more until you have met their minimum payment and processing requirements. And you are going to have to do a lot of research and learning.
If you’re still interested and want to go ahead – STOP. Make one more commitment with me now. Promise yourself that you won’t spend one red cent on ebooks, training programs, networks, forums or anything else until you have spent six months reading every little tiny bit of free information that you can find. And there is a LOT OF IT! Set up a free email account at Gmail and start signing up for the free ebooks and training courses that you get on a lot of internet marketing sites and read every blog, forum and article that you can find. They are all free and the sum total of the information available in these resources is infinitely greater than what you could even hope to find at the end of a $97 credit card transaction. Then, once you’ve digested the free stuff, you will know what kind of additional knowledge or tools you require to make the progress you want to make and if you’re lucky you’ll be making some money that you can put towards it.
This is how you avoid the make money online scams.
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