How to Avoid Online and Email Scams

Scams have been the norm for many years now on the web. I usually don’t go a single day without getting an email about some dreamt up scheme hitting my inbox. The question is how do you decipher legitimate business from those that sound a little shady? Scammers typically follow a similar profile but with the scams themselves becoming more complex it is as important now as it ever was to protect yourself.

Recently as some of you may have heard on the news there has been a scam going around regarding secret shoppers. There are advertisements and emails going around promoting secret shopper programs with retailers. This is one of those gray areas where there actually are some legitimate programs however sifting through which ones are legit and which aren’t can be a daunting task.

Here is the secret shopper scam in a nutshell. Advertisers send secret shoppers on an assignment. The first assignment is to take a cashiers check to Walmart and have the employees there cash it. Then they are instructed to wire the money to someone, who for this scam historically been located in Canada. In return they get to keep a portion of the money for their work. The check is eventually returned a fake or counterfeit and the secret shopper’s are left to deal with the consequences. This is a fake check scam.

A few pointers on how to avoid this.

Walmart doesn’t use secret shoppers so if you are asked to do this at a particular store I suggest contacted the stores headquarters and asking them if they work with this company and if the program is endorsed by them.
Asking to have money wired should be another eye opener. A wire transfer can be pretty loose when it comes to transferring money. Someone can pick up the money and poof it’s gone. Not the safest transaction.
Why would a company pay you hundreds of dollars sometimes to cash a check? Do you think a feedback form is worth hundreds? No way! It makes it very enticing for the secret shopper to do this because of the payout. Don’t fall for the get rich quick schemes.

Tips for avoiding Online Scams

Do your research; do you start a job at a company you don’t know anything about? Do you purchase products without having any idea what they are? It’s like going to the grocery store blindfolded and trying to find the food you are looking for by picking random stuff off the shelf. Don’t act surprised when you get home and you are eating pork rinds instead of Fritos.
1. Go on the web and do a Google search for the business you are interested in. Trust me when I tell you that you can find information on almost everything good and bad on the web. You usually aren’t the first person to fall for such a scam and you definitely don’t want to be the last. You will generally find tons of information, blogs, websites, and videos describing anything you might be getting into.
Make millions on the Web…. Heard this a million times!!! Baloney! Don’t buy it. Many of these scams entail you making significant investments prior to seeing any return. Why? Because the advertiser is getting paid on your interest whether you follow the program or not. That’s the real way they became millionaires!!!! Pay $50 and you will make millions, sign up here and there and I will show you how to make millions on the web. BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!! All’s it takes is a “sounds good” idea and a marketing campaign for anyone to pitch this crap. Put up a fake site, put up a picture of a dude on the beach and some Ferrari’s and whammo you have a million dollar scam. You send payment to who knows where and instantly you get an email with a download link or instructions on your new million dollar lifestyle.
Do millionaire’s really sell there secrets for you to make the profit they are making? Why? If you have a niche and are making that much money with it why would you want a million other people to do what you are doing?????? If anything, you want to eliminate your competitors not make them bigger!
Make money with your writings? Sounds great, only $19.95 to sign up! What are they doing that you can’t do anyway? The tools are on the web and they are free if you are that interested.
Make money Blogging! Okay this can be done but if you go to someone’s site and follow their process and links they make money on you! It’s a pyramid scam in its finest form. I will show you how to make money use all my processes and affiliate programs, blah blah. What do you think they get nothing for promoting this stuff?
Reverse Funnel System – What the h=ll!!! My goodness!!!!! Have any of you even pictured what a REVERSE FUNNEL looks like???? It’s a PYRAMID!!!!! Wow what cool graphics and pictures of the flow of your investment down the tubes!!! Don’t be fooled! I am going to start a new one… The Reverse Cone Head!!! The Dunce Cap system for making money. I’m not even going to get into the stupidity of this one. If you want to hear more drop me a line.

Email Scams

Okay you got that email with another million dollar idea. The first things you do are read through and click on all the links like an excited little monkey grabbing at a big ripe banana. Wrong! Delete it, move on. Why in heaven would someone send you a random email giving you the secrets of making millions? The only reason is so you can make them millions.
Give me your bank account number and I will wire you money from the estate of the dead Prince of Bel-Air to hold while we mitigate the legal stuff. In exchange you can keep thousands of dollars. HAHAH, this is amazing. You have a better chance of not getting ripped off and making money if you call Will Smith up and ask for a donation.
Stop clicking on those emails guys and gals. You are just asking for trouble. If in today’s day and age you still think these are legitimate and fruitful business opportunities you have your head up your arsh.
There are even scams with dating websites. You get these fabulous photos of girls sent to you, you get contacted, next thing you know you are talking to a guy posing as a female in another state or country where really he is somewhere in Nigeria in a internet café trying to get you to send them money to come visit you.
Don’t call phone numbers you aren’t familiar with or from a contact you know and trust. Ever hear the one where they were charging 10k a minute to call a phone number overseas somewhere?

Overall

As a savvy and informed consumer you can avoid many of the dangers that email and the web create. Always exercise caution with any business you are looking to get involved in. Do your research and search the web for positive and negative feedback about the program. If you have been a victim of one of these scams feel free to comment here in my blog so that other’s can know what is going on. If you get an email you are skeptical about then delete it or share the info on the web so others can know. Sharing this information with everyone will help many people avoid these financially disastrous scams.

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