I’ve been getting a lot of emails lately telling me:

If you can process 30 a day,

you’ll earn $750.00 every day!

GUARANTEED!

The first tip off that this is not what its cracked up to be is the word “guaranteed”. No one guarantees what you can earn. Even an employer calls it a salary or wage but never uses the word guaranteed.

The next tip off is the “small registration fee  to help cover our expenses in maintaining and developing these programs. You are not paying for employment. You are paying for our services in bringing you this incredible opportunity!” Employers never, ever charge for supplies. Imagine your current boss charged you for paper clips or use of the desk. You’d think he was nuts!

Throughout the entire sales letter you don’t learn what the processing is. But there is a clue: “You will be supplied with all of the information to send out, nothing you send will ever be inappropriate.All you have to do is “cut and paste” the same messages and send out the e-mails.”

This is what I call online envelop stuffing. The materials you send are mostly a copy of the email you received. When people respond to your email by clicking on your site and ordering, you get an email that you “process” by sending the same information you got.

I’m not sure how the person earns $25 for every email when the registration is only $15. I can only guess that there is an upsell or hidden expense somewhere.

The final reason you don’t want to fall for these programs (besides that they don’t work and if they did it just means you’d be a scammer too), is that there is no money back guarantee.

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It happens at least once a month. I get a letter in the mail indicating that I need to renew my website domain or risk losing the site. Because these letters are not from the place I register my domains, I throw them out. But I sometimes wonder how many people pay and lose money to this scam.

The FTC posted a news item in which it filed a complaint against a Toronto Canada company that was sending bogus domain registration invoices to US small businesses.  Data Business Solutions, Inc’s US assets have been frozen pending a trial. The company also does business as:  Internet Listing Service Corp., ILS Corp., ILSCORP.NET, Domain Listing Service Corp., DLS Corp., and DLSCORP.NET. The principals involved are Ari Balabanian, Isaac Benlolo and Kirk Mulveney.

The investigation has involved a variety of agencies and organizations including Toronto Strategic Partnership (made up of the FTC, US Postal Inspection Services, Competition Bureau Canada, the Toronto Police Service – Fraud Squad, the Ontario Ministry of Government Services, the Ontario Provincial Police – Anti-Rackets, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the United Kingdom’s Office of Fair Trading) , Microsoft Corporation, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois and Wild West Domains, Inc.

The important thing to remember here is that the only domain registration invoice or information should come from the company you bought the domain from. Most provide online management and renewal and will also send you email notices when renewals are due.

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This scam was submitted by a Work-At-Home Success subscriber who applied for a job online. After the initial inquiry, she was told she would have an interview through Yahoo Messenger. Although the name of the interviewer was James Dorothy instead of James Walters, she proceeded with the interview. But then they asked her to open an account at Wells Fargo, she got suspicious. “I asked why the checking account and they said so you can send our shipping agent the remainder of the money after you withdraw 150.00.” (RED FLAG!!) Being a smart job hunter, she asked to think about it.

In the meantime, they sent her to a website to learn more about them.  She visited the website and found a legitimate company specializing in recruitment. This is when our smart job hunter became brilliant. She decided to call the number on the website. “The receptionists said “Oh, no, here we go again.” ” Apparently, this scammer has been using this legitimate company as a cover thinking that people won’t contact the company. I hate to think how often they were right about that. Fortunate for the woman who contacted me, she thought to call. Further, she took the time to contact me so that I could warn you all!

Remember, LEGITIMATE COMPANIES WILL NEVER ASK TO USE YOUR PERSONAL ACCOUNT OR ASK YOU TO OPEN AN ACCOUNT FOR THE PURPOSE OF DOING BUSINESS!

Avoid business dealings with the following:

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Recently, the Federal Trade Commission reported that it finally obtained the proceeds of a $100,000 performance bond from repeat offender Richard Neiswonger. Neiswonger was found in contempt of a 1997 injunction preventing him from deceptively marketing business opportunities.

There are rules for marketing and even if your business opportunity is legit, you can get in trouble if you violate the rules set up by the Federal Trade Commission. For example, you can’t misrepresent your program and you have to disclose the material facts of the program. Some programs require written documents that provide average income earnings, return policies and more. To learn more, visit the FTC for free guides and information on business opportunities and franchises.

