Marketing Scams

Anyone who has researched ways to make money online has probably come across a scam or two.  Marketing scams have been around for a very long time, but the Internet has made it much easier for them to proliferate.  If you want to make money online, it’s critical to know as much as possible about marketing scams.  Following are some of the more common types of marketing scams.

Pyramid Schemes

A pyramid scheme is similar to multi-level marketing (MLM), which involves participants buying products to create commissions for the person who recruited them.  The recruits then recruit new participants from whom they will earn commissions, and the person above them also earns a commission on their recruits.

MLM is not a scam in and of itself, but pyramid schemes are.  Instead of selling products, participants in a pyramid scheme simply receive money from their recruits, who are then asked to recruit people to pay more money in, and so on.  This is illegal, and often results in loss of money for all but the people at the top of the pyramid.

Envelope Stuffing

Those who want to work from home but lack formal education are often thrilled when they find opportunities to make money stuffing envelopes from home.  With promised pay of a few dollars per envelope, it sounds too good to be true.  And it is.

Advertisements for envelope stuffing jobs usually ask interested parties to send $3 to $5 for more information.  Victims do not think twice about making this small investment because of the promised pay.  But when they send in their money, they receive instructions to place ads just like the ones they responded to and send respondents the same instructions they received.  They are only paid when someone orders more information about stuffing envelopes.

Affiliate Marketing Scams

Affiliate marketing is a legitimate way to make money online, and it is fairly easy if you run a website or blog.  All you have to do is link to advertisers using a specially coded link, and if a sale is made, you receive a commission.  Lots of reputable companies have affiliate programs, but as in any case, there are a few bad seeds.

There are some warning signs to look for.  An affiliate program should always be free to join, because you are not required to buy a kit or samples.  Some programs that charge fees are just fronts for pyramid schemes, and others might take your money and run.  You should also be able to easily find contact information for the company.  If you’re in doubt, search Google for information about the company.  If it is a scam, you’ll probably find complaints online.

Marketing scams can cost opportunity seekers lots of money, and being taken in by them can be very disheartening.  By doing your homework on any company you consider getting involved with, however, you can usually weed out these scams.  There are legitimate opportunities out there, so don’t let the fear of being scammed stand in your way.

FOREX SCAMS

Forex scams can take many forms. Some scams can be compelling or seem to be very legitimate. They take advantage of traders seeking the magic answer to winning in the forex markets. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. Here is a quick list of some popular general forex scams.
1. Signal Sellers
It seems like a new company springs up every day that has the signal service to beat all signal services. They profess to be able to sell you information on which trades you should make. These signal sellers usually charge a daily/weekly/monthly fee for their service and usually do not offer anything that will help improve your trading. There is no such thing as having a magic key to the market and if there was, why would you sell it?
2. Phony Investment Funds
In the past few years, funds called HYIP(High Yield Investment Program) have popped up all over the place. Most of these(if not all) are scams. They promise you a high level of return for temporary use of your money in their forex fund. It is a type of Ponzi scheme where the investors of yesterday get paid back by the investors of tomorrow. Once the fund runs out of prospects, they usually close down and take whatever money they had with them.
3. Miracle Software
There is no software that will figure out the forex market for you. However, a quick google search will turn up plenty of software sellers that say otherwise. Some companies out there are selling their special "packages" for upwards of $5,000 and many times it turns out to be something that you can find on the internet for free. It is generally not advisable to buy any type of forex software that will tell you which trades to make.

Forex (foreign currency exchange) is a relatively unregulated market with high potential for gains as well as high potential for loss. These two factors, high potential for gain and soft regulation, have attracted swindlers from all over the world. These scam artists use the allure of Forex to steal millions from unsuspecting investors. Let me start by showing an example of a current Forex scam.

All it takes is a couple minutes on Google and I quickly find a few Forex scams. Take this one for example: The company has bought Google ad space and their site shows on the first page of my search. The website reads "Guaranteed 200% Interest Per Month", Minimum Deposit: $5000, Maximum Deposit: $999,999, Investment Length: 30 days; Fast Withdrawals!" To the novice Forex trader it sounds great. All I have to do is send them my money and I will soon be making 200% per month - wow!

If you continue reading you find that they use a lot of flowery verbiage to explain HOW they trade. They talk about "security" of funds and the "stability" of their company. On the 'About Us' page they have headlines like "Professionalism", "Reliability", "Trust", and my personal favorite "Process Ability". Under 'Process Ability" they write: "Correct prediction of reversal of exchange rates outflow by using timely analysis of our department, received news, their processing, and also positions' control during technical and fundamental analysis;". It only takes 5 seconds of reading this site for a REAL Forex trader to see the scam. But to the unsuspecting person, who has heard of the huge potential in Forex, this sounds like a dream come true.

So how does the Forex newbie avoid Forex scams and find real Forex products?

