Avoid Money Scams

I wanted to talk for a bit about skepticism. I’ve pointed out the great potential that some work from home scams have to rope you into their web and essentially take your money for free. The same sort of thing can apply to many different aspects of our lives.

Although I disagree with some things about professional skeptics, I did want to point them out as a possible reference when considering how to approach the wildly unfamiliar.

Often when dealing with possibilities, we allow our minds to wander into fantastic realms that truly are impossible. Advertisers use this tendancy, and carefully take us from impossible to improbable to possible to theoretical to probable to certainty. The next thing you know you are giving your hard earned money to a person who is selling you nothing more than a dream.

Think of the Rainmaker (1956). There is no question that Burt Lancaster is playing a con man, but the deep need of the people he preys upon drives them to believe the impossible, even to the point of giving up the few resources they have. Though as an audience it is easy to sit back and scoff at the people being conned, many of us tend fall for the same tricks.

Skeptics spend their lives disbelieving. Though I personally like to believe many things, and in fact to hope for many unproven ideas, I think it is healthy to approach financial matters with a strong dose of skepticism. The fact of the matter is that you only ever get to spend any given dollar one time. If you spend it fruitlessly on some endeavor that will ultimately gain you nothing you won’t get another chance at it. You will have to go back and earn another dollar before you get to spend it.

If anyone asks you for your money, take a moment to understand what you are getting for it. Are they really giving you what they say they are going to give? Can they really give you what they say? Can they prove it? If you are at all uncertain, give it 24 hours. If you’re still uncertain, walk away. You can always go back and spend your money later, but once you’ve spent it you won’t get it back (I don’t care what money-back-guarantee they offer).

This really irks me.  When a person enters a church they are generally expecting to find a place where they can let down their guard a little.  Which is why this type of fraud really bothers me.

 The story is that a New Orleans pastor used the church funds for personal gain.  You can find the complete story here.  It seems that even our sanctuaries are not safe from scam artists.

To be fair, I do not know the individual involved here.  There were certainly pressures involved to drive a person to steal from the congregation.  But at some point the pastor had to realize that this sort of action is wrong.

Which is really the topic of the day.  What makes a person ignore the basics of right and wrong?  Is it simply breaking the law?  Is it deception within the legal boundaries?  Is something okay to do simply because a person can’t be sued, fined or imprisoned for it?

Clearly there are those who believe that something is not wrong even if it is illegal.  Is it okay to break a law just because it is inconvenient or disagreeable?  Is it okay to break a law if nobody gets hurt?

At what point does a person cross the line into behavior that cannot be justified?  How does a person convince themselves that it is okay to defraud others?

One of the great tools that scam artists, and even legitimate advertisers use is the “limited time offer.” Buy now or you’ll never get another chance at it.

This is very dangerous financial thinking, especially if you have limited funds or are unemployed.

In general, if the product isn’t going to be available tomorrow then it probably isn’t something you want to invest in anyway. The message you should be getting is that the salesperson isn’t interested in a long term commitment to you or to the product or service they are offering. What they are really saying is that they aren’t prepared to stand by their offer after today.

So I recommend waiting a day. Let the salesperson give you the details and answer your questions and then say, “I’ll let you know tomorrow.” At this point, expect them to mount the pressure. Why? Because they all know that a very high percentage of customers who decide to wait never make the purchase. Stand firm, and tell them “If your offer is so great then it will still be great in the morning.” Walk away, get a good night’s sleep, and if it still seems like a good deal go ahead with it.

Now don’t let this be confused with a sale or a true limited time offer. By all means, keep your eyes open for bargains, especially for items you buy on a regular basis. If you buy shampoo every week, and you have a chance to buy it at half price, then go ahead and get the shampoo. But if somebody is offering to solve all your haircare problems for life for the low, low price of only $19.19 plus shipping, you may want to think about getting it - tomorrow.

Have you ever noticed how the scam artists seem to crawl out of the woodwork when times are tough?

Having been unemployed a time or two in my life, I can say with certainty that the temptation to get involved with a new “opportunity” is a hard one to resist.