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I got the email below this morning indicating I have money owed to me. Woo hoo. The problem is that the email is so unprofessional and as far as I know, the IRS doesn’t have my email. Ormaybe since Homeland Security it does, but I’m pretty sure it would mail me a letter or just direct deposit any money it’s sending (like the stimulus money).

I’m sure you can spot the errors, such as:

1. Its not actually addressed to me…or anyone.
2. It says its a refund under section 501(c) (3) which I’m pretty sure is the code for a non-profit. I don’t own or run a non-profit.
3. Its says “If u don’t receive a refund…” Reading IRS documents is cumbersome, but I don’t think they’d resort to text message grammar to confuse us even more.

This is another phishing email. Remember, never click on a link in an email and submit sensitive information such as logins, passwords, bank account numbers or social security.

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity
we have determined that you are eligible to receive
a tax refund under section 501(c) (3) of the
Internal Revenue Code. Tax refund value is $189.60.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days
in order to IWP the data received.
If u don’t receive your refund within 9 business
days from the original IRS mailing date shown,
you can start a refund trace online.

If you distribute funds to other organization, your records must show wether
they are exempt under section 497 (c) (15). In cases where the recipient org.
is not exempt under section 497 (c) (15), you must have evidence the funds will
be used for section 497 (c) (15) purposes.

If you distribute fund to individuals, you should keep case histories showing
the recipient’s name and address; the purpose of the award; the maner of
section; and the realtionship of the recipient to any of your officers, directors,
trustees, members, or major contributors.

To access the form for your tax refund, please click here

This notification has been sent by the Internal Revenue Service,
a bureau of the Department of the Treasury.

Sincerely Yours,

John Stewart
Director, Exempt. Organization
Rulings and Agreements Letter
Internal Revenue Service

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The FTC has approved changes to the CAN SPAM Act which regulates how businesses can and cannot sent email. In the past the rules have included:

1) Senders email must be clear (no email spoofing…using someone else’s email).

2) Email needs to have a clear unsubscribe notice.

3) Advertising must be labled as an ad in the subject.

The new changes are:

“The new rule provisions address four topics:

(1) an e-mail recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future e-mail from a sender;

(2) the definition of “sender” was modified to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single e-mail message is responsible for complying with the Act’s opt-out requirements;

(3) a “sender” of commercial e-mail can include an accurately-registered post office box or private mailbox established under United States Postal Service regulations to satisfy the Act’s requirement that a commercial e-mail display a “valid physical postal address”; and

(4) a definition of the term “person” was added to clarify that CAN-SPAM’s obligations are not limited to natural persons.”

I’m not a lawer so I’m not sure what a “natural person” is … as compared to just a person. But it will pay to find out as violating the CAN SPAM Act can cost you some money plus loss of your Internet services.

To learn more about the changes in the CAN SPAM Act visit the FTC.

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The internet is a great place to find information on working at home. However you can’t always trust the information you find. I’m a big believer in being able to see the source whenever someone makes a “claim”. Recently I was looking for some podcasts on working at home and a sponsored Google link popped up calling itself the Site Review Authority. The site was a sales letter (first tip off that its not a review or information site) that said how nearly all work-at-home offers are scams. It then went on the say it found only three programs that worked. The first was a “rebate” program. While not a scam, its not a rebate either.

Rebate programs are programs that sell you information on how to make money with affiliate programs. In fact all three programs on this site were a variation of selling information on making money with affiliate programs. Affiliate programs are a viable way to make money online; however, many of these programs don’t say that. They give the impression that its a job or requires very little work. They fail to mention the cost of running the ads they’ll have you run or that you could lose your shirt if its done improperly.

If you want to make money with affiliate programs, check out anything by Rosalind Gardner (she has a print book through Amazon and an excellent ebook as well). It will be more affordable and more realistic.

When you come across sites that say they “review” programs or help you avoid scams, but then try to sell you on their “approved” programs, be careful. While many work-at-home experts will recommend resources, sites that promote themselves as the watchdogs of scams without providing copious information, resources and places to check out their claims should be suspect.