First off, remember the saying "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." There is NO such thing as guaranteed returns in Forex let alone a guaranteed 200% per month. Forex can be VERY profitable but it is NOT easy and there is rarely weekly consistency. If you see a Forex company including automated Forex systems making such claims - beware.
Two. Research the company presenting the opportunity. In the case we discussed a moment ago, it only takes a quick look at the company's website registration to find out there are inconsistencies in the story. The website was registered in July of this year but the company claims to have started in June. Also, they provide false business contact information in their site registration.
Never give up control of your money. In Forex, you NEVER should have to send your money to someone other than a fully regulated Forex broker. If you decide to have someone manage your funds for you, you still maintain control of your funds and your Forex account.
Speak to the people behind the Forex opportunity. Many Forex opportunities are completely legitimate. If an opportunity is legitimate the company will be more than willing to speak with you directly. Never invest in any Forex product without having contact with the individuals responsible for that product.
Does the company disclose the risks involved with trading Forex? Forex is a risky investment. If a company refuses to acknowledge that, they are misleading you. It doesn't matter whether you are considering a Forex managed account, an automated Forex trading system, Forex education, Forex trade signals, or any other Forex product. If they are offering you something to do with Forex, they MUST disclose the risks of trading Forex to you.
Don't let emotion get the best of you. There is something exciting about the possibility of making 200% per month guaranteed. This excitement often blinds people from reality. They want to believe SO bad that something is real that they overlook the obvious.
Forex is a legitimate investment opportunity. Thousands of Forex traders make a significant living trading the Forex market everyday. However, don't let yourself get sucked into the Forex scams that seem to be too good to be true. Because they are. Use common sense and the tips I've provided above to avoid being the next victim of a Forex scam.

Trading Scams

A forex trading scam is any scheme employed by certain people to trick individual traders by trying to convince them of gaining a high profit margin by trading in the foreign exchange market. The forex market has long been plagued by swindlers able to prey on the gullible in order to defraud them of money. Gullible foreign exchange investors can be defrauded of thousands of dollars in a forex trading scam.

A typical case of a forex scam happens when investors are promised with tens of thousands of dollars in profits in just a matter of a few weeks or months in return for an investment of a thousand or so dollars. When an investor agrees to take part in the scam, the investors money is never actually traded on the forex market. It is usually diverted to an unknown account for the personal benefit of the scam instigators.

The nature of the forex market is that it is a zero-sum market. This simply means that whatever one trader gains, another trader loses. Unlike in the stock market, there is no instance that everyone profits in the foreign exchange market at any one time. There are always winners and there are losers, although it might not be on a single transaction.

Forex scams may be identified for their common characteristics. One of the obvious signs of such scams includes promises of large profits. Most forex scams try to attract unknowing victims by guaranteeing high returns for low risk investments in certain currencies. Masterminds of forex scams also use high pressure tactics to convince investors to immediately send money through money transfers or through overnight delivery companies.

These scams may come your way through advertisements in newspapers and magazines. Such ads promise high rewards for supposedly low risk investments on the foreign exchange market. Some scams may even make use of unsolicited phone calls to contact prospective investors and use their high pressure tactics to convince people to take part and invest in their scam.

One of the ways to avoid becoming a victim of such forex trading scams is by being aware of these signs. Another way is through a bit of investigation. Before investing on a supposedly attractive deal that you suspect to be a scam, try to investigate its background. Before you give any amount to a certain forex company offering highly profitable guarantees, try to check whether the firm involved is registered with the CFTC or the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission or the NFA or the National Futures Association.

Legitimate Businesses Online

The home business industry can be very alluring to some: the idea of making lots of money with little effort has its appeal. In fact, many people recognize this as being the principle reason why people decide to start their own home business online. But I think many people get cold feet as the old saying goes "it's too good to be true, therefore it must not be.
How many times have you heard about a great home business or Internet venture opportunity? Or even emails from far off land seeking your assistance to uncover wealth you are supposed to share? Probably more than you care to remember. But to go along with this how many of these home business opportunities ended up being a scam? Again, probably quite a few.

Hopefully, you were never the victim of any of these scams. But unfortunately there are others who probably fell for these �opportunities.� The fact of the matter is that these scammers would not be wasting their time if they were not making any money. And as long there are gullible people in this world, these scammers are going to stick around to trick more and more people.

The best way to avoid a home business scam is to thoroughly research each opportunity before you move forward with it. This means doing much more than simply reading a bit about it online. You may get lucky and end up with a good home business opportunity, but chances are that you will not. Not only will you want to read what is available on the site itself, but you will also want to search for other information as well. Check with third party review sites and on message boards and forums. You may find out soon enough that a certain company has been reported as being nothing more than a scam.

You may also want to check with the Better Business Bureau if you are thinking about getting involved with a home business opportunity that you are not sure of. They will be able to tell you if they have any complaints on file. If they do, you will want to avoid the opportunity at all costs. But if it appears that a company is doing business the right way, you can continue your research.

Before you decide to do anything, attempt to get in touch with the company that you are interested in. Can you get them on the phone? Do they respond to your emails? If you cannot even talk to a company before you start, there is not chance that they will be around when you need them. This is one test that you can run early on in order to ensure that you are dealing with a reputable company. If you do happen to get an employee on the phone ask them questions in order to get some feedback on the company. Anything that will give you better insight into the home business opportunity is a good question.

Overall, Internet home business scams are all over the place, which also places a burden on legitimate businesses to prove themselves. Do your part in putting them out on the street by not falling prey. The best way to do this is through extensive research and questioning.