My name is [removed], and thanks so much for your reports. I lost my job last year and since then I have been looking for jobs online where i can work from home as this has always been a dream of mine since I started working after dropping out of school. Your reports have saved me alot of time and errors I could have made, as well as leaving me out of pocket. Nearly every one of the scams you have posted about I have came across but I am delighted to say they didn’t get any money from me and thanks to your site ,it has put any doubt in my mind that in my hope and want for working at home, I started to believe that some of them were real and I was willing to invest in a few of them today until I found your site….

I am currently still looking for a work from home opportunity, I have came across a few more sites and I’m wondering if you can help me out with this one I think myself it looks legitimate but I’m still unsure maybe you have come across this one before ….

The reason I am skeptical about it is because it is doing the same thing as the rest of them you have to pay for a kit just a few dollars… here is the website: http://www.partnerwithpaul.com/

I would really appreciate it if you could help me or if you know of any legitimate ways of making money on net would you forward them onto me please

So, I checked out the website, and I watched the video. The structure of the website indicates scam immediately, but the video was extremely cleverly made. These guys – I didn’t believe the Paul identity for a second – pick up where others left by providing “video evidence” that they, in fact, create a million dollar annual income. They’re so clever that even I almost started to believe them, but I reminded myself:

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true at all.

Okay, let’s get to the part where they ask you for money.

Hold on for a second! Doesn’t it say on the website (see above image): “And you pay me nothing!”?

Well, you don’t pay “Paul”; you pay the other guys… I’ll show you.

Step #1: Enter your information

Needless to say, I used a fake email address, not the one as shown above.

Step #2: Request your Home At Work Kit

Wow! They have even assigned me a user ID! Let’s make it quick… Only 79 positions left… (Note: There are ALWAYS 79 positions left)

Step #3: Enter Billing Information

Now wait a minute… This is a new website by “Online Business Systems”…

As I said, you don’t pay “Paul”; you pay the other guys.

Here we go again: It’s yet another scam!

Warning!

Do not sign up “Partner With Paul” or “Online Business Systems.” You will lose your money, and once you have submitted your credit card information, you might be charged periodically. The only solution is to CANCEL your credit card!

How Can I Make Money Online?

This is the question I hear over and over. In fact, it is very difficult to make money online without Internet or marketing experience. Even if you have that experience, it is an uphill battle. Have a look at this very website. I make roughly $60 a month through the website. It pays for operating the website, but it took me three years and almost 4,800 pages to get there.

In addition, I promote books I wrote and publish. And that’s the best recipe to make money online: You need a product line! I wrote several technical books and I sell them on a regular basis, either as eBook or through Amazon.Com. I also started writing fiction, but in terms of sales it’s a waste of time.

Also, in order to be successful, with or without a product line, you need to invest some initial money, and you need to work 25 hours a day – You get there when you skip the lunch hour. Even Mark Zuckerberg (the Facebook guy) didn’t get his billions without hard work and a great number of investors. His Facebook idea was an extraordinary vision, and there are only very few Mark Zuckerbergs, Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs per generation.

And here’s another lesson from pre-Internet times that is still valid: Financial success comes only with blood, sweat, and tears.

And yes, in order to create income for your own business, you need a website. However, a website alone doesn’t do it. These times are over. There are literally billions of websites available in the world, and the majority of them advertises. In all consequence they’re all competitors if you want to go the Google Advertisement lane.

Finally, here’s my recommendation: As I wrote, these days you make only money when you have a product line to sell. You can think of distributorship or being a reseller (reselling requires investment). Or you can create your own product line if you, family, or a friend have the necessary skills to create a unique product.

You are best of with digital products like, for example, digital photographs or books (as I mentioned, I write technical literature). Digital products don’t require inventory, and you can post them on your website’s e-commerce system.

For more information on running a website see my section Professional Blogging where you can also find a free (Really, it’s free) download of a book I wrote on the topic. Also, see my Facebook page where I will post more information, among others, on making money from home.

Some of the companies orchestrating these scams are even considered reputable, yet they freely get away with theft at no repercussion to themselves. Meantime the users whom they scam are left to wallow in their own impotence and frustration, with no way to defend themselves or to ever get redress.

Below are details of some of the top websites that offer payment in exchange for work, and the methods they use to perpetrate their scam.

CashCrate.com 
CashCrate claims to pay users for signing up for offers, trying new products, completing surveys and getting cash back on purchases made at hundreds of your their online retailers.

CashCrate’s offers include registering for wardrobe makeover sweeps, signing up for auto insurance quotes and chances to win desirable prizes such as a year’s worth of diapers, airplane tickets, or thousands of dollars in gift cards from places like Target or Costco.

All the user has to do is “fill out the form with valid information and participate.” What this really means is that the user will be asked to:
1) provide an email address which will be sold to numerous third parties, thereby generating hundreds of spam messages to your inbox every day.
2) fill out a form that needs to include a cell phone number. The moment the cell phone number is divulged, the user will receive text spam at a cost to the USER of $9.99.
3) complete any two offers. These offers may seem free (such as a free trial to whiter teeth), but users will be asked to reveal credit card details in order to cover shipping and processing. Mostly this is a nominal fee of no more than one dollar, but the point is that CashCrate and its advertisers will acquire credit card information that may then be used in any one of a number of credit card scams.

If all the steps are not fulfilled, user participation is considered incomplete and the account will not be credited. Furthermore there are no real surveys on CashCrate, just endless pages of offers, designed to confuse the user and extract as much personal information as possible. CashCrate is visibly a scam and a dangerous one at that. Stay well away!

InboxDollars.com 
Googling InboxDollars will bring up mixed reviews. As with Cashcrate, InboxDollars, which is owned by CotterWeb Enterprises, works using offers and surveys. The surveys are considered impossible to qualify for, as the survey companies are very specific in the demographics from whom they want information. 

With InboxDollars, users earn five dollars for joining and can cash out at thirty dollars. Other than offers, users also receive paid emails, which pay two cents just for clicking them, plus hundreds of addictive games, also with a cash payout. Many users have reported dedicatedly playing their favorite games for several weeks, before realizing that no money has been added to their account. Upon inquiring with the support center, users are typically told that InboxDollars is not responsible and that payment will happen if and when the game hosts ever confirm their having played.

The offers aren’t any better, though they are more attractive, as many do not require credit card information in order to be considered complete. However, once an offer is completed InboxDollars closes the page, leaving no record of it having been completed. Many complaints have been submitted by users claiming to be owed credit on numerous offers on which they wasted valuable time and offered up their email for spam. Again, contacting the support center seems to be fruitless, and many are met with rude responses from scammers whose job is to absolve InboxDollars from all responsibility towards the user. 
Finally, of those who have made it to the thirty dollar payout threshold, many have complained that upon requesting their payment, InboxDollars mysteriously canceled their accounts and their money was lost. 
In conclusion, InboxDollars appears to be a scam, with its main aim to collect email address to sell to third parties, leaving the user with nothing but an inbox full of spam to show for their efforts.   

SnapDollars.com 
SnapDollars is basically the Canadian version of InboxDollars. The offers are identical; users get five dollars for joining, cash out is at thirty dollars and paid emails are sent every day. Users who have signed up for most of the offers on InboxDollars, will be unable to do the same on SnapDollars, as the advertisers already have the information and understandably don’t wish pay twice for the same account. So the message here is to choose either SnapDollars or InboxDollars, but there’s no need to sign up for both.  

As with InboxDollars, reviews of SnapDollars are mixed, with the negatives including complaints about bad customer service, compensation never received for completing offers, and difficulty in qualifying for surveys. One particularly worrisome complaint comes from users who claim that SnapDollars refuses allow them to cash out their thirty dollars until they first spend fifteen dollars on offers. Others complain that SnapDollars mysteriously loses their mailing address and then removes the cash out button from their page. Basically it seems, from the enormous number of complaints that SnapDollars will do anything to wriggle out of paying its users.

On the upside, if there can be an upside, SnapDollars lets its users know which offers are one hundred percent free, so that they’ll know in advance which offers can be completed  without ever being asked for credit card details.

In conclusion, the SnapDollars scam is identical to InboxDollars, with SnapDollars being just a little more imaginative in the excuses used to avoid paying users their dues.

Panda Research.com 
PandaResearch has nothing to offer anyone who is not interested in divulging their credit card information. The surveys range from one to five dollars, which is more generous than the fifty cents offered by Cashcrate and InboxDollars, but every one of these surveys is attached to a free trial offer that must be completed with credit card details.  

Panda Research also offers paid emails which pay two cents just for clicking on them, but it might not be worth joining just for that, as their cash out threshold is one hundred dollars. On the upside, it won’t take long to figure out that Panda Research is a waste of time, as users will not even be able to begin a survey without first signing up for a free offer using a credit card.   

GlobalTestMarket.com 
Before users can even begin completing paid surveys, GlobalTestMarket requires completion of a “profile survey,” which is made up of ten detailed surveys with questions ranging from household income, to travel choices, to auto insurance, to detailed information about every piece of technology in the home and workplace, to career, purchases and interests. Once users has divulged everything there is to divulge about themselves and every item that has ever come within a ten mile radius of them, they are deemed ready to begin the surveys.   

Users typically complain that, upon completion of their “profile survey,” they are forever unable to qualify for any of the paid surveys. GlobalTestMarket emails a paid survey everyday, however upon answering a couple of questions, users are immediately told that they did not qualify. It seems that many users have never qualified for surveys, and why would they when they have already given up so much information for free?

GlobalTestMarket is a scam that extracts all the information it needs using the “profile survey,” and users will never qualify for a paid survey. There are no real paid surveys on this site, do not waste your time.

Mommytalksuverys.com 
Mommytalksurveys targets new mothers, claiming, “Shared experiences between you and your baby are the most rewarding. Now earn cash rewards for sharing your opinions with us.” Earnings for most of the listed surveys range from one to three dollars, and cash out is at twenty five dollars. 

