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Directory of Articles posted by Andrew Murrayfield
Home Business Scams
Would it not be wonderful, if we could all sit at home and earn our income, doing maybe two or three hours of actual work each day. No having to drag yourself out of bed each day to go to a job you do not really enjoy. Always being able to ‘take the day off’ if you feel so inclined. Having the opportunity to work double the number of hours and double your pay (only if you want to though!).
Well, I don’t know about you, but to me that really sounds wonderful, just show me the way, where do I sign, I want to start right away!
Many millions of people also think this way and are searching for this ‘Holy Grail’ answer, to a better and easier life, and because of this quest, their normal guards or suspicions are at a much lower level than would normally be the case.
Consequently every year more and more people opt (or try to opt!) out of conventional employment, choosing to set themselves up as a home business, believing the wild claims they read about on internet or newspaper scam adverts.
Then, a large proportion of them find the hard way that these work from home opportunities that sounded too good to be true, were in fact, too good to be true. Consequently, these gullible innocents waste millions of dollars as they make the purveyors of these “work from home scams” even richer.
How do these actually work schemes work, and how, or why do they take people in. Lets look at a couple that you see everyday on internet job ads or newspaper ads.
Envelope stuffing
One that has been around since the dark ages and is still going strong is ‘envelope stuffing’
“Earn Guaranteed $350-$700 per week working 2 hours per day in the comfort of your own home stuffing envelopes”.
Sounds wonderful, I wish it could actually work. Why does it not work and what makes it one of the oldest internet job scams? Well nowadays any corporation, or company that requires large amounts of letters or documents putting into envelopes for posting or distribution will already have a sophisticated, automatic envelope stuffer on site, that will fold, insert, seal and then franks the envelope at the rate of 5000 per hour, label application at an hourly rate of 12000. If this is the case, then what about all these fabulous money making opportunities advertised?
Well when you reply to the scam advert, firstly you are identifying yourself to the home business scam artists as a potentially vulnerable target, so you will be placed on the list of potential customers, to bombard with future job opportunities.
Secondly, you do not receive any envelopes or material to stuff into them, but you will probably be sent more promotional material telling you about more lucrative money making schemes available, and you would only have to send a small amount of money for the instructions to be forwarded to you for this alternative scheme. If you are then further ‘sucked in’, the instructions received in return for the cash you sent, will tell you that to make money all you have to do is place a small advert similar to the one you replied to in the first place! If you persevere with the envelope stuffing route, then you will probably have been told that the next step involves sending more money for a package containing advertising costs, postage costs, envelopes, printing etc, which are useless. You are also asked to recruit friends and acquaintances for the same scheme all of whom become part of your ‘downline’ and you earn commissions on the packages that they in turn buy. Whilst all this is going on, no envelopes are actually stuffed, just the purchase of the system or anything associated with it.
It is on record that the US Postal Inspection Service does not know of any work at home envelope stuffing business that has ever come close to producing the wild income claims made by the promotional adverts.
Home Product Assembly
This scam is aimed mostly at the mothers who have to stay at home looking after kids, cannot go out to work, and could benefit from some extra cash. The advert will claim that anyone can easily assemble these products using a few simple tools that you probably already have at home, and when you submit the assembled product you will be paid immediately.
When you apply to the company, you receive a booklet or pamphlet that has a description of the finished product. Once the item is finished (as many as you can produce) you return it to the company and you will be paid a certain amount for each item assembled. Once again this all sounds fairly straightforward doesn’t it.
Well here is the scam side of it all.
When you receive your instructions for assembly, you will be informed that all materials for the project will have to be purchased from the actual company involved (this is to ensure that the ‘correct quality’ of material is used). In most cases the materials could have been purchased a lot cheaper elsewhere. So to start with you have already paid money to the company and are out of pocket. Then after submitting the finished product for payment, you receive a letter (not containing a cheque!) and this letter informs you that your finished products have been rejected for being sub-standard due to some ludicrous reason or other.
Why would this happen you ask? Well the simple answer is that the products you are asked to assemble do not have any actual buyers. The only money made by this scam is by the originating company or individual selling you overpriced materials to complete your tasks.
More home business scams will be discussed in future articles.
Posted by Andrew Murrayfield
Scams | Home Business Scams | Paid Survey Scams
www.workathome-moneyscams.com
Nigerian Letter Scams
Continuing my series of articles on various Internet money making scams, I will today look at the now infamous ‘Nigerian Letter Scam’.
This, sometimes quite nasty, scam (I will explain later) has been around in various formats since the late 70’s. It is also probably on the files of just about every fraud officer from every country, worldwide.
Originally this scam was perpetrated with the ‘victim’ receiving an actual letter postmarked in Nigeria, and to all intents and purposes looking like an official document!