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The FTC has imposed a $1,280,612 judgement against Byron C. Peterson for making false and misleading income claims for his envelope stuffing scheme.  He claimed that people would earn $17.50 per envelope and a guaranteed a weekly income of up to $1,400, but most peopel who send the $45 “registration deposit” never heard from the company again, according to the FTC.

Remember:

1) Envelope stuffing is always a scam!

2) You never have to pay money to get hired.

To read the FTC report, click here.

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“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld a district court ruling requiring marketers of Seasilver, an alleged phony cure-all, to pay almost $120 million for failing to comply with an earlier order requiring them to pay $3 million in consumer redress.”

According to the FTC notice, the owners of Seasilver failed to pay the $3 million and still insist their products cure over 600 ailments including cancer and AIDS. The FTC has ruled that these claims are false and unsubstantiated which is what got the company in trouble in the first place. Visit the FTC to learn more about this judgement.

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I got this email today from the FBI about money owed to me. Woo hoo! Of course, its yet another example of an indentity theft scam. One of my favorite parts of the letter is that its says I’m owed money but it addressese as “Sir” (I’m a woman). It lists specific names of people involved, but can’t even get my gender right. (That’s tip off number 1). It can’t decide if I have an inheritance or won an award (tip off number 2). Later in the letter it refers to the USA as “United of America”. Seems impossible to think an FBI agent would get that wrong. (Tip off number 3).

Remember, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give your personal and financial details (such as bank accounts and social security) to people who sent you emails or call you on the phone!!!

Scam Letter:

FROM :LARRY HANS
CYBER WIRETAP AND FUNDS RECOVERY DEPARTMENT,
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION FBI.
J.EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING
935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE,
NW WASHINGTON, D.C
20535-0001, USA .

ATTENTION SIR / TREAT VERY URGENTLY

We believe this notification meets you in a very good state of mind and
health.The FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) Washington,D.C in
conjunction with some other relevant Investigative Agencies here in the
United states of America have recently been informed through our Global
intelligence monitoring network that you have a pending FUND
transaction with a Bank regarding to an over-due Inheritance / Award
payment which was fully endorsed to be paid in your favor.

It might interest you to know that we have taken out time in screening
through this whole transaction as stipulated on our protocol of
operation and have finally confirmed that FIBI BANK UK is the autorized
financial institution scheduled to make your payment in line with their
remittance requirements. Several investigations by us have shown that you
have been dealing with some unauthorized persons regarding the transfer
of these funds.

Our UK attache agent recently had a meeting with the Manager of FIBI
BANK UK, in the person of MR. MICHAEL BERWALD and MR. PATRICK OWEN along
with some of other top officials of the BANK regarding your case and
they made us to understand that your file has been held in abase pending
when you personally file for your claims. They intimated him that the
only problem they are facing right now is that some unscrupulous element
are using this project as an avenue to scam innocent people off their
hard earned money by impersonating to be STAFF OF FIBI BANK and its
affiliates.

We were also made to understand that a lady with name Mrs.Joan C.Bailey
from Ohio, United Of America has already contacted them and also
presented to them all the necessary documentations evidencing your claim
purported to have been signed personally by you prior to the release of
your funds to her, though they insisted on hearing from you personally
before they could go ahead on wiring the funds to the Bank information
provided by the above named Lady. It is basically one of the main reasons
why they contacted us, to enable us assist them in carrying out proper
investigation and subsequently informing you of their mandate to
Remitting your funds.

Most importnatly, We advise that you discontinue further dealings with
any person or organization posing as staff or affiliate of FIBI BANK,
or any other Bank/agency concerning the transfer of your funds. In your
own interest, You are advised to immediately contact FIBI BANK UK on
the following details for the onward remittance of your funds.

CONTACT PERSON : MR. MICHAEL BERWALD
FIBI BANK UK PLC
24 CREECHURCH LANE, LONDON, EC3A 5JX,UK
TEL/FAX :+44-7005-982-225
TEL: +44 7045729287
EMAIL: fibi.bank.uk@go2.pl  ,  fibi@FinanceMail.net

Ensure that you comply to all their remittance procedures and also
furnish them with your full details (Full names and address, direct
telephone and fax numbers, source of funds,Expected Amount, etc) to enable
them in their verification processes before the release of your funds.

Best Regards,

Agent Larry Hans

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

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