But there is a catch. Just as with GlobalTestMarket, users have complained that following a ten minute pre-survey using questions closely related to the actual survey, they have been unable to qualify for the actual survey. It is now thought that there are no paid surveys on the site, as the pre-surveys provide all the necessary information required by the client company. 

Based on reviews like this, it is recommended that no one wastes their time signing up to Mommytalksurveys.  

MyPoints.com 
MyPoints offers the opportunity to earn points for doing what you already do online: shopping, reading emails, playing games, searching the web, taking surveys, and more. Users can then covert those points to gift cards for stores and restaurants of their choosing.

However, upon reading the fine print, users will learn that no gift cards will be dispensed until they sign up for at least one “sponsored offer.” And of course these “sponsored offers” require credit card details. Again, as it is not advisable to divulge credit card  information, it is not worth joining MyPoints.

There have also been a number of complaints about MyPoints mysteriously closing user accounts as soon as a payout is requested. Based on the volume and consistency of negative reviews alone, it seems reasonable to say  that MyPoints is a scam.   

MySurvey.com 
MySurvey, which is owned by the consumer research company, Taylor Nelson Sofres, pays users to participate in consumer research surveys conducted by various participating companies. There is also a referral system that allows users to earn when they recruit new users to the site. 

MySurvey.com actually pays in points, which can then be traded for cash, with one thousand points equaling ten dollars. Ten dollars is the minimum cash out amount.

Referring new users wins a user one hundred and fifty points ($1.50) for each person who qualifies and actively takes surveys.

The reviews for MySurvey mainly consist of users complaining that the payout per completed survey has dropped drastically from seventy five points ($0.75) to just ten to thirty points ($0.10 to $0.30), regardless that some of their surveys can last up to forty five minutes. This certainly places MySurvey in the slave-labor category. 

ReviewStream.com 
ReviewStream allows users to earn money by writing reviews about anything they desire, including homes appliances, toys, companies, hotels, politics, cities, stores on your street, or even your neighbor’s pets. ReviewStream will pay $2.50 per accepted review. Many join ReviewStream, reasoning that as they already review for Yelp, they might as well get paid for it instead.

Well that’s not quite how it works. Reviews first have to be approved, and when they are not approved users will never learn why. Instead users are directed to a page that states, in capital letters, “Your review is not valuable, we are not interested in it.” After much searching on line, you’ll uncover testimonials from previous users revealing that this is ReviewStream’s way of refusing any reviews that fall under two hundred and fifty words. This may be the case, but nowhere on the site does ReviewStream state that reviews are subject to a minimum number of words.

Reviews may also be partially approved, in a system called “bulk reviews”, whereby users get paid “the bulk rate” of one fifth of the going rate (fifty cents) for a review that is considered mediocre, but not bad enough to dump entirely. ReviewStream encourages users to include personal opinions in their reviews, but what eventually leads them to accept, partially accept or totally reject a review remains a mystery.

The cash out threshold is fifty dollars and many reviewers complain that, since most reviews are only accepted at the bulk rate of fifty cents, they may have to write up to one hundred reviews before reaching that cash out. Many users have also complained about not being paid and being met with unusually aggressive responses from staff when attempting to chase up their dues.

The other complaint is that although ReviewStream claims to respond to submissions within seventy two hours, they will more often than not take considerably longer before letting users know whether they plan to accept or reject their work.

Finally, looking at their Whois records, it appears that ReviewStream is hiding their real address by using a US proxy to register under a US address. Yet a brief email exchange with the ReviewStream staff and their poor grasp of the English language, will raise the question, where in the world is this site really based?

In conclusion, ReviewStream does not inspire trust, their business practices are questionable and user complaints are practically viral on the internet.   

Constant Content 
Constant content is touted as a high quality site for serious writers. You may write about anything you please, so long as it contains useful information, is not written in the first person, and expresses no personal opinions. To guarantee greater success, you are welcome to pick a title from a list of requested titles. You may also name your price per article, and some of the requested titles are priced anywhere between twenty dollars and two hundred dollars depending on the number of words. 

Knowing that Constant Content accepts only the very best and most thoroughly researched writing, users toil late into the night, researching the story and minding their grammar. And then they submit. And then they are rejected.

Many users complain of articles being rejected for reasons including a missing comma, a misspelled word, a minor grammar adjustment, citing of references, use of words like ‘may be’ which apparently indicate opinion, and many more. Of course grammar needs to be perfect and guidelines need to be followed, but it seems, based on the following evidence, that Constant Content is looking for reasons to reject.

Firstly the rejection email with the explanation about the missing comma requires more effort on the part of the editor than simply inserting the comma and accepting the article. Users may certainly resubmit the article, though no more than three times according to the rules. Then it is banished forever.

What raises the most suspicion though, is that, instead of informing users of all the errors in the first rejection, Constant Content will sniff at the missing comma in rejection number one, complain about the use of ‘may be’ in rejection number two, and finally highlight a misspelled word in rejection number three. The question therefore is why did the editors not list all the errors in the first rejection, thereby maximizing the chance of accepting the article?

Constant content doesn’t want the work, and will never accept the articles. Or more
specifically, constant content wants informative and well researched articles, but doesn’t want to credit the user for it. Don’t be surprised if you later find your hard work published in some reputable site or paper, slightly modified and under someone else’s name. That’s right, constant content’s mission is information theft. They lure users to do the research, reject it based on unreasonable expectations, and then sell it quietly, claiming all the booty for themselves.

Google Adsense 
Google Adsense is one of the biggest money making opportunities advertised on the net, yet it now turns out that it may also be a total scam. The cash out threshold is one hundred dollars, and a rumor is circulating that Google terminates accounts just before they reach their cash out threshold, claiming invalid clicks, and then refusing to respond to the user’s pleas. This is extremely unsettling, as Google is a huge, reputable company and the last place where most of people would expect to be scammed.

It is not uncommon for subscribers to link their Google Adsense accounts to all manner of online publishing websites such as Helium, Hubpages, Triond, Xomba, RateItAll and many more. In spite of this it is nearly impossible to make a significant income just by relying on others to click on the ads.

However, knowing that your efforts will never bear fruit, it is probably for the best that your content rarely generates income. Still, this is the most disturbing of all the scams, as Google is strong and reputable and has no need to steal from desperate individuals. 

Conclusion 
Let’s start by stating the obvious; if it sounds too good to be true, then it is too good to be true. Many online money making sites lead you to believe that you will get rich quickly in exchange for minimum work. However this is never the case, and most websites sell your email to spammers, resort to multiple ways to avoid paying you, pay very low rates, or simply rob you after they have accessed and sold your credit card details to other companies. 

The most popular credit card scam involves acquiring your credit card details, supposedly for a small shipping charge, but buried in the fine print is authorization for negative option subscriptions. Negative option subscriptions are when a merchant subscribes you to receive goods that you never requested. It is then up to you to decline these goods, otherwise it is assumed that you have agreed to purchase the goods and your card is charged. The other common credit card scam is when you are enticed to sign up for free trials using your credit card. In this case the companies are counting on you to forget to cancel the card when the free trial period is up. And if you do remember to cancel, then you’ll be made to jump through hoops before the cancellation is complete. Finally there is the risk of credit card information being stolen by individuals masquerading as companies, in a scam known as phishing. Then you have no choice but to cancel your card immediately, as your account will simply be drained by thieves.

The other key scam to avoid is being asked for you cell phone number. Do not, under any circumstances provide this information, unless you are prepared to throw money out of the window. At first you might think the worst that can happen is you’ll receive some text spam. What actually happens is that you receive text spam at a cost to you of around $9.99, as demonstrated by the example phone bill below. Of course you won’t know any of this until AFTER you have provided the information or received your phone bill at the end of the month.

Certainly sites exist that can earn you money, but it will never be very much. Any site that pays a decent salary will require hard work and a certain amount of personal abuse. Take Demand Media for example. There is no doubt that they pay. But most users are unable to sustain a writing career with them, as, at fifteen dollars an article they require well researched content with titles such as, ‘The Fuel Pump Location in a Mercedes C280,’ ‘The Driver Compaq Lite on the LTR482 Will Not Write,’ and ‘How to Hook Up a Tiller to a GX335.’ Unless you are a mechanic, electrician, plumber, computer engineer, or rocket scientist, writing for Demand Media will require at least an entire day of research and referencing. Fifteen dollars per article may sound good, but fifteen dollars for an entire day’s worth of hard work with no guarantee of acceptance at the end, doesn’t compute quite so well. Furthermore the internet is littered with complaints of the contemptuous and dismissive manner of Demand Media editors towards their writers. As such writers rarely stick with Demand Media for long.

So before registering with a “money-making” site, bare in mind the following: Firstly, in Google search, type the site’s name followed by the word ‘scam’ or ‘review.’ This will take you to blogs and forums filled with the opinions of previous and current users of that site. If the opinions are consistently negative, assume that the site is a scam. Secondly if anyone requests your credit card details or worse still, your social security number, immediately close that page and walk away, they are most likely trapping you into a credit card scam, as detailed above. And finally be smart. If you wish to try out a site, open a new email account for all the spam you’ll receive and keep your expectations low. None of these sites will make you rich or be a suitable replacement for your regular job.

New sites, such as those mentioned in this article are being born every day. There doesn’t appear to be any effective regulation to prevent them, so it is up to you to be vigilant and be aware that many websites that promise to pay, are in fact scams.

Annabelle

A Life Lived Ridiculously
When a girl with obsessive compulsive disorder falls in love with a sociopath, she fights for her sanity and her life.
http://www.ridiculouslife.net/

Congratulations Wikipedia User!
You are the Massachusetts winner for July 17th
Please select a prize and enter your email on the next page to claim.

This is the message that greeted me this morning when I started some research for an article on my blog and thought it might be a good idea to start that research at wikipeida.com… Well, note the typo… wikipeida instead of wikipedia. What you get with hitting Enter is above message. And then it goes on:

Okay, the website’s code determined that I am from Massachusetts, and you can bet everybody who ends up here is a winner! I have to admit, at that time I didn’t realize I had mistyped the website’s URL, and I clicked to win the iPad2. And I did it quickly, because Time Is Running Out! Note the time you have to claim your price, which, of course, is reset as soon as you re-enter the website.

