The Scam Equation

You've all seen zillions of scam sites, I'm sure... they all have a few things in common, and present all their information in exactly the same order, it seems.

1. This is an unbelievable offer and totally not a scam! (insert annoying flashy image here)
Just to catch your attention - and it usually does prompt you to scroll down, even if it is just to check for the paypal link before closing the window.

2. "Ten years ago, I was exactly where you are now... laid off, two kids to feed, my wife couldn't support us all... I fell for a whole bunch of scams before I found the one thing that actually works, and I'm about to share it with you."
They always start with a big long anecdote. They want you to know that they understand your situation, they have been there, and they are here to help you get out of that rut.

3. A long-winded explanation filled with more anecdotes explaining just how easy this oportunity is and how you can make money in your sleep or earn hundreds with just a couple hours of work.
Everyone wants easy money. So of course the offer they're giving you is something so simple a child could figure it out, and of course it will make you a millionaire overnight. This is usually accompanied by a few pictures of fancy cars and such that they apparently own.

Sometimes this section will be slightly different and tell you that this is not a get-rich-quick scheme and will require real work, but it can still bring you a decent salary from home. This probably appeals to more people today (it certainly tends to catch my eye) - but they still neglect to tell you what the actual job is.

4. Proof of payment.
At this point, they want to try and drag you in with big numbers. So they show you a series of screen shots of paypal or scanned cheques. These are all very easy to manipulate, and therefore completely un-trustworthy.

5. A quick reminder.
Now they take all the information that has just taken you an hour to read (because you have to find the actual "facts" in the muddle of anecdotes and bragging) and break it down into a few short bullets just to make sure you're still with them and still realise what an amazing oportunity this is.

6. Testimonials.
"I made $10,000 in just a week after joining this program! Thanks so much!" There are programs available these days that will generate fake testimonials for people to use on their website. That's why they all sound the same. All the website owner has to do is copy/paste the text into the website and add a picture of someone holding a big cheque.

7. This is what I'm willing to give you.
They want to let you know everything you're going to get from them before they let you know that it will cost you money. This is normally a picture and explanation of some amazing e-book or software that is supposed to change your life.

8. Guaranteed satisfaction.
"This is, of course, a no-risk offer. I need to ask for a fee to cover the cost of the software; or to pay my small staff for all their hard work; or to make up for the time (and money) I am losing at work in order to help you out - but if it doesn't work, I'll give you your money back."

9. An incredible deal!
It seems like every one of these sites has a perpetual sale going on that will only be available today. Apparently they all usually charge around $200 for you to join their program, but for today only it will only cost $95! They want to pressure you into buying right now, while they have your attention. Most of us can't afford to throw away $95, but we definitely can't afford $200 either - so we'd better sign up now!

But I can almost guarantee that if you check the site again in a week, a month, a year, they'll still have the same "sale" advertised.

10. Pay me!
The last thing on the page is always the credit card and paypal links. They want to make sure they have you totally convinced before you see the price or even know that it will cost you money. For that reason, I usually scroll down and find the cost before even reading the site.

If you are going to risk signing up with one of these programs (but why would you?), watch out for paypal scams. Make sure you're on paypal's website and not a copycat site before entering your username and password - otherwise you might find some money missing.

Remember: Any real job will explain what the job is up front. They will not ask you to pay a membership fee or buy a book or spend money on anything before you know exactly what it is you are going to be expected to do. In fact, if they are a legitimate job, and they have real expenses (like some jobs offline making you pay for your uniform), they will be nice and take those expenses out of your pay instead of your pocket.

Oh! And I've found the solution to my days without posts... I'm going to start post-dating things so that there's only one post a day even when I might write 5 a day and then be lazy for a week, lol.