Scam-5: Pyramids and Multilevel Marketing (MLM)

The pitch is that you will make money by paying to participate in the program and recruiting other to join. But if it's really pyramid, you and your family friends will lose money, not make it.

• Plans that promise profits mainly for recruiting new members are illegal pyramid schemes. In legitimate multilevel marketing plans, profits come primarily from selling goods and services to consumers.
• Be cautious about emails for money-making opportunities. Many unsolicited emails are fraudulent.
• Be aware that some pyramids are disguised as “gifting clubs”. New recruits give money to current members with the promise that they will receive money from future recruits.
• Know that all pyramids are doomed to collapse. That’s because it’s impossible to keep on getting fresh recruits who will pay to participate.
• Legitimate multilevel marketing plans only succeed if they offer products or services that customers want. All successful businesses depend on repeat sales. If there isn’t constant demand for the products or services, the business will fail.
• Sales to other distributors don’t count. Legitimate multilevel marketing plans aren’t based on sales to distributors. Profits should come from sales that you and any distributors under you make to the end-users.
• Be wary of big earnings claims. No one can guarantee how much you’ll make. That depends on how hard you work and whether consumers like your products or services. Many people who work in multilevel marketing do it part-time to supplement their other income.
• Check it out before you commit. Print out all the information, and contact your state or local consumer protection agency for advice. In some states, multilevel marketing companies must register with the government and comply with other requirements.
• Don’t buy more supplies than you need. Some fraudulent companies try to force distributors to pay for more products than they can reasonably sell.

Scam-4: Nigerian Money Offers

Is there someone who recently contacted you from Nigeria or other African Country and offered transfer of millions of dollars to execute someone's will or close back account? All you to do is to help transfer money, diamonds, or other riches to you bank account for safe-keeping. It sounds like a dream come true. In reality - its a Nightmare

• Be aware that these scams are well-known. They used to be called “Nigerian letters” because they came by mail, but now these messages also come by phone, fax, or email.
• These promises are never true. The purpose of the scam is to get money out of your bank account, not to put money into it.
• Once you are on the hook, they’ll never let you go. You will be asked for a never-ending series of payments for “transfer fees,” “legal expenses,” and other bogus costs.
• Be wary of offers to send you an “advance” on your “commission”. Some con artists use this ploy to build trust and to get money from your bank. They send you a check for part of your “commission,” instructing you to deposit it and then wire payment to them for taxes, bonding, or some other phony purpose. The bank tells you the check has cleared because the normal time has passed to be notified that checks have bounced. After you wire the money, the check that you deposited finally bounces because it turned out to be an elaborate fake. Now the crooks have your payment, and you’re left owing your bank the amount that you withdrew.
• Don’t believe photographs of the “treasure”. One common ploy is to tape money around a block of wood or bundles of paper to make it look like a large amount of currency. Sometimes the crooks even sprinkle harmless powder on the money and tell victims that it’s a toxic chemical used to protect it. Then they offer to sell a special substance to remove the powder!
  Never provide your bank account or other financial information. This information can be used to withdraw money from your account.
• Don’t agree to travel anywhere to meet these people. They avoid coming to the United States because they fear arrest. Instead, they sometimes try to lure victims to meet them in Africa or other countries. Victims have been robbed and even murdered.
• Remember that these are hardened criminals. According to the Secret Service, these crooks use the money they make on this scam to finance other illegal activities such as drug dealing and credit card fraud.
• If they get your money, you’ll never get it back. It’s very difficult to bring these crooks to the United States for trial, and action is rarely taken against them in their own countries. However, it’s still helpful to report actual or attempted Nigerian money offer scams to law enforcement agencies.

Scam-3: Business Opportunities and Franchises

This is most common scam we see around us. The Ad promises that you can be your own boss and make big profits within few days. You will be also shown some good videos with some paycheck/ payments summary sheets. It sounds good, but the person is actually trying to steal money and has not intension at all to help you in earning money. Actually you will land-up in earning money for him, believe me

• Don’t believe claims that you can make money with little or no effort. It takes hard work to run your own business, and no one can guarantee how much profit you’ll make.
• Be cautious about emails offering business opportunities. Many unsolicited emails are fraudulent.
• Get information in writing before you decide. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Franchise Rule requires franchise and business opportunity sellers to give you detailed written information, called the “disclosure document,” at least 10 days before you pay any money or agree to purchase. There are some exceptions. If the company claims to be exempt from the Rule, call the FTC toll-free at 877-382-4357 to check.
• Talk to current owners. The written information that sellers must provide includes the names, addresses, and phone numbers of people who have already purchased the franchise or business opportunity. Ask them if their experiences matched what the company promised.
• Investigate earnings claims. If the company makes any claims about how much you are likely to make, it must give you written information about the number and percentages of owners who have actually made those profits.
• Do some research. Check at your local library or bookstores for publications about how to run a business. For free brochures about franchises and business opportunities from the FTC, call the toll-free number above or go to http://www.ftc.gov./
• Don't be pressured. Demands that you act immediately are danger signs of fraud.
• Get everything in writing. The contract you are asked to sign should include all the terms of the deal and the promises that were made.

Get Professional advice. Going into business yourself is a major undertaking, even if the company offers to help. Review the contract with an attorney, and ask an accountant to look over the finances. Paying for professional advice now could save you from big losses later

Scam-2: Rebate Processor

Hi Readers

You might get tons of mails stating that you can make $100-$300 per day working part time as a Rebate Processor.