Also note the Wikipedia logo, which, in my humble opinion, is a gutsy copyright violation. I don’t believe for a second that Wikipedia is involved in this, because frankly:

It’s A Scam!

Sure enough, after you “claim” you price, you need to “Take our eligibility survey to see if you qualify for your FREE Apple iPad 2.” What? You just told me I was today’s Massachusetts winner, and now you need to check if I’m good enough?

Well, first, they need your information to fill their database with thousands of entered from people who fall for this crap.

Let’s see how ot goes on:

Question 1: Are you male or female?

Question 2: How old are you?

Question 3: About how often do you use Facebook per Week?

You answer the questions, and then: Congratulations! You qualify for a FREE iPad 2.

Yes, I am sure that females under 25 who never use Facebook do NOT qualify…

Now, please enter your e-mail. But be aware:

By entering your email and continuing, you certify that you are a US resident over the age of 18 and that you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions. You agree to receive promotional emails and special offers from trusted 3rd parties.

AtHomeGiftRewards.com is an independent rewards program and not associated with any of the above listed merchants or brands. The above listed merchants or brands in no way endorse or sponsor AtHomeGiftRewards.com’s offer and are not liable for any alleged or actual claims related to this offer. The above listed trademarks and service marks are the marks of their respective owners. AtHomeGiftRewards.com is solely responsible for all Gift fulfillment. In order to receive your gift you must: (1) Meet the eligibility requirements (2) complete the rewards bonus survey (3) complete a total of 10 Reward Offers as stated in the Terms & Conditions (4) not cancel your participation in more than a total of 2 Reward Offers within 30 days of any Reward Offer Sign-Up Date as outlined in the Terms & Conditions (the Cancellation Limit) and (5) follow the redemption instructions.

Okay, now that they have your e-mail address you agree that AtHomeGiftRewards.com fills your e-mail account ad nausea with SPAM of all sorts! It’s called “phishing,” the worst kind of getting information from unsuspecting internet users.

Now let’s finally claim our price:

And by hitting Continue I also agree to receive pre-recorded messages… Just what I always wanted!

Let me say bluntly:

It’s a scam, and you won’t win anything!

Instead they will bombard you with SPAM.

And for those who don’t believe it’s a scam: Please sign up, leave your e-mail, and let me know as soon as you won your iPad2, your $1000 Best Buy card, or your $1000 Walmart gift card.

Supplement August 9, 2011

The same scheme happens when you mistype Facebook.Com or Youtube.Com! In each case the scammers feel free to use the corresponding logos to add to their credibility. In all consequence, this represents a blunt copyright infringement.

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Vampire Ascending

by Lorelei Bell

Sabrina Strong is a Touch Clairvoyant who knows a secret. She knows her mother was turned into a vampire when Sabrina was ten. Now that she is grown up, a powerful magnate in the Chicago business world hires her to reveal the identity of who relentlessly murders vampires in his ultra-modern stronghold of a hotel. [Read More...] – Including an excerpt of the first chapter.

Vampire Ascending is now available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

“Hi, I’m the woman who had trouble getting in to your site a while ago and sent you an email about a scam. I have found a new and disturbing one. Like you I am a writer not a scam finder and I have a coupe of articles I am going to submit to you later but right now I thought I should alert you to this new scam. It is targeting Aussies as a job.

My husband almost got caught by one of these years ago in America and now they are here too. This is the site: http://australiaejob.net/job2.html.

Yours is a blog site I respect so that is why I am sending it to you hoping no one gets caught by it. I am also sending it to the media here hoping that it will stop anyone here being sucked in by it. Thank you for reading this email.”

Note: The spam filter on this website accidentally blocked every comment from Australia. Sorry about that! It’s corrected now.

Sure enough, the website she pointed to is a scam. So, everybody down under, don’t fall for it! If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t!

Here in the United States we have a great number of online scams going on. See my section Making Money From Home on this website.

The scheme is the same: They promise heaven, but don’t follow up. But they do charge your credit card.

If you fell for it, there is only one solution: Cancel your credit card immediately!

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Queen of Misfortune

A Lady Jane Grey Novel by Peter Carroll

Queen Of Misfortune is the fictional story of Lady Jane Grey as told by her beloved tutor, John Aylmer. At the time of her execution a stranger is recorded to have assisted her when, blind folded, she lost her way upon the scaffold. Was it the same ‘stranger’ who was also recorded to have visited her when she was imprisoned in the Tower? Little is known of this unfortunate girl who was beheaded for treason in the 16^th Century. She was only 16. She is omitted from the list of monarchs but was actually queen for nine days. Author Peter Carroll, in his novel, follows John Aylmer’s close relationship with Jane as her tutor and later, as she grows up, her lover. [More...]

Available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

Click on image to enlarge (will open new window)

It seems these days that offering jobs online and making money online is the most promising ticket to success. Just open a website, promise jobs or the sure method of making money online, charge your clients, promise heaven, while at the same time do not guarantee success. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. And it pays. Big money! Because, literally, hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world will fall for it. That is proven history.

Is it legal? Oh, definitely! Just make sure you put a disclaimer on the bottom of your website – use small, light gray letters on a dark gray background – stating that the promises and results (“I made $1,000,000,000 in one day!”) as displayed were modified for marketing purposes. In layman’s terms, admit you are lying. That makes it legal. Neither the government nor the FBI, CIA, MI5, MI6, or Scotland Yard will be able to do something about it. And there will be no Zorro, Superman, Bat Man or Bat Woman to fight you.

Okay, back to reality: This morning I received an e-mail from Claire in the United Kingdom:

“The work at home scam is on this jobs website – using google ads as a vehicle…cant they do anything about it?”

She included a link to the jobstoday.co.uk website, and, sure enough I noticed the ad with the ever-popular “$75/hr Jobs” (Note: I logged in from the United States, and the ads – including currency – are adjusted accordingly.)

Misleading Google Ad - It's a scam

And sure enough, the link in the ad did lead to one of the known scammer websites (Again, I logged in from the United States, and the website is adjusted accordingly, thus “Greenfield, Massachusetts,” my home town.)

Scam Website

I wrote back to Claire:

“These are, in fact, Google ads. Google doesn’t care what they display as long as somebody pays for it. And, after all, the ads are not illegal. The links lead to websites that usually include a disclaimer stating that the content was modified for “marketing purposes.” Basically, they do admit they are lying, and displaying the disclaimer makes it legal.

As far as jobstoday.co.uk is involved, they don’t have any influence on the ads as displayed. The Google system looks at certain keywords and displays the ads according to the content. I myself reported about Internet scams, while at the same time I had the scammers’ ads on my website. Consequently, in order to keep my reputation, the only choice I had was to remove the Google ads entirely. I wrote about this in my post at http://www.frogenyozurt.com/2011/02/google-adsense-damages-website-reputation/

At this time I cannot judge whether or not jobstoday.co.uk is a trustworthy website, but I would apply extreme caution whenever somebody offers jobs through the Internet.”

And here is the interesting question:

jobstoday.co.uk – Are You A Trustworthy Website?

As I wrote to Claire, at this time I cannot judge whether or not jobstoday.co.uk is a trustworthy website. In the least, they are, in my personal opinion, innocent amateurs – you know, like the sorcerer’s apprentice. They don’t realize they play with the fire by displaying ads that are potentially damaging to their reputation. In the worst case, they are scammers, too.

So, jobstoday.co.uk, you are invited to leave comments below. Let us know who you are…

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Queen of Misfortune

A Lady Jane Grey Novel by Peter Carroll

Queen Of Misfortune is the fictional story of Lady Jane Grey as told by her beloved tutor, John Aylmer. At the time of her execution a stranger is recorded to have assisted her when, blind folded, she lost her way upon the scaffold. Was it the same ‘stranger’ who was also recorded to have visited her when she was imprisoned in the Tower? Little is known of this unfortunate girl who was beheaded for treason in the 16^th Century. She was only 16. She is omitted from the list of monarchs but was actually queen for nine days. Author Peter Carroll, in his novel, follows John Aylmer’s close relationship with Jane as her tutor and later, as she grows up, her lover. [More...]

Available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

Scam: The Penny Stock Guru

Just lately I have received a number of e-mails with the subject:

RE: Newsletter Subscription Confirmation!

Okay, first you wonder where you signed up. After all, its a “confirmation.”

However, a dead give-away is the “RE:” since there was no previous communication with the sender.

Another give-away that this is a scam is the e-mail address (e.g.: Fabien et christel Mesembourg <fabienchristel@hotmail.fr>) which does not match with the response address (In this case: jpd3@optonline.net).

Do NOT join the Penny Stock Guru!

If you fell for this nonsense, make sure you cancel your credit card immediately! These guys will suck you dry!

For more proof check out my section Making Money From Home. The scammers use a standard website template for a number of ongoing scams, which are, unfortunately, supported by advertisement on FOX News, Washington Post, MSNBC.Com, and many more websites. While FOX News, Washington Post, MSNBC.Com, etc. are not responsible for the misleading advertisement, they are nevertheless happy to collect income form every click on the online ad.

How Can I Report Mass-Marketing Fraud?

If you have a complaint about any type of Internet crime, you can file an online complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The IC3 is a joint project of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). The IC3′s key functions for federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies will be (1) receiving online complaints, (2) analyzing them to identify particular schemes and general crime trends in Internet fraud, and (3) compiling and referring potential Internet fraud schemes to law enforcement. In addition to FBI and NW3C personnel, the IC3 will include agents and analysts detailed from other law enforcement agencies.

