LG John

A friend has been asking about getting involved in this: CLICKY

I have advised her that IMHO, as a rule any advert that says stuff like:

* Be your own boss
* One off fee that you WILL make back on your first 'X'
* Guaranteed
* Massive earning potential

....is a scam. What I can't figure out is what, specifically, the scam is in this instance. Thoughts?

Lee247

I agree with the one off fee being a bit suspect, and after reading it, it says processing orders. What if they get no orders

I don't see anything saying "guaranteed orders", may be just me being sceptical

PaulC72

jeez, scam scam scam scam scam

I would not trust any so called company using a hotmail account and asking you to fill in a form with details etc.

Pay £33 and it will be the last you see of it and probably be signed up for loads of junk email from the details you provide.

It also states you have to place adverts with companies, why, if it was that easy they would do it themselves and take all the money surely?

Who knows the adverts could cost you a placement fee and so on, you can pick many potential problems with it tBH.

HTH

spireite

Nobody buys work

LG John

Ok, so the scam isn't overly elaborate. Just a case of 'cheers for the money, you've been done....bye!'

mickywrx

iTrader: (29)

I had to laugh, when I read that part of the fee is to cover training.

What an absolute crock.

WRXWagon.

If it was so good, get them to lend you the initial set-up fees .... when you make the riches they promise you will pay them not £33 BUT £133!!!

They simply cannot refuse an offer from you like that if it is a sure fire winner - gets them everytime!

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Not sure thats its a scam, just lots of effort for a £20 order.

You usually have to place a lot of adverts to get one bite, just like the commision based cold calling jobs.

If it takes 15-20mins to process an order, how long does it take to place the 100 adverts it took to generate that order?

imlach

A "friend" eh?

It's *always* a scam. Anything that was truly successful would not need to advertise, and would not stay unique for long.

The scam is always based on targetting the desperate, or more than likely, based on the usual pyramid scheme.

C'mon kenny, you should know better by now.............I just love the "why is there a fee" FAQ

LG John

I'm actually disappointed that you think I'd be THAT dumb.

My thread was to simply establish the facts (i.e. what TYPE of scam). I'm the most negative/sceptical person I know. As soon as anyone says the words 'No risk', 'Free', 'Guaranteed' to me I assume they are trying to con me or rip me off. Ordinarily I wouldn't get past the the Heading of such a site before disregarding it, but I was curious in this instance to know the nature of the con.

jods

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

There is not a scintilla of veracity in that advert

mart360

Its the classic advanced fee fraud.

you pay out a small amount to get back loads, (supposedly)

if your really unlucky, you'll fill in loads of forms to boot, to recieve nothing

back.

it could be argued, that your not actually being defrauded, as your actually

being given info that could lead to bigger rewards.

however there are elements of pyramid selling, which again is a nono

mart

LG John

No but apparently you are? Either that, or you are completely illiterate!

I made it clear in OP that I was quite sure it was a scam with the bulk of my question being weighted around, "what type of scam". I guess I was expecting something semi-elaborate but it seems the general consensus is they take your fee and either a) run or b) give you 'work' that makes generating an order either impossible or seriously time inefficient.

pwhittle

it sounds similar to one I fell for at uni, which was advertised as posing mailouts, or similar. You pay £15 up front, then basically put postcards up in shops etc, and try to get people to send you their £15 - ie classic pyramid.

I get 2-300 spam emails a day, and I reckon a lot of home based 'oportunities' now are for creating spam / random emails addresses.

On any given week there's a particular new spam, for a particular bank for example, all from different sources (annoyingly). The next week there'll be a different one, so someone is coordinating.

Spammers should be slowly shot IMPO, the grief they cause people who rely on email for a living.

Tarquin Po

There was one in Oz that did this and guaranteed to refund you fee if you weren't happy. They did actually refund, but with cheques from their "sister" company which was something like The **** Sex Toy Co Ltd. Not many people cashed their refund cheques

Tarquin Po

Slowly shot? Surely they'd see the bullet coming and just move, like that bloke off of the Matrix?

MattN

Lock stock and 2 smoking barrels.

Why wouldn't you cash the cheque? Thousands of cheques are processed, by machine chances of someone sitting down and reading them all is remote.

Banks are tight, they don't like people sitting around doing nowt.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Someone has been watching to much Lock, stock and two smoking barrels me thinks

Tarquin Po

As reported in the Toronto Sun, 27th April 1998, to paraphrase: "A company advertises hardcore pornography in newspapers and only accepts payment by cheque. Once they receive your money, they send a letter saying that they cannot send the ordered materials, and send back your money written on a cheque from the **** Sex and Perversion Company." This case did actually go to court but I can't find the outcome, although I do remember reading about it.