Rebate Processor jobs are the latest home based business craze. It is flooding the internet sites, and as with all crazy schemes, there is a lot to watch out for. There are several companies that claim that they can set you up with a job processing rebates at an amazing wage of $15 per completed rebate. They also claim that they number of client and looking for last 150 positions to be filled-up and there is no shortage of work. So do these Rebate Processor Jobs really exist...?

These programs sound like as if it’s a legitimate work and pays handsome money to anyone and everyone who has average brain. But unfortunately just like with the majority of data entry programs they are all smoke and mirrors. After you pay for their memberships of around $39-$75 you do not get access to a list of companies in need of home workers.
What these Rebate Processing programs offer is nothing more than a clever twist on what the data entry programs have been doing for years. They simply tell you to start marketing digital products online and offer a rebate on them

So for instance, if an eBook is selling for $50 with an affiliate program that pays 50% commission they advise you to offer a rebate in the neighborhood of ten bucks. Thus, if you get a sale you make 25 - 10 with a profit of 15 dollars

Some of them also make it clear in the beginning, which most of us forget to understand, that its just a Certification Program. Now there is not such Certification Required for Rebate Processing. Please understand most of the Rebates are processed by company staff itself. There are separate departments to work on this. The customer information is always confidential and none of the companies will allow outsiders to access it just for sake of making data entry.

Another honest feedback - some companies do outsource the rebate work. However, in order to attract customers to your rebate proposal you will have to advertise on the major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This advertising is done on a cost per click basis and if you follow the system you should be prepared to invest several hundred dollars into this.

So basically, you're not paying for a Rebate Processor job but for a sales strategy that can be applied to affiliate marketing. It is possible to make money with this method but it requires money to invest as you will be paying close to one dollar every time somebody clicks on your advertisement. Within one day this can quickly add up to you spending $40 - $60 if you don't know what you're doing.

It is possible to make money with this method but it requires money to invest as you will be paying close to one dollar every time somebody clicks on your advertisement. Within one day this can quickly add up to you spending $25 - $100 if you don't know what you're doing.

Scam-1: Work from Home

Hi Readers

Most of us are getting regular mails with subject lines/ Contents as

• Work at Home/ Work from Home
• Work for Moms
• Home Based Business
• Get Rich by working from Home

Believe me, they all are 100% Scams. DO NOT BELIEVE THEM.

This is just one big scam! I can't believe those guys are still out there selling this B.S. to people. If you are not fimiliar with those type of programs then here is how it works: You pay them $49 - Then they tell you to go and post ads on Adwords without any real explanation. So after you follow what they tell you to do, you end up out of your initial $40-$100 plus whatever you spent on Google Adwords. We all know it's possible to make money with Google AdWords, but if you don't know how then most likely you will loose a lot of money

I have earnest request to all the Readers - please do not get caught into these SCAMS. There is no single easy way to make money online and that too overnight. Its a scientific game of internet marketing, which is not at all meant for us

Better stay away from all this and go to your office everyday. Making money sitting at home by doing nothing is just next to impossible dream

Remember following:

• Know who you’re dealing with: The company may not be offering to employ you directly, only to sell you training and materials and to find customers for your work
• Don’t believe that you can make big profits easily: Operating a home-based business is just like any other business – it requires hard work, skill, good products or services, and time to make a profit
• Be cautious about emails offering work-at-home opportunities. Many unsolicited emails are fraudulent
• Get all the details before you pay: A legitimate company will be happy to give you information about exactly what you will be doing and for whom
• Find out if there is really a market for your work: Claims that there are customers for work such as medical billing and craft making may not be true. If the company says it has customers waiting, ask who they are and contact them to confirm. You can also ask likely customers in your area (such as doctors for medical billing services) if they actually employ people to do that work from home
• Get references for other people who are doing the work: Ask them if the company kept its promises
• Be aware of legal requirements: To do some types of work, such as medical billing, you may need a license or certificate. Check with your state attorney general’s office. Ask your local zoning board if there are any restrictions on operating a business from your home. Some types of work cannot be done at home under federal law. Look for the nearest U.S. Department of Labor in the government listings of your phone book
• Know the refund policy: If you have to buy equipment or supplies, ask whether and under what circumstances you can return them for a refund
• Beware of the old “envelope stuffing” scheme: In this classic scam, instead of getting materials to send out on behalf of a company, you get instructions to place an ad like the one you saw, asking people to send you money for information about working at home. This is an illegal pyramid scheme because there is no real product or service being offered. You won’t get rich, and you could be prosecuted for fraud
• Be wary of offers to send you an “advance” on your “pay”: Some con artists use this ploy to build trust and get money from your bank. They send you a check for part of your first month’s “pay.” You deposit it, and the bank tells you the check has cleared because the normal time has passed to be notified that checks have bounced. Then the crook contacts you to say that you were mistakenly paid the wrong amount or that you need to return a portion of the payment for some other reason. After you send the money back, the check that you deposited finally bounces because it turned out to be an elaborate fake. Now the crooks have your payment, and you’re left owing your bank the amount that you withdrew
• Do your own research about work-at-home opportunities: The “Work-At-Home Sourcebook” and other resources that may be available in your local library provide good advice and lists of legitimate companies that hire people to work for them at home. You may discover that these companies hire only local people and that there is nothing available in your area.