If you have a complaint about any type of consumer fraud, including any type of mass-marketing fraud, you can file a complaint through a toll-free Consumer Help Line, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or online with the Federal Trade Commission

Source: U.S. Department of Justice - http://www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/internet/

Scammer Ads

Have you seen ads like the one to the left lately on the Washington Post Online newspaper? Sure enough, the majority of these ads are scams of the most despicable nature. It seems that the Washington Post is in dire need of online revenue and thus increases their tolerance level.

Note: I live in Greenfield, Massachusetts. The ad on the left shows Greenfield, meaning it will automatically adjust to the location from which you logged into their website. This is a marketing method frequently used by scammers.

Note: The first ad on top refers to the worst, current scam, the so-called “Penny Stocks.”

Of course, the Washington Post is not responsible for the advertisements and their contents. It is, nevertheless, disconcerting that the Washington Post continuously supports scammers of the worst kind by displaying their ads. These scammers have a proven track record.

Support the Washington Post By Clicking On These Ads

You can effortlessly support the Washington Post by clicking on these ads. Every click will create revenue for the Washington Post and the scammers will be charged. You will be doing a good deed.

Be aware! Do not sign up for any product or service! If you fell for this nonsense, make sure you cancel your credit card immediately! These guys will suck you dry!

For more proof check out my section Making Money From Home. The websites that these links lead to are usually standard templates for a number of ongoing scams, which are, unfortunately, supported by advertisement on FOX News, Washington Post, MSNBC.Com, and many more websites. While FOX News, Washington Post, MSNBC.Com, etc. are not responsible for the misleading advertisement, they are nevertheless happy to collect income form every click on the online ad.

How Can I Report Mass-Marketing Fraud?

If you have a complaint about any type of Internet crime, you can file an online complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The IC3 is a joint project of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). The IC3′s key functions for federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies will be (1) receiving online complaints, (2) analyzing them to identify particular schemes and general crime trends in Internet fraud, and (3) compiling and referring potential Internet fraud schemes to law enforcement. In addition to FBI and NW3C personnel, the IC3 will include agents and analysts detailed from other law enforcement agencies.

If you have a complaint about any type of consumer fraud, including any type of mass-marketing fraud, you can file a complaint through a toll-free Consumer Help Line, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or online with the Federal Trade Commission

Source: U.S. Department of Justice - http://www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/internet/

Scam Website - news9weekly.com

Emily, a local mom of three, is the perfect example of a smart consumer using the web to get quality products for a low cost. Emily was admittedly a bit overwhelmed by her hectic life and had had given up on spending time on herself and her needs.

Emily decided to change her life, and recently discovered a clever way of combining two beauty product trials from a trusted company Sobe Labs Wrinkle Reducer & Hydroxatone to unlock the secrets of anti-aging. Her results are comparable to what you might attain at Medi Spas and Doctors offices for $2000 or more, all the while using nothing but free trial* offers.

Emily thought it was important to share her story with you. This trick has not only removed her wrinkles, but also tightened her neck and face instantly. It changed her life and we hope it can change yours too.

Emily, who makes an average salary, doesn’t have the extra cash to try every celebrity endorsed Anti-Aging miracle cream out there let alone splurge on expensive medical procedures. At one time she did considered taking out loans for injecting Botox and even contemplated getting a facelift, but became frightened after researching Botox and face lift malpractice stories. Emily was determined to find a safe and AFFORDABLE solution that would yield real results and not leave her in debt.

Nevertheless, as we began to investigate the countless success stories reported by people from all around the globe, we decided that Emily’s anti-aging secret was worthy of a closer investigation.

Emily’s Letter:

“I have to admit I do tend to jump on the bandwagon and I have tried countless skin anti-aging/wrinkle creams such as Oil of Olay, Neutrogena and many more to help me look young again. Unfortunately, the results were never as good as I wanted them to be. Until, one day after watching the news and doing some careful research, I found a way to make my wrinkles go away by using Sobe Labs Wrinkle Reducer & Hydroxatone.

Emily’s skin care problems were a result of harmful UVA & UVB exposure from years of exposure to indirect sunlight and time spent tanning, which led to premature aging and wrinkles during her early thirties.

It got worse after she got a job as a waitress. She often stayed up all night and became very addicted to coffee and cigarettes. Emily started developing dark circles around her eyes which started to become baggy with time. After she gave birth to her children, she often felt that she always looked much older than she was. Before she knew it, the kids were in high school and she was getting older and older.

Every month she began to notice more lines and wrinkles on her face. Gravity seemed to have a great effect in pulling her chin downward. Even her mom looked at her with that concerned face and told Emily she looked extremely worn out. That was the moment Emily realized it was time to stop wasting her time with products from the local drug store and do something about it.

Her initial thoughts were to turn to Botox and even a facelift to deliver the results that she was so eager to find. Looking back on it now, she has said she didn’t know what she was thinking! “Who in their right mind wants to inject themselves with chemicals or go under the knife just to look a few years younger?”

And bla, bla, bla… It’s A Scam!

If you fell for this nonsense, make sure you cancel your credit card immediately! These guys will suck you dry!

Read the fine print on bottom of the website:

It is important to note that this site and the comments/answers depicted above is to be used as an illustrative example of what some individuals have achieved with this/these products. This website, and any page on the website, is based loosely off a true story, but has been modified in multiple ways including, but not limited to: the story, the photos, and the comments. Thus, this page, and any page on this website, are not to be taken literally or as a non-fiction story. This page, and the results mentioned on this page, although achievable for some, are not to be construed as the results that you may achieve on the same routine. I UNDERSTAND THIS WEBSITE IS ONLY ILLUSTRATIVE OF WHAT MIGHT BE ACHIEVABLE FROM USING THIS/THESE PRODUCTS, AND THAT THE STORY/COMMENTS DEPICTED ABOVE IS NOT TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY. This page receives compensation for clicks on or purchase of products featured on this site.

For more proof check out my section Making Money From Home. The website is a standard template for a number of ongoing scams, which are, unfortunately, supported by advertisement on FOX News, Washington Post, MSNBC.Com, and many more websites. While FOX News, Washington Post, MSNBC.Com, etc. are not responsible for the misleading advertisement, they are nevertheless happy to collect income form every click on the online ad.

How Can I Report Mass-Marketing Fraud?

If you have a complaint about any type of Internet crime, you can file an online complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The IC3 is a joint project of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). The IC3′s key functions for federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies will be (1) receiving online complaints, (2) analyzing them to identify particular schemes and general crime trends in Internet fraud, and (3) compiling and referring potential Internet fraud schemes to law enforcement. In addition to FBI and NW3C personnel, the IC3 will include agents and analysts detailed from other law enforcement agencies.

If you have a complaint about any type of consumer fraud, including any type of mass-marketing fraud, you can file a complaint through a toll-free Consumer Help Line, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or online with the Federal Trade Commission

Source: U.S. Department of Justice - http://www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/internet/

Note: The FOX News Ticker is part of the news9weekly.com scam website. FOX News is not responsible for the content of that website.

The Dirty Little Secrets of Search

The New York Times – February 12, 2011 (Excerpt)

PRETEND for a moment that you are Google’s search engine.

Someone types the word “dresses” and hits enter. What will be the very first result?

There are, of course, a lot of possibilities. Macy’s comes to mind. Maybe a specialty chain, like J. Crew or the Gap. Perhaps a Wikipedia entry on the history of hemlines.

O.K., how about the word “bedding”? Bed Bath & Beyond seems a candidate. Or Wal-Mart, or perhaps the bedding section of Amazon.com.

“Area rugs”? Crate & Barrel is a possibility. Home Depot, too, and Sears, Pier 1 or any of those Web sites with “area rug” in the name, like arearugs.com.

You could imagine a dozen contenders for each of these searches. But in the last several months, one name turned up, with uncanny regularity, in the No. 1 spot for each and every term:

J. C. Penney.

The company bested millions of sites — and not just in searches for dresses, bedding and area rugs. For months, it was consistently at or near the top in searches for “skinny jeans,” “home decor,” “comforter sets,” “furniture” and dozens of other words and phrases, from the blandly generic (“tablecloths”) to the strangely specific (“grommet top curtains”).

This striking performance lasted for months, most crucially through the holiday season, when there is a huge spike in online shopping. J. C. Penney even beat out the sites of manufacturers in searches for the products of those manufacturers. Type in “Samsonite carry on luggage,” for instance, and Penney for months was first on the list, ahead of Samsonite.com.

With more than 1,100 stores and $17.8 billion in total revenue in 2010, Penney is certainly a major player in American retailing. But Google’s stated goal is to sift through every corner of the Internet and find the most important, relevant Web sites.

Does the collective wisdom of the Web really say that Penney has the most essential site when it comes to dresses? And bedding? And area rugs? And dozens of other words and phrases?

The New York Times asked an expert in online search, Doug Pierce of Blue Fountain Media in New York, to study this question, as well as Penney’s astoundingly strong search-term performance in recent months. What he found suggests that the digital age’s most mundane act, the Google search, often represents layer upon layer of intrigue. And the intrigue starts in the sprawling, subterranean world of “black hat” optimization, the dark art of raising the profile of a Web site with methods that Google considers tantamount to cheating.

Despite the cowboy outlaw connotations, black-hat services are not illegal, but trafficking in them risks the wrath of Google. The company draws a pretty thick line between techniques it considers deceptive and “white hat” approaches, which are offered by hundreds of consulting firms and are legitimate ways to increase a site’s visibility. Penney’s results were derived from methods on the wrong side of that line, says Mr. Pierce. He described the optimization as the most ambitious attempt to game Google’s search results that he has ever seen.

“Actually, it’s the most ambitious attempt I’ve ever heard of,” he said. “This whole thing just blew me away. Especially for such a major brand. You’d think they would have people around them that would know better.” [Read the full article...]

Advertisement

Imperator

The Life of Gaius Julius Caesar

A Novel by Philip Katz – Available in all good bookstores

“Imperator – The Life of Gaius Julius Caesar” by Philip Katz is a fictional recreation of the life of the greatest of all Romans, Gaius Julius Caesar. It is a personal memoir, the inside story of his world as viewed through his eyes, written in the first person, suppressed by Caesar’s successors, only to be rediscovered in modern times. [More...]