In the letter, a bogus Nigerian official/civil servant informs the recipient of a large amount of money (millions of dollars) which has been ‘overpaid’ by the Nigerian Government whilst they were procuring some contract or other. This so called ‘loose’ money needs to be disposed of and to do this they need to recruit the services of a willing third party, either a private individual or company, to provide bank details so that the money can be deposited into their account.
The ultimate aim of this scammer is to convince the ‘mark’ that they have been singled out to become a partner in this (what would appear to be!) very profitable arrangement. The bogus official claims he cannot use his own bank account and so asks the ‘victim’ to accept a large amount of commission for allowing this arrangement to take place.
If they actually manage to ‘hook’ someone in the course of the ensuing correspondence, then the gullible ‘mark’ is reassured various types of documentation bearing official looking letter heading, and subsequently guided into providing all sorts of personal information including, of course, bank details. Then when everything looks set to go, a slight problem (on the Nigerian side) occurs! This is either a hiccup at the bank, a money transfer problem or even some official that needs bribing. The, now well and truly hooked ‘mark’, is asked to send a small amount of money (in relation to the principal sum), this is to allow the transaction to proceed. Needless to say, if transferred, this money is never seen again! Oh, and by the way, the millions of dollars never materialises into the victim’s bank account.
Now it has been known for meetings to be set up prior to the actual ‘stings’ and the victim or members of their families have actually been kidnapped and held for ransom. The bank details have also been used to drain any bank accounts.
These letters have now moved on somewhat and are usually received as emails, sometimes using the bogus official route, other times they are from individuals (usually grieving widows) trying to move inherited money out of the country to a ‘safer place’.
At the end of the day, no matter which route they take, the basic idea is the same, they promise to put a vast fortune into your bank account, but before the transaction can go through, you have to send them some money to cover some minor administration cost.
Has this actually taken in people, sure it has?
Are people still (after 30 years of it) being ‘taken in’? Unbelievably as it may seem they are. Why, do I think, this still happens. The reason is simple; greed overtakes logic!
Posted by Andrew Murrayfield
Scams | Home Business Scams | Paid Survey Scams
www.workathome-moneyscams.com
Work At Home Moms Beware!
In this day and age a new trend is emerging where a group known collectively as single moms want to stay at home looking after the children, whilst being able to contribute towards the family income.
This group actually comprises of single moms, disabled mothers, moms low on cash and mothers who generally would like a better standard of living.
Finding ways to work from home, ideally doing only a few hours each day and still being able to bring up your children without resorting to employing nannies etc. would seem like the ideal solution. Many moms look to the internet or local newspaper adverts for opportunities to earn money from home. Unfortunately the scammers know this, and to them, these unsuspecting victims are ‘easy meat’.
They are faced with adverts that promise a better lifestyle, lots of free time, and the ability to earn vast quantities of extra cash with no real training or expertise. This is exactly what the unsuspecting moms would like to hear and therefore they become very easy targets.
What makes things even worse is the fact that the majority of moms who lose money to the scammers, never try to retrieve the cash they have paid out in good faith.
So what are the most prevalent scams that one comes across nowadays?
Let us start with three of the most popular that can be found anywhere you look for working from home opportunities, these being: -
- Envelope Stuffing
- Medical Billing
- Home Assembly
Each of these three take a different route to the same end. That end being to make you pay upfront for a service that basically is non-existent.
Envelope Stuffing
Envelope Stuffing scams promise moms up to $2000 for mailing 400 brochures with free postage and stationary supplies. After calling a toll free number, a pre- recorded
message instructs you to leave your name and address for more information. Shortly afterwards you will receive a letter claiming that if you pay the $35.00 registration fee then for every envelope you fill and post, $5.00 will be paid to your account.
So you pay the fee, only to find that you either get a letter telling you to place an advert exactly the same as the one you replied to, or a list of companies that if contacted already have in-house envelope sealing and addressing machines, and as such do not require your services!
Medical Billing
Medical Billing ads lure consumers with promises of substantial income working from home full- or part-time - "no experience required." They direct consumers to call a toll-free number for more information.
On calling, a sales representative will entice you to sign up by telling you that the processing of medical claims is a very lucrative business, that doctors are desperate for help with electronic claims processing, and that you - even without any experience - can do this work from the comfort of your home, after you have bought the software off them, for a charge of sometimes up to $8000.
In exchange for the initial fee, they claim to provide everything you supposedly need to launch your medical billing business: the software program to process the claims and a list of prospective clients ready and waiting.
But the reality is that few consumers who pay for medical billing opportunities find clients or make any money, let alone earn the promised substantial income. The software consists of various forms and letters; anyone could design.
