Internet Business Scams

Posted by admin on 3 June, 2009 under Business advice, Online business advice | 6 Comments to Read

I felt it necessary to write something about Internet Business Scams, as I get bombarded with emails all the time on spurious offers!

The most obvious one is the Nigerian (or similar) that has millions of Dollars that he or she needs to be transferred to your bank account and the scam usually involves some official or government minister. This internet scam also involves you sharing in the funds so that you are promised to receive several million dollars yourself! – if you have not seen one of these emails or if you are not aware of this scam – note that “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!”

If anyone has been scammed by this type of fraudster then please post your comments here, as I and others are sure to want to know. The way I understand that this works is that they get your bank details and ask you to deposit funds into one of their own banks in order to set the deal up.

If you get sucked in and deposit the first amount requested, they then come up with a reason why you should deposit more…and so on. It was reported a while ago that one person ended up loosing some £50,000 in one of these Nigerian Internet Business Scams!

Other types of Internet Business Scams are whereby you are promised to make a fortune overnight, when in fact there is little chance of doing anything of the sort. There are many MLM schemes or Multi Level Marketing schemes out there that promise the world and in reality have no substance.

My suggestion would be to use known and reputed affiliate programs like Commission Junction or DGM and set up your own website whereby your visitors click on links to your own affiliates, whereby you earn a commission for every sale made from the traffic you send their way.

If however, you are considering a MLM scheme please use your common sense and take time to check out the company. Ask to speak with existing MLM members and ask for testimonials. Make sure that the company does have an office and you might even want to get a copy of their accounts from Companies House if it is a UK company, or the official government organisation where company accounts are submitted in your country or of where the company is registered.

When looking at an MLM type scheme look at whether their claims seem realistic and also look at how long there particular scheme has been running for. Has the market already been saturated with the product or are the claims that the company makes about the product realistic. See if you can get copies of customer testimonials to verify any claims.

It is unlikely that you will make money quickly in whatever you do – there are many “Get Rich Quick Schemes” out there that simply do not work. These companies work on people’s emotions and one of these emotions they work on is greed and the need to have money. They also suggest that you will make it without too much hard work – think about this very carefully.