Sign up for the FrogenYozurt.Com Newsletter to receive information new releases.

(News5) – Amidst the second worst recession in United States history, thrifty consumers are turning to the internet to take advantage of special offers.

Emily, a local mom of three, is the perfect example of a smart consumer using the web to get quality products for a low cost. Emily was admittedly a bit overwhelmed by her hectic life and had had given up on spending time on herself and her needs. Emily decided to change her life, and recently discovered a clever way of combining two beauty product trials from a trusted company Radia Labs Wrinkle Reducer & Hydroxatone to unlock the secrets of anti-aging. Her results are comparable to what you might attain at Medi Spas and Doctors offices for $2000 or more, all the while using nothing but free trial offers.

Emily thought it was important to share her story with you. This trick has not only removed her wrinkles, but also tightened her neck and face instantly. It changed her life and we hope it can change yours too.

Emily, who makes an average salary, doesn’t have the extra cash to try every celebrity endorsed Anti-Aging miracle cream out there let alone splurge on expensive medical procedures. At one time she did considered taking out loans for injecting Botox and even contemplated getting a facelift, but became frightened after researching Botox and face lift malpractice stories. Emily was determined to find a safe and AFFORDABLE solution that would yield real results and not leave her in debt.

Nevertheless, as we began to investigate the countless success stories reported by people from all around the globe, we decided that Emily’s anti-aging secret was worthy of a closer investigation.

Emily’s Letter:

“I have to admit I do tend to jump on the bandwagon and I have tried countless skin anti-aging/wrinkle creams such as Oil of Olay, Neutrogena and many more to help me look young again. Unfortunately, the results were never as good as I wanted them to be. Until, one day after watching the news and doing some careful research, I found a way to make my wrinkles go away by using Radia Labs Wrinkle Reducer & Hydroxatone.

Emily’s skin care problems were a result of harmful UVA & UVB exposure from years of exposure to indirect sunlight and time spent tanning, which led to premature aging and wrinkles during her early thirties.

It got worse after she got a job as a waitress. She often stayed up all night and became very addicted to coffee and cigarettes. Emily started developing dark circles around her eyes which started to become baggy with time. After she gave birth to her children, she often felt that she always looked much older than she was. Before she knew it, the kids were in high school and she was getting older and older.

Every month she began to notice more lines and wrinkles on her face. Gravity seemed to have a great effect in pulling her chin downward. Even her mom looked at her with that concerned face and told Emily she looked extremely worn out. That was the moment Emily realized it was time to stop wasting her time with products from the local drug store and do something about it.

Her initial thoughts were to turn to Botox and even a facelift to deliver the results that she was so eager to find. Looking back on it now, she has said she didn’t know what she was thinking! “Who in their right mind wants to inject themselves with chemicals or go under the knife just to look a few years younger?”

And bla, bla, bla… It’s A Scam!

If you fell for this nonsense, make sure you cancel your credit card immediately! These guys will suck you dry!

For more proof check out my section Making Money From Home where you find similar fraud websites created by the same scammers. The so-called “reporters” Jennifer Theuriau and James Field appear on other scam websites as well. They are fake, meaning the names are fictitious and the photos were probably taken from some photo sharing/selling website.

Have a look at the fine-print on the bottom of the “Health Consumer News” website:

It is important to note that this site and the comments/answers depicted above is to be used as an illustrative example of what some individuals have achieved with this/these products. This website, and any page on the website, is based loosely off a true story, but has been modified in multiple ways including, but not limited to: the story, the photos, and the comments. Thus, this page, and any page on this website, are not to be taken literally or as a non-fiction story. This page, and the results mentioned on this page, although achievable for some, are not to be construed as the results that you may achieve on the same routine. I UNDERSTAND THIS WEBSITE IS ONLY ILLUSTRATIVE OF WHAT MIGHT BE ACHIEVABLE FROM USING THIS/THESE PRODUCTS, AND THAT THE STORY/COMMENTS DEPICTED ABOVE IS NOT TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY. This page receives compensation for clicks on or purchase of products featured on this site.

Is is an unfortunate fact that reputable websites like The Washington Post, MSNBC.Com, and others display these despicable advertisements that defraud unsuspecting citizens.

How Can I Report Mass-Marketing Fraud?

If you have a complaint about any type of Internet crime, you can file an online complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The IC3 is a joint project of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). The IC3′s key functions for federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies will be (1) receiving online complaints, (2) analyzing them to identify particular schemes and general crime trends in Internet fraud, and (3) compiling and referring potential Internet fraud schemes to law enforcement. In addition to FBI and NW3C personnel, the IC3 will include agents and analysts detailed from other law enforcement agencies.

If you have a complaint about any type of consumer fraud, including any type of mass-marketing fraud, you can file a complaint through a toll-free Consumer Help Line, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or online with the Federal Trade Commission

Source: U.S. Department of Justice - http://www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/internet/

Advertisement

The Bleeding Hills

A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

The Bleeding Hills is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Nobel, and any other good bookstore.

Scammer Website - News 8 Report

Are There Any Legit Work At Home Programs?

With unemployment numbers extremely high, everybody is looking to make a few extra bucks these days. Many people are turning to work at home programs… But, which ones are REAL and which ones are SCAMS?

We just had to find out… So we set out to do some research ourselves. We came across a blog by Jessica Holmes of Greenfield, MA.

Like many, curiosity got the best of Jessica and she filled out a simple online form and put out just a little money to try a program she came across. Before she knew it, she discovered her secret to beating the recession, and being able to provide for her family while at home with her three children.

I read Jessica’s blog last month and decided to feature her story in our weekly consumer report. In our phone interview she told me her amazing story. “I basically make about $6,000-$7,000 a month online which is enough to comfortably replace my old jobs income, especially considering I only work about 10-13 hours a week from home.

Online work has been a financial windfall for Jessica, who struggled for months to find a decent job but kept hitting dead ends. “I lost my job shortly after the recession hit, I needed reliable income, I was not interested in the “get rich quick” scams you see all over the internet. Those are all pyramid scams or stuff where you have to sell to your friends and family. I just needed a legitimate way to earn a living for me and my family. The best part of working online is that I am always home with the kids, I save a lot of money.”

“I actually make $6,000 to $8,000 a month working from home.”
-Jessica Holmes

I asked her about how she started her remarkable journey. “It was pretty easy, I actually received an email that sparked my interest, so I went to the site, filled out a short form and signed up for a work at home program where I got instant access to everything! They actually were giving a limited-time $100 instant rebate, which last time I checked, they were still doing. And since they offered a 365 Day Money Back Guarantee – I figured I really had nothing to lose. So, I started the program and within four weeks I was making over $5,000 a month. It’s really simple, I am not a computer whiz, but I can use the internet. I followed the instructions, and I don’t even have to sell anything and nobody has to buy anything. This is a very stable system and they are recruiting, you should try it.”

And bla, bla, bla… It’s A Scam!

If you fell for this nonsense, make sure you cancel your credit card immediately! These guys will suck you dry!

For more proof check out my section Making Money From Home

Don’t fall the e-mails these guys are sending!

I profited $331 in a couple hours doing stuff on the computer! I got it from - Career Trends!!! Dont forget to thank me!

or

I netted in $129 in a couple hours at home in my spare time! Check it out at - Career Trends!!! trust me, you will be happy

From: Mr.Salah Abdulaziz
MANAGER National Bank of Abu Dhab
Industrial city of Abu Dhabi,
Near to AD Municipality U.A.E
Email:salahabdulaziz11@gmail.com

Dear Friend,

This letter must come to you as a surprise, but I believe it is only a day that people meet and become great friends and business partners. I am pleased to get across to you for a very urgent and profitable business proposal; I got your e-mail address through an internet yellow page web directory and decided to contact you and ask for your assistance in this urgent matter, requiring trust and confidentiality,

I am Mr.Salah Abdulaziz, the Branch manager, National Bank of Abu Dhab Industrial city of Abu Dhabi, Near to AD Municipality U.A.E (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES), married with four children. I am writing this letter to ask for your support and co-operation to carry out this business opportunity in my department,

On June 6, 1999, an America Oil consultant/contractor with Petroleum Corporation, Mr. David Ameeraly, made a numbered time (fixed) deposit for twelve calendar months, Valued at US$16,500,000.00(sixteen Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars )in my branch upon maturity. I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers, the Petroleum Corporation that Mr. David Ameeraly, died in the plane crash On October 31, 1999, (an Egyptian Boeing 767 Flight 990) with other passengers on board as you can confirm it yourself via the website below

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/11/01/iran/main49778shtml
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/11/01/iran/main49778.shtml

Most astonishing of my discovery was that, all records bear no next of kin, meaning no member of Mr. David Ameeraly family knows about the deposit therefore ,no member of his family will ever come forward to claim the money, In order for the bank not to transfer the said sum of sixteen Million, Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($16,500,000.00) as unclaimed funds to the emirates treasury account, the above stated funds most be claimed immediately by somebody standing in as late Mr. David Ameeraly, Next of Kin, because According to (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES LAW), at the expiration of (twelve) years; the money will revert to the ownership of the (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES) Government if nobody applies to claim the fund,

This revelation is only known to me because I was his personal account officer before I was posted to become the branch manager , now I seek your collaboration to act as next of kin to late Mr.David Ameeraly to claim the funds and move them into useful investments, we shall split the cash between our self upon the confirmation of the money into your account, I am ready to offer you 35% of the total fund and 60% for me while 5% will be set aside for any expenses might occur during the transaction,

Please note that by the virtue of my position in the bank , I have worked out the perfect modality as well as I shall provide the relevant information’s and documents for the successful claim and transfer of the funds in the account that will be provided by you, I can not stand in the forefront of this transaction because I work with the bank ,that is why I have come to you, for assistance be rest assured that this project involve no risk to you, upon the receipt of your acceptance mail ,I will like you to provide me with the following details, bellow to my private email :

1) Your direct mobile/fax number.
(2) Your name and country resident address.
(3) Your private E-mail box.