Competition in the medical billing market is fierce, especially for those who are new to it. Many doctors' offices process their own medical claims. Doctors who contract
out their medical billing often use established firms, not individuals working from home.
The end result is you lose the total amount invested!
Home Product Assembly
This scam can be very depressing for many work at home moms. The advert will claim that anyone can easily assemble various products using a few simple tools that you probably already have at home, and when you submit the assembled product you will be paid immediately.
When you apply to the company, you receive a booklet or pamphlet that has a description of the finished product. Once the items are finished (as many as you can produce) you return them to the company and you will be paid a certain amount for each item assembled. Once again this all sounds fairly straightforward doesn’t it.
Well here is the scam side of it all.
After paying for your assembly package, you will receive your instructions for assembly; you will be informed that all materials for the project will have to be purchased from the actual company involved (this is to ensure that the ‘correct quality’ of material is used). In most cases the materials could have been purchased a lot cheaper elsewhere. So to start with you have already paid money to the company and are out of pocket. Then after submitting the finished product for payment, you receive a letter (not containing a cheque!) and this letter informs you that your finished products have been rejected for being sub-standard due to some ludicrous reason or other.
Why would this happen you ask? Well the simple answer is that the products you are asked to assemble do not have any actual buyers. The only money made by this scam is by the originating company or individual selling you overpriced materials to complete your tasks. Very upsetting if you have spent many hours carefully assembling products you believe will provide you substantial income.
I have listed three common scams to affect WAHM, many others will be listed or discussed on our site Work At Home Money Scams.
Tips for Work at Home Moms on how to spot internet scams
- The first line states you make $100’s or $1000’s per day or week.
- The initial ad uses lots of capital letters and exclamation marks.
- They say ‘no experience is needed’
- Only working a few hours per week (even in your pyjamas!) guarantees easy cash.
- The ads will make out that you need to join immediately and places are limited, or a special offer is on.
- You are always asked to send a fee up-front for some item e.g. Enrolment fee, start up package etc.
- If it sounds too good to be true, then it most probably is.
- If the company in question uses free hosting- any legitimate company will have its own domain.
If you are a mom wanting to work from home please do not despair because opportunities are out there. Keep an eye on our website and do your homework before you commit any money to any advertised internet home business opportunity.
Posted by Andrew Murrayfield
Scams | Home Business Scams | Paid Survey Scams
www.workathome-moneyscams.com
Alternative to Clickbank for Webmasters
It would appear that virtually every man and his dog is trying to find some easy way of making money online. A large number of would be home business entrepreneurs have already set themselves up using the ‘Rich Jerk’ methodology. This being to sell affiliate ‘Get Rich Quick’ programmes using either, templated ‘Rich Jerk’ websites (freely supplied, but tied in to hosting ‘deals’), or sites that they have created themselves. The common factor, I would say in most cases, well in fact there are probably two common factors, these being (a) Very few actually make money and (b) They are using Clickbank as a source for the affiliate programmes. A relatively ‘new kid on the block’, and one which is proving far superior to Clickbank for the established sellers of work from home programmes, is ‘Traffic Payouts.com’. They specialise in work from home programmes, and currently only promote three such schemes. This may seem very small compared to Clickbank, however when you consider that they have what was the number one converting site available on the internet, this being ‘Type At Home.com’, as well as Paid Surveys etc and Data Entry Made Easy. These sites all have a very high conversion into sales ratio (much better than anything currently offered on Clickbank ) as well as a low sales to refund rate. You earn a very generous 70% commission on the sales amount, and considering the conversion rate for genuine visitors to the sites are 2-3% then 100 ‘clicks’ is equivalent to approximately $90 revenue!Not only do they immediately confirm a sale to you via e-mail (it is very satisfying to check your ‘inbox’ in the morning, and find a host of:- ‘Congratulations You Have Made Another Sale’ e-mails), but also they have a fantastic webmaster referral programme that generates you one of the best downline incomes available anywhere. Combine this with the fact that they are now paying directly into PayPal twice a month with no ‘hidden’ extra commissions taken out, and to top all this they are providing, on a monthly basis some really fantastic prizes for the top selling affiliates.Please check out the ‘bonus’ section of the website ‘here’...
So what more can I say?... If you would like access to the top selling ‘work from home ‘ programmes available today, coming with a first class support desk, great advertising banners and text links for your site, together with the opportunity to actually earn money each month as opposed to just paying anything you might earn from sales, to Google Adwords or Overture 'ppc' campaigns, then you must check out ‘Traffic Payouts.com’.It costs nothing to have a look, or to join!
Posted by Andrew Murrayfield
Scams | Home Business Scams | Paid Survey Scams
www.workathome-moneyscams.com
Constantly looking to help Webmasters find the best online potential Andrew advocates the site ‘Traffic Payouts.com’
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