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How to Spot an Online Scam?



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How to Spot an Online Scam?

Part of what I do on one of my websites is review online opportunities to make money and the conclusion I have come to is that there are very few real and legitimate websites that will teach you how to make money.

The rest appear to range from downright scams to just plain shoddy opportunities.

What really concerns me is the amount of people that fall for these scams when they don't need to!

Here are a few things to look out for that I consider to be the warning signs of scams. If a website you come across has any of these, then please just be wary!

It Sounds Too Good To Be True

If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. Any website that claims you will be making a huge amount of money with them is very likely a scam!

Make Money on Autopilot

Any website that claims you will be making loads of money on "autopilot" through their system is almost definitely bound to be a scam!

Secret Formula, Never Seen Before, Google Loophole, Instantly Rank you at #1 on Google?

Seriously? That they are going to share with you? If I found a secret formula, that nobody else knew I would hang on to it and make my millions. Why on earth would I swamp the online market with something like this?

A Google loophole? Firstly this is not likely, certainly not at the rate that so many people are claiming. However even if a "Google loophole" is found how long do you think it will take Google to notice and close that loophole, leaving your website penalized?

MLM, Pyramid Schemes - businesses based on recruiting?

Oh no thank you.

MLM just sucks, really it does. It is not a sustainable business long term. Some people do make money yes, but most people don't. The majority of people that join MLM lose money.

If there is an "MLM opportunity" but no real product then it is even worse... stay away from pyramid schemes.

Once you join an MLM scheme suddenly the product is almost completely forgotten and the focus is on recruiting only.

Rather try affiliate marketing!

Flashy Website with no real substance or information

You are going to make thousands, really really fast... on autopilot... but HOW?

If you are on a website and they don't explain to you how you will be making money before you sign up be very wary.

A legitimate opportunity will tell you exactly how you will make money, they will often offer you a free trial too.

A Countdown Clock?

Does the website have a count down clock? This is often to make you think you will lose this opportunity if you don't sign up right away.

Trust me on this, close the website and go back the next day. You will see the same countdown the next day and the next week.

Do not rush into anything because of a count down clock.

Sales Video Only? Flashy Show Off?

This is so typical of scams, they have hardly any information on their website except a flashy sales video. Fancy cars? Wads of cash? Telling you how rich they are and how they just want to help YOU get rich too because they are like oh so kind people?

What a load of rubbish. You will find half of these people in the videos on Fiverr, they do paid videos...

Downsells when you try and leave?

This one is so bad!

Have you ever tried to leave a website that is trying to get you to sign up for an offer and when you try leave they suddenly offer their $50 for $19.95?

And you are not interested so you try again to leave and they change the offer to $9.95?

How bad is this really? This is an awful thing to do isn't it?

Have you encountered any of these dodgy tactics online? Can you add any other things to look out for?

Comments

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anwebservices
Downsells when you try and leave

All you points are so true but this one drives me crazy and means if i accepted at first price i would be badly fooled. This is really something making me think i wouldn't do it even for $0.99 at he end and it's very disrespectful. I have bump on these many times, specially on some OTO (one time offer) pages and made me never to come back to particular website again, no matter what...



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Lynne
Yes this one makes me really annoyed and it happens so often, and totally right sometimes something that starts off at $50 literally goes down to $0.99. I will never buy anything like that either and I lose respect for any online marketer that uses these tactics.



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augusta
Thanks for sharing.I think we get scammed because we are blinded by get rich syndrome not because he do not know that these things are too good to be real.

All these pyramid scheme are mere scam people hear about them but still get scammed because they believe their will be did different, which is a big illusion.

I can't be scammed with fraudulent activities because I believe in working for my money alone.



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idealmike
Really really great article Lynne! All the points you've made are so very true as well and are words to live by! It really shows that you know your stuff when it comes to all of this. Especially all the true/legit and not true/legit money making opportunities out there. I've come across all of these in my time online. I've spent and researched many hours looking for money making opportunities online and virtually all of them use tactics like these and you see them all the time. Fortunately for us veterans it's easier to detect but not so for the rookies!