Then I shall furnish you with due process of concluding this transaction
Without any delay.
Regards
Mr.Salah Abdulaziz

Advertisement

Vampire Ascending

by Lorelei Bell

Sabrina Strong is a Touch Clairvoyant who knows a secret. She knows her mother was turned into a vampire when Sabrina was ten. Now that she is grown up, a powerful magnate in the Chicago business world hires her to reveal the identity of who relentlessly murders vampires in his ultra-modern stronghold of a hotel. [Read More...] – Including an excerpt of the first chapter.

Vampire Ascending is now available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

Channel 11 News Report - As Found Through The Washington Post Advertisement

As we all know too well, traditional newspapers are suffering from the Internet boom. Subscriber numbers are declining steadily, and the online versions (Damn if you do, damn if you don’t) don’t produce sufficient revenue to support the writing staff.

As a result, many newspapers, besides downsizing, tend to sign contracts with the devil… uhm… online advertising companies who promise high-quality online ads. However, even if you use regular Google Adsense (like this very website) you can’t prevent the display of the most despicable, misleading ad campaigns. Even if you can block ads insulting your sense of taste or style, why would you cut the hand that feeds you?

The Washington Post seems to be one of those newspapers who lower their level of integrity and pride in order to produce more revenue through clicks on their online advertisement.

The result comes in form of, in my very personal opinion, dubious ads such as:

• Channel 11 News Report – How a Small $90 Investment Turned Into $3900..
• 1 Mom’s Tip To Make $279/Day
• EXPOSED: New York Mom Makes $4,000/Month And You Won’t Believe How She Does It!
• $65/Hr Job – 25 Openings
• RMGX HOT Penny Stock – Making money vs. saving the planet? Do both! Invest today!
• Spinal Stenosis Pain? See where laser Spine Surgery Began-No Hospitalization!

You get the picture.

Don’t get me wrong, I love reading The Washington Post, especially Rob Pegoraro with his no-nonsense information on technology. I would hate to see The Washington Post vanish into nothingness. The same is true for other publications such as The Boston Globe (and their ever-annoying Netflix-popups on Boston.Com), The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, and others.

So, here’s my suggestion:

Support The Washington Post Financially Without Spending A Dime

You can support The Washington Post without spending a dime, and you can do a good deed by clicking on those ads that you personally find despicable and misleading. Every click creates some very small revenue for The Washington Post, but if we all do it frequently, it will support The Washington Post, and it will cost the advertisers.

Just a fair warning, though: Do not submit your credit card or any other information to these websites. Just click and close.

If you have doubts about the advertiser’s intention, please check out my section Making Money From Home, which describes their workings.

Pay special attention to my post The Scam: Work At Home Mom Makes $6,397/Month Part-Time, especially the numerous comments it received by those who were scammed or those who were saved by reading the post before signing up. These scams target and hit the most vulnerable people in our society, specifically those without a job. The workings of the advertisers are officially legal due to their disclaimer, basically stating that the website’s content was faked for marketing purposes.

Happy Clicking! You are doing a good deed!

Note: This post reflects my very personal opinion based on research on the topic of online advertisement. My views should not be taken as a proven fact, and they are not necessarily shared by others.

Channel 11 News Report - How a Small $90 Investment Turned Into $3900..

With unemployment numbers extremely high, everybody is looking to make a few extra bucks these days. Many people are turning to work at home programs… But, which ones are REAL and which ones are SCAMS?

We just had to find out… So we set out to do some research ourselves. We came across a blog by Jessica Holcomb of Los Angeles, CA

Like many, curiosity got the best of Jessica and she filled out a simple online form and put out just a little money to try a program she came across. Before she knew it, she discovered her secret to beating the recession, and being able to provide for her family while at home with her three children.

I read Jessica’s blog last month and decided to feature her story in our weekly investigative report. In our phone interview she told me her amazing story. “I actually make $6,000-$7,000 a month online which is enough to comfortably replace my old jobs income, especially considering I only work about 10-13 hours a week from home.

Online work has been a financial windfall for Jessica, who struggled for months to find a decent job but kept hitting dead ends. “I lost my job shortly after the recession hit, I needed reliable income, I was not interested in the “get rich quick” scams you see all over the internet. Those are all pyramid scams or stuff where you have to sell to your friends and family. I just needed a legitimate way to earn a living for me and my family. The best part of working online is that I am always home with the kids, I save a lot of money.”

And bla, bla, bla… It’s A Scam!

If you fell for this nonsense, make sure you cancel your credit card immediately! These guys will suck you dry!

For more proof check out my section Making Money From Home

Advertisement

The Bleeding Hills

A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

The Bleeding Hills is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Nobel, and any other good bookstore.

Work At Home Special Report!

Melissa Johnson from Honeoye Falls, NY never thought that she would work online, until curiosity got the best of her and she ordered a course from Millionaire author Robert Allen called Multipe Streams Of Income. Before she knew it, she discovered her secret to beating the recession, and being able to provide for her family while at home with her three children.

I read Melissa’s blog last month and decided to feature her story in our weekly consumer report. In our phone interview she told me her amazing story. “I actually make about $3,000-$4,000 a month working from home. It’s enough to comfortably replace my old jobs income, especially considering I only work about 15-18 hours a week from home.

Working online has been a financial windfall for Melissa, who struggled for months to find a decent job but kept hitting dead ends. “I lost my job shortly after the recession hit, I needed reliable income, I was not interested in the “get rich quick” scams you see all over the internet. Those are all pyramid scams or stuff where you have to sell to your friends and family. I just needed a legitimate way to earn a living for me and my family. The best part of working online is that I am always home with the kids. Thanks to the Multipul Streams of Income Kit I am giving my kids the childhood they deserve.”

And bla, bla, bla… It’s A Scam!

If you fell for this nonsense, make sure you cancel your credit card immediately! These guys will suck you dry!

For more proof check out my section Making Money From Home

Work At Home Special Report!

Melissa Johnson from Honeoye Falls, NY never thought that she would work online, until curiosity got the best of her and she ordered a course from Millionaire author Robert Allen called Multipe Streams Of Income. Before she knew it, she discovered her secret to beating the recession, and being able to provide for her family while at home with her three children.

I read Melissa’s blog last month and decided to feature her story in our weekly consumer report. In our phone interview she told me her amazing story. “I actually make about $3,000-$4,000 a month working from home. It’s enough to comfortably replace my old jobs income, especially considering I only work about 15-18 hours a week from home.

Working online has been a financial windfall for Melissa, who struggled for months to find a decent job but kept hitting dead ends. “I lost my job shortly after the recession hit, I needed reliable income, I was not interested in the “get rich quick” scams you see all over the internet. Those are all pyramid scams or stuff where you have to sell to your friends and family. I just needed a legitimate way to earn a living for me and my family. The best part of working online is that I am always home with the kids. Thanks to the Multipul Streams of Income Kit I am giving my kids the childhood they deserve.”

And bla, bla, bla… It’s A Scam!

If you fell for this nonsense, make sure you cancel your credit card immediately! These guys will suck you dry!

For more proof check out my section Making Money From Home

Just a friendly advice: Don’t fall for the scam! They’re going to suck you dry! If you already signed up, CANCEL YOUR CREDIT CARD A.S.A.P.!

I earned $163 in two days using the internet! I got it from - http://www[dot]new57flash[dot]com Your going to be so happy!

—– Forwarded Message —-
From: Madison
To: Undisclosed
Sent: Tue, January 11, 2011 3:54:26 PM
Subject: Fwd: Go Arizona

—– Forwarded Message —–

Subject: : Go Arizona

I am a legal citizen and I must show my ID when:

1. Pulled over by the police.
2. Making purchaes on my department store credit card.
3. When I show up for a doctor’s appointment.
4. When applying for or renewing a driver’s license or passport.
5. in your own home with your husband. I wish you were coming home
6. When donating blood.

I guess we as citizens of the United States are the minority!!

going at more than usual speed as she had a double crew on board.

composition; and the militia, then settled with common consent, MEMORANDUM BY ABRAHAM VAN HELSING

For more information on current Internet scams see my section: Making Money From Home

Let me just say upfront:

In my personal opinion, the “Womens Dream Team” is a scam designed to lure you into losing your money for nothing!

Their website is very cleverly designed, and they aggressively promote it through Google and other ads. I have reported about various scam schemes in the past, and if the “Womens Dream Team” is not a scam than I haven’t seen one in my entire life. See also my section Making Money from Home.

The “Womens Dream Team” website bears all the signs of a scammer’s site, especially the non-descriptive content filled with meaningless slogans. And then there are the success stories by Marsha Martone and other women, which are, in my personal opinion, blown out of proportion if true at all. There is no solid information on how you would earn your money, and they claim you don’t need any business experience.

If it sounds too good to be true, then it most certainly isn’t!

Just a fair warning: The Internet-Work-From-Home-And-Getting-Rich System does not work! You won’t even create enough income to pay for your monthly grocery bill, not mentioning your mortgage. The “Womens Dream Team” will most probably ask you for a small payment of a few Dollars, and then they might charge you a higher fee after a week or so plus a monthly fee somewhere between $50 and $150.

Just a few guidelines if you are planning to sign up with them or already have:

• Read the terms and conditions carefully. They might indicate hidden fees, or even comments that their claims of success have been manufactured for promotional purposes.
• Do NOT sign up with the “Womens Dream Team” if they ask you for an upfront payment! … Actually, I just found out they do. Minimum $50. They call it an “investment into the future.” Help yourself and get one of the “… for dummies” books on creating income through the Internet (no insult meant; I use them, too.)
• In case you have already signed up with the “Womens Dream Team” and provided them your credit card information there is only one solution: CANCEL YOUR CREDIT CARD! It’s most probably the only way to prevent further charges.
• Contact marsha@womensdreamteam.com and demand more details on how the Internet-based home business is supposed to work, especially the means of income they claim to provide.