The United States economy is down a bit as of this posting. Employment statistics don’t look good, particularly in the manufacturing sector. It is not your fault that GM and Ford can’t figure out how to make a profit, but you still have to deal with the consequences.

Inflation, a down real-estate market, a trouble stock market all combine to make for leery financial times, especially for those looking for work. Unfortunately my message is not one of hope, but rather a warning.

Stay away from those offers to learn the secrets of wealth overnight. You may see the ads on late night television because you can’t sleep wondering how you’ll pay the bills. Unemployment only covers so much. Remember that those advertisements were paid for by someone who got rich by scamming people just like you.  Work at home opportunities are often only opportunities to lose your hard earned money.

As tough as it may seem, you’ll be better off keeping what little savings you have in the bank where it belongs and consider tyring to live a little more frugally. There are tons of sites out there with great tips on how to save money. The National Endowment for Financial Education is a pretty good place to start. (For clarity’s sake, I am not affiliated with them).

The rough times will pass. There are jobs out there. Manufacturing will recover. The stock market will recover. In the meantime, do your best to keep a smart head on your shoulders and your money away from the scam artists.

There are tons of web hosting options out there. There are many, many excellent choices. Far be it from me to rattle off a list of good ones for fear of offending the ones I miss.

But I do want to say that Host4Profit isn’t one of them. How can I tell? Its pretty simple actually, the $24.95 price tag. Also the fact that you can’t find a reasonable link to their site without first going through the site of yet another money making scam. You know how I found them? Doing research on a site I blogged about before (link here).

Please, do some research. There are dozens of great sites out there that will give you excellent service for under $10.00 a month, and if you haven’t noticed, you can easily get hosted here at google for absolutely free. If you’re a blogger, like me, there is no reason to spend a penny to get your web site hosted, not one red cent. If you’re in the business of making money, then a slightly more professional hosting service may be necessary.

Go to google. Do a search for web hosting, and spend a few hours looking around. Don’t settle on the first one. Don’t settle on the second one. Heck, try giving them a phone call. A business that won’t answer the phone won’t be there when you need them, and the five minutes out of your day it takes to get your questions answered will save you the hours of headaches you’ll run into later.

Do yourself a favor. Take the $24.95 that you were going to throw away on these guys and buy your wife some roses. You’ll still be out the money, but at least your chances of getting lucky will have gone up.

Ok, aside from the fact that their site took FOREVER to load, I’m not terribly impressed. WorkHomeNow.com feels like a scam. The link I came to brought me immediately to a form requesting personal information without so much as indicating the type of “work” involved.

I don’t remember ever going to a job interview where I didn’t at least have some idea of the kind of business the company was involved in, yet here they are telling me they are willing to give me money.

If you followed the link (and I hope you didn’t), then you’ll see the fine print at the bottom “*** This is NOT a Job Posting or Data Entry Work , we are not Hiring Employees ***”

So what gives? Another invest $300.00 to learn the secrets of building your own business, or perhaps (more likely) simply a gimmick to get your email address so they can sell it to the thousands of scam artists out there?

If anyone has used their service, by all means post a comment. Believe me, if you can make all the single moms in the world have an easier life I’m all for it. I know it was rough with my mother working 2 jobs.

Once again, I am amazed at the absolute silliness that people will put out there to try to get your money. I wandered across this site the Plug-in Profit site the other day. I could hardly believe what I was reading.

First of all the presentation was completely unprofessional. Usually the scam artists are smart enough to polish their act. At least they try to put up a good appearance until they get your money. This guy didn’t even bother with that! Just throw some meta-tags on a page and watch the chumps roll in. Forget grammar, punctuation, and proper English. My first impression is that this is a foreign scam artist, not that it matters.

Yep, click on through and you’ll get the usual sob story. I was a washed up [dishwasher, teacher, mechanic, insert your a profefssion here], but then I started this program and became a millionaire. Odd how you don’t see Bill Gates throwing out a story like this. Invent an operating system an in just a few months you too could be worth millions!

In case you’re wondering, I don’t actually recommend you bother clicking through. It is a waste of time and money. Do yourself a favor and find a nice blog somewhere (have you given thought to the blogroll). Then go and put $19.95 into your savings account.