But there's tons of scams out there and they come in many different shapes and sizes. The lottery and sweepstake scams for one that people still fall for today. The ones where you get a letter or an email from someone saying someone related to you has won the lottery and they need your details to wire the money to you. Then there's those common online scams like the work-at-home scams and weight loss claims. Imposter scams, mystery shopper scams, bogus apartment rental scams, miracle cures, debt relief scams. Online dating scams, tech support scams. Like the one I received recently. There's just so many scams out there!

The biggest scam today though, and one that's on the rise. Is the ID theft scam. With cyber criminals (heartless pieces of crap they are) literally duplicating peoples identity and using it to open bank accounts and take out credit cards and loans and things like that. Often you don't know about it until after it's happened and by then there isn't much you can do about it. You have to prove that it wasn't you that done it and for some people that's not always been possible.

That's why you need to be careful about what details you give out about yourself and to who. It could be anything from your kids names, your birth location, stuff like that that you might give out to someone in a chat room or is even available on your social networking site profile and things. There are people that sift through them and try to gather as much information about a person as they can. They may even get their number and call them pretending to be someone else or something they might be interested in to "Social Engineer" details from them without them realizing like their DOB or Mothers maiden name that kind of stuff. So you have to be extra careful about what you give it, are giving out and what's already out there about you today.



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Lynne
Oh yeah Mike my suggestions were only focused around the scams that promise you can make money online!

And so many people don't see that a scam is not just something that takes your money. I get so annoyed with the ones that just waste my time too. Stealing my time is the same as stealing my money because I can make money with my time!

So many people keep saying these scams are not scams because they "lost nothing". Shame it must be really sad if your time is worth nothing!

And another thing I have noticed is once I give my email address to sign up to something to test it out how suddenly my spam increases so much!

Never mind identity theft and all those things that you mention. I am incredibly careful with that.



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Cristian
I can spot a scam websites from a mile away! Seriously I think I have a six sense, I don't even notice them anymore, just like ads, I simply don't see anything when I end up on one of these sites.

I just bounce right away from pure instinct. For most of these websites the design gives them away! Donno why I never whiteness a scam website with a good design! Oh yeah, and the content, the promises...just no.

Anyway, nice list Lynne, really appreciate it!



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Barida
Sounding good to be true has been an evidence that always makes me have doubts over some business prospects in the sense that with the way these scammers present it, you would think that life is just easy like that. I have seen people approach my inbox to tell about ways that I can make thousands of dollars in some days and what I always do is to laugh in my heart and tell them that I am not interested in doing such businesses.



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overcast
There seems to be a lot of signals that one can see these days for scams. For example any service asking you money for some simple thing. That is definitely scam. Also asking to double the money. And earn money quickly. That's another form of scam. And people need to be seriously be wary of that as well. I'd say on that note we have to be really strict.



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Corzhens
Our rule for scams is that anything that is too good to be true will more likely be a scam in the end. You may not believe that until now those investment scams are still going strong? The scheme is the 10% that your investment will earn every month. There are scams like that with 20% earnings per month. Just by that alone, it is clear that it is too good to be true? And if that is true, why would that agent solicit my investment when he can take a big loan and invest it himself. Again, when the scheme looks too good to be true then expect it not to be true. You can bet on that.



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jaymish2
I don't think there any classic signs of what a scam is and what is not especially with the widespread internet use. Everybody just need to be careful. Stay woke folks. Offline scammers have moved online. I think that's basically they are no clear requirements for what a scam is. You need to remember if its too good to be true, that's a red flag. A scam ca manifest in the most unexpected that's why its called a scam. It hits you when you are least expecting it.



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Shadowbourne
Interestingly, thanks a lot for making some points clear.



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