Yes, I use Twitter to promote my website, and, according to my web statistics, I do create some traffic by using Twitter. My problem is with the vast number of “followers” who are not in the least interested in my posts … uhm… tweets, and it seems to me that Caboodle, apparently a provider of mobile websites, encourages extensive and relentless spamming on the Twitter website.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with promoting business, but hiring people to attach as “followers” to innocent Twitter users like a leech is not how I understand Twitter’s purpose. I personally consider Caboodle one of the biggest spammers on the Internet.

The whole story started this morning when, in the time range of about twenty minutes, I received seven (Wait! Here comes another one! And another one…) e-mails notifying me of new Twitter “followers.” After an initial excitement (“Man, I am really popular!”) I realized that most of these new “followers” are in some way sponsored by Caboodle, or have nothing in common with me.

Gary Hill (@CaboodleCats) is now following your tweets (@FrogenYozurt) on Twitter.

Rhonda Hulsey (@CaboodleIs4U) is now following your tweets (@FrogenYozurt) on Twitter.

Jerry Harpin (@docaboodle) is now following your tweets (@FrogenYozurt) on Twitter.

Steve Sleeper (@SleeperCaboodle) is now following your tweets (@FrogenYozurt) on Twitter.

Robert G Wade (@time2caboodle) is now following your tweets (@FrogenYozurt) on Twitter.

Well, if the purpose of Twitter lies only in the collection of “followers,” regardless of their interests, then, maybe, Twitter is not for me. I, for my part, reported all of the above as spammers.

In the case of Steve Sleeper (@SleeperCaboodle – info@stevesleeper.com)  I checked out his website reference, and it leads to a site with the typical scammer design: A single page with little real information, filled with large fonts in red and blue on white background plus the usual promotional, misleading video and the contact form. All this is designed to collect as many as possible e-mail addresses, and you can be sure they will spam the living daylight out of you without a chance to unsubscribe. In addition, they may even sell your e-mail reference to other, “related” businesses.

Do you have similar experiences with the Caboodle spam, or can you contribute details? If yes, please leave a comment below. I am interested in your view.

Supplement October 15, 2010

Now that I have experienced the “wrath” of some unhappy Caboodle leeches, let me quote Penny Sansevieri, top literature marketing and social network specialist, who, among many others, writes for the Huffington Post:

The Right Way to Approach a Social Networking Site

There’s an old saying that goes: fake it till you make it. This is not true of social networking. You can’t fake anything. The best sites are those with an authentic voice. Social network members can sense an individual who is pretending to be just an “average Joe,” but is really just looking for a quick sale. The worst thing you can do is constantly promote your book.

Users join social media sites to socialize, learn and get to know what you’re offering. Be helpful or be gone. That’s the motto of the social networks. Remember that social media (much like anything on the Internet) is a trust-based model. You gain trust by helping, advising, educating, or enlightening your readers. Seth Godin, who started one of the best social networking sites out there today (Squidoo.com), is a great example of what to do when promoting yourself. He offers helpful advice, tips and insights but rarely promotes his book. Does he sell books? You bet he does, but he’s helpful first, and a sales person second (sethgodin.typepad.com). The point is, gain someone’s trust and you’ll probably gain a sale, too.

See the full post at Bloggers: The Right Way to Approach a Social Networking Site.

Click to enlarge...

Have You Ever Thought About Working From Home… Online?

Jessica Holcomb of Greenfield, MA never thought that she would, until curiosity got the best of her and she filled out a simple online form and put out just a little money to try a program she came across. Before she knew it, she discovered her secret to beating the recession, and being able to provide for her family while at home with her three children.

I read Jessica’s blog last month and decided to feature her story in our weekly consumer report. In our phone interview she told me her amazing story. “I actually make $6,000-$7,000 a month online which is enough to comfortably replace my old jobs income, especially considering I only work about 10-13 hours a week from home.

Online work has been a financial windfall for Jessica, who struggled for months to find a decent job but kept hitting dead ends. “I lost my job shortly after the recession hit, I needed reliable income, I was not interested in the “get rich quick” scams you see all over the internet. Those are all pyramid scams or stuff where you have to sell to your friends and family. I just needed a legitimate way to earn a living for me and my family. The best part of working online is that I am always home with the kids, I save a lot of money.”

You may have found this Online ad on abcnews.com, msnbc.com, washingtonpost.com, or somewhere else, but don’t be fooled! ABC News, MSNBC, and others are not responsible for the ads they display, and they don’t add any value to the actual advertisement.

Just a fair warning: The so-called “News 1 Report” is a scam!

If you found this Online ad, do yourself a favor and be extremely cautious. DO NOT, by any means, submit your credit card information, and if you already did it, CANCEL YOUR CREDIT CARD! These guys will suck you dry!

A few hints:

• The so-called reporters are definitely a fake. The photo of the young woman shown above appears on many known scam websites.
• Jacqueline Douglas and Ralph Stevens used to be Jennifer Theuriau and James Field, top news anchors of CNNews. See my post CNNews Supports “Online Work at Home Program” Scam.
• The so-called “News 1″ logo is a fake.
• The website structure is identical to many known scam websites.
• The hyperlinks on the “News 1″ website don’t work.

Still not convinced? Read my post on http://www.frogenyozurt.com/my-articles/making-money-from-home/.

Read the comments from readers of my website on the bottom of this page: The Scam: Work At Home Mom Makes $6,397/Month Part-Time.

Remember: If it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is!

Advertisement

Queen of Misfortune

A Lady Jane Grey Novel by Peter Carroll

Now Available As Paperback And Kindle Edition!

Queen Of Misfortune is the fictional story of Lady Jane Grey as told by her beloved tutor, John Aylmer. At the time of her execution a stranger is recorded to have assisted her when, blind folded, she lost her way upon the scaffold. Was it the same ‘stranger’ who was also recorded to have visited her when she was imprisoned in the Tower? Little is known of this unfortunate girl who was beheaded for treason in the 16^th Century. She was only 16. She is omitted from the list of monarchs but was actually queen for nine days. Author Peter Carroll, in his novel, follows John Aylmer’s close relationship with Jane as her tutor and later, as she grows up, her lover. [More...]

Available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

Click to enlarge...

“Have you ever heard of “Penny Auctions”? If you haven’t, but you’re the type always looking for bargains and amazing deals, then you’re in luck! Penny auctions are a new auction model that are rapidly becoming very popular in the US and Europe. Penny auctions allow individuals to do just what it implies, win popular products for pennies on the dollar. Leading the way in this new auction model is QuiBids.com, an Oklahoma based company. QuiBids auctions off brand new popular products such as iPads, Macbooks, HDTVs, Digital Cameras, Gaming Consoles, and more for steep discounts of 75%, 80%, or even 85% off retail price.

Sounds too good to be true right? Surprisingly, it’s not. See, QuiBids isn’t run like your typical auction. Along with people snagging great deals at a fraction of the product’s cost is the fact that users pay to participate in these auctions. Each bid placed on QuiBids costs users $0.60. By collecting $0.60 for each bid placed, QuiBids is able to afford giving away products on the cheap such as Macbooks for $23.72 or Nikon Digital Cameras for $57.42.”

You may have found this Online ad on abcnews.com, msnbc.com, washingtonpost.com, or somewhere else, but don’t be fooled! ABC News, MSNBC, and others are not responsible for the ads they display, and they don’t add any value to the actual advertisement.

Just a fair warning: The so-called “Penny Auction” may be another scam!

If you found this Online ad, do yourself a favor and be extremely cautious. DO NOT, by any means, submit your credit card information, and if you already did it, CANCEL YOUR CREDIT CARD! If these guys are what I suspect they are, they will suck you dry!

A few hints:

• The so-called reporter Julie is definitely a fake. The photo of the young woman shown on the website appears on many known scam websites.
• The so-called “Consumer Tips Digest” logo is a fake.
• The website structure is identical to many known scam websites.
• The YouTube videos, including the “News 9″ logo, are fake. They are being mass-produced for a number of scam websites.
• A company like Apple would never allow any retailer to sell their products for 75+% off retail price.

Still not convinced? Read my post on http://www.frogenyozurt.com/my-articles/making-money-from-home/.

Read the comments from readers of my website on the bottom of this page: The Scam: Work At Home Mom Makes $6,397/Month Part-Time.

Remember: If it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is!

Advertisement

Vampire Ascending

by Lorelei Bell Sabrina Strong is a Touch Clairvoyant who knows a secret. She knows her mother was turned into a vampire when Sabrina was ten. Now that she is grown up, a powerful magnate in the Chicago business world hires her to reveal the identity of who relentlessly murders vampires in his ultra-modern stronghold of a hotel. [Read More...] – Including an excerpt of the first chapter.

Vampire Ascending is now available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

Julia

“America had to tackle the drastic economic downturn affecting the sustainability of the country. The major worry was the Huge Debt that gave rise to a great number of bankruptcy cases and taking the situation from bad to worse. In order to find a solution to this financial debacle, new regulations were introduced to which creditors have had to resort to relieving people’s debt.

This plan to reduce debt can be seen as an attractive effort to relieve Americans from theirdebt burden. The new regulations made available has led to feasible debt reduction options.

By simply filling out a short qualification form (below), Americans are able to tap into this life-saving assistance. You just have to initiate the process yourself.

We began our investigation when we received a letter from a Linda Jenkins, a single mother of 2 young girls in Dallas, Texas. After a devastating loss left her jobless and alone, Linda found herself facing the real threat of losing her home and not being able to feed her children.

I read Linda’s story last month and decided to feature her story in our local finance report. In our correspondence she told me about her remarkable journey.”

You may have found this Online ad on abcnews.com, msnbc.com, washingtonpost.com, or somewhere else, but don’t be fooled! ABC News, MSNBC, and others are not responsible for the ads they display, and they don’t add any value to the actual advertisement.

Just a fair warning: The so-called “Consumer Debt Plan” may be another scam!

Click to enlarge...

If you found this Online ad, do yourself a favor and be extremely cautious. DO NOT, by any means, submit your credit card information, and if you already did it, CANCEL YOUR CREDIT CARD! If these guys are what I suspect they are, they will suck you dry!

A few hints:

• The so-called reporter Julia is definitely a fake. The photo of the young woman shown above appears on many know scam websites.
• The so-called “News 6″ logo is a fake. The two people on top are also used to resemble Jennifer Theuriau and James Field, top news anchors of CNNews, yet another fake. See my post http://www.frogenyozurt.com/2010/05/cnnews-supports-online-work-at-home-program-scam/.
• The website structure is identical to many known scam websites.
• The hyperlinks on the “News 6″ website don’t work.

Still not convinced? Read my post on http://www.frogenyozurt.com/my-articles/making-money-from-home/.

Read the comments from readers of my website on the bottom of this page: The Scam: Work At Home Mom Makes $6,397/Month Part-Time.

Remember: If it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is!

Advertisement

The Bleeding Hills

A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

The Bleeding Hills is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Nobel, and any other good bookstore.

Wilfred, discover how entrepreneurs and small business owners are creating incomes using the Internet. Also, learn how people are making money using Google, Yahoo, eBay, and MSN.

And I say: Welcome to the biggest dog and pony show in America!

It happens about once a year that I am invited to an Internet Income Training Conference in the local neighborhood. I attended once before, just for the kicks of it, and it was what I call a dog and pony show. It is surprising to see so many people gullible enough to fall for their scam.

They will tell you stories about the regular guy who started his online business, and these days he sits at the swimming pool of his five-million-dollar villa in Florida, sipping his vodka-martini, shaken not stirred. He checks into his online system once a day just to check the sales. The money just flows 24 hours a day, 365 days a year right into your checking account. They won’t mention customer service, product shipment, merchandise return management, accounts payable, tax preparation, liability insurance, etc. Heck, when you make ten million dollars a year, you’ll have people to take care of that…

In this last case, C. Kevin Oliver – VP Conference Relations (the title alone cries out bull…), promises heaven and offers a bunch of free gifts just to attend the conference. My thinking is, that somebody has to pay for these gifts. If they rent a 100+ capacity conference room and have gifts (including a FREE computer drawing – I’m not kidding) for everybody, we are talking about major marketing expenses, and somehow they must be looking for a return of investment!

Don’t be fooled, their service will cost you an arm and a leg! Go to reputable websites like Daddy.com, eBay.com, etc. and create your own online store with minimal costs involved!

The conductor of the training, storesonline.com (they don’t provide a real company name), will do everything to talk you into signing a contract with them.

But be warned: Starting and running an e-commerce website is easy, and you can find out how by simply buying a book (See list below), rather than signing a contract with storesonline.com.

And yes, you can create income through the Internet, provided you have a product to sell. But this is where the problem starts. The question is, do you have a product? If yes, you’re in good shape, but I doubt the majority of the conference attendees have the glimmer of an idea.

And yes, you can create income through Google, Yahoo, eBay, MSN, and others. If you’re really good you will make about $120 per month, and this may happen after a year or two of major blood, sweat, and tears. See also my post Does The Google Adsense Get-Rich-System Work?

The scam starts when businesses provide you information (they never promise success) on how to start your own e-commerce business. In addition they have the solution for you, like a website and online store service, all this for a big fee (setup fee, monthly fee for the website, monthly fee for the e-commerce system). You will easily end up with an initial investment of 1,000+ Dollars and monthly fees around $100 per month.

For a comparison: I pay roughly $150 a year to maintain several websites including e-commerce capability. You get there by educating yourself.

Last, but not least, if you received one of their invitation: By all means, do attend! Get a free meal, and get your free gifts. Just don’t sign a contract. You will find that my information is correct.

Literature on running your own online business

As I mentioned before, educate yourself simply by reading literature on the topic. Here is a short list of recommended works, and they are all available through Amazon.com. Please feel free to browse for more books at your local Barnes & Noble, Borders, or online bookstores.

This comprehensive, market-leading text emphasizes the three major driving forces behind e-commerce—technology change, business development, and social issues—to provide a coherent conceptual framework for understanding the field. 

The Revolution is Just Beginning; E-commerce Business Models and Concepts; The Internet and World Wide Web: E-commerce Infrastructure; Building an E-commerce Website; Online Security and Payment Systems; E-commerce Marketing Concepts; E-commerce Marketing Communications; Ethical, Social, and Political Issues in E-commerce; Online Retailing and Services; Online Content and Media; Social Networks, Auctions, and Portals; B2B E-commerce: Supply Chain Management and Collaborative Commerce.

The internet has changed how business is done. It has created a whole new world of search engines, web hosts, venture capital funding, business-to-business e-commerce and tech-savvy customers. At the same time, it has leveled the playing field, making it possible for small businesses to compete against established companies and strike it big. The reality byte is that e-business entrepreneurs can make more profit than ever before—if they have the right knowledge.

Start Your Own e-Business provides that knowledge, enabling you to compete on a whole new level. Armed with a comprehensive understanding of the web and the technical skills necessary to excel, you’ll learn how to skillfully navigate your way through this virtual university of opportunity.

Let this guide lead the way, as it:

· Reveals secrets for growing bigger, faster by finding a niche, getting funding, building partnerships and tapping international markets · Highlights pointers, pitfalls and words of wisdom from successful pioneers, CEOs of name-brand sites and small dotcom builders · Offers a complete course on website building, from getting started on a shoestring budget to using advanced techniques sure to attract attention

Equip yourself with the tools and knowledge needed to survive and thrive on the web. Join the thousands of entrepreneurs who have harnessed the power of the internet to reach millions of people worldwide, compete with the big guys and grow a successful business. This guide and a solid business idea are all you need to succeed.

‘The Complete E-Commerce Book offers a wealth of information on how to design, build and maintain a successful web-based business…. Many of the chapters are filled with advice and information on how to incorporate current e-business principles o

Make your e-commerce vision a success with this comprehensive, step-by-step handbook. Whether your company is a startup or well-established, you’ll learn how to plan, implement and operate a successful e-commerce site — from selecting the right software and Internet service provider through effectively marketing your online business.

Where the customer is a sucker

When you upgrade your phone with Sprint, do not accept $20 in exchange for your old phone­. This is a ploy so that you have to buy insurance, which actually gives you very little for your money.

Insurance is not a bad thing if it actually covers you, but with Sprint’s insurance, for $7 per month, if you lose your phone or it breaks and you need a new one, you’ll still have to pay a $100 deductible for a smartphone or $50 deductible for a regular phone. I paid $150 for my smartphone when i first purchased it with Sprint, but with Sprint’s insurance i’d have to pay two thirds of that value for a replacement! So what’s my $7 a month for then?!

To add further insult, the ‘new’ phone will not even be new, but a refurbished old phone, probably broken by some previous Sprint customer sucker.

However if you’ve kept your old phone, you can just get them to reactivate that. It means you need no insurance and you need never buy a new phone until you become eligible for your next upgrade, whereupon you will be sold a brand new phone at a substantially reduced price.

Perhaps, if, after several years, you find that you have accumulated phones, then why not give them your oldest, carppiest phone for the $20 and teach them a lesson about being suckered. Whatever you do though, always keep the most recent phone from which you have just upgraded

The tracker ball on my husband’s Blackberry stopped working, Sprint refused to fix it, made him buy a new phone and then gave him $20 off in exchange for his unfixable old phone. Suckered !!!

Annabelle

A Life Lived Ridiculously
When a girl with obsessive compulsive disorder falls in love with a sociopath, she must fight for her sanity and her life.
http://www.ridiculouslife.net/

The results of thousands of dollars wasted, excruciating pain endured and time spent on hair removal at City Skin and Laser Clinic in San Francisco

Doesn’t it just sound amazing, a few dollars, a few appointments, a touch of pain and you are hair free forever. Well if you are dark haired and ethnic like myself then you’ve probably spent your youth suffering through creams, waxes, shaving, tweezing and despair.And now science has brought you a miracle. Well, you know the saying, if it sounds too good to be true, then it is too good to be true. This laser ‘technology’ is exploiting the desperation of thousands of women. As if it weren’t painful enough going through life hairier than most of the men we date, now we get the added bonus of being robbed.

Here’s my experience with one laser clinic in San Francisco, named City Skin and Laser Clinic (111 Maiden Lane): Full legs costs $420 per visit, full arms costs $225 per visit, lip and chin costs $85 per visit. According to the clinic, no more than six to eight appointments are required and then you are released from your hairy prison for life.

So, from August 2007 until August 2010, I went every six weeks. It was sheer agony (even with the topical lidocaine that they use to numb the area), but it was going to eliminate embarrassment and self hatred from my life… right?

Three years and SIXTEEN appointments later the results are as follows: The leg hair seems to have weakened somewhat. However the arm and facial hair has not only thickened, but begun to sprout in areas that were previously hair free ! The upper arm, which previously had barely a wisp of fine hairs is now a carpet of think black pubes, my knuckles are hairier than some of the dates I’ve rejected because of their hairy knuckles, and I have started to grow hair on my neck !!!

So, what does my sweet therapist at City Skin and Laser clinic have to say? “Honey, it’s all in your head.”

No, it’s on my arms, hands and face, and the only thing that is in my head is how I have spent a ton of money, endured unbelievable pain and wasted hours of time for something that has not only failed but has made matters worse.

Girls (and guys), don’t waste your time or money on laser hair removal. If you are descended from a rug, then… actually I don’t know how to finish that sentence. How do we live with our aesthetic disadvantage? Anyone who is successfully living a hairy life, please feel free to contact me and let me know how it is you get through life without sinking into a deep, suicidal depression ?

All suggestions, words of encouragement or just effective techniques for killing oneself welcome.

Annabelle

A Life Lived Ridiculously
When a girl with obsessive compulsive disorder falls in love with a sociopath, she fights for her sanity and her life.
http://www.ridiculouslife.net/