Internet Marketing Scams…Have You Been Scammed?
How often have you been ‘persuaded’ to click on a headline that has the word scam on it only to find out that it is just a ‘trap’ to lure you to read the article and more often than not, get sold by the article and end up slightly poorer…or alot poorer 
Well, I felt compelled to write this post about scams today after reading a strong case by a newbie who felt he was scammed.
Now, there are always two sides to a story. I do not have the other side of the story so I shall not judge.
Have I been scammed? YES, DEFINITELY, maybe even more than once; I am embarrassed to admit.
But, lately I have been thinking, WHY?
There are 3 reasons I could come up with:
1. Greed
2. Desperate situation
3. Naivety
For the first one, how often have we read in the papers of people being cheated of their money because they have to transfer a sum of money before they can get hold of some nigerian inheritance or lucky draw prize?
Why do these people actually think that money can fall from the sky, except for lotteries of course.
Recently, I got a call telling me to attend a fund raising event. I did not turn up and later received a phone message and call that I had won a prize in a lucky draw and I was to collect my prize.
Two days later, I received another call telling me to make an appointment to collect my prize money. I asked what I did to deserve this prize and was told that my phone number was drawn. The total prize was $300,000. Was I tempted? Not a bit, though I wish that I really could have this money for nothing. I told that guy that I would forfeit the prize and he got pissed and hung up immediately.
I was thinking to myself: If that was a genuine case, then he wouldn’t try so hard to get me to go down to his office to collect the prize. Shouldn’t I get an official notice by mail?
Secondly, desperate situations. I realise that the more desperate I am, the more I am tempted to buy into any get rich quick schemes or programs. After a few times, well, alright…many times, I have finally got past that and always do my due diligence before I take out my credit card. It is always easy to tell yourself that since the situation is so bad, what can be worse, right? Wrong. Don’t get too deep into this mentality or you’ll have a hard time getting out.
Do I still get cheated? of course, sad to say. But I always feel that to be fair, the same product may do wonders for one and not yield anything for another. It depends on how you want to treat the information
that you have in your hands.
I guess everyone must realise that nobody owes you a living. You owe it to yourself. If you haven’t tried to use or apply whatever you have bought, then reflect and make things right.
Or perhaps, come to realise that this is not the way out for you, or this job is not for you or you are better off doing something else.
Finally, naivety. The reason why I am in internet marketing was because I was looking for an alternative job that will allow me the freedom to choose my work time and hours. The first time I attended an internet marketing seminar, I was promptly sold and forked out $6500. Then a few days later, I paid another $4500 for “training”. Did I get anything out of it? To be fair, yes. But I truly felt cheated where the training was concerned. It didn’t help me at all and they did not deliver what they promised.
Anyhow, 4 years have passed and I am still in internet marketing because I truly believe that I can make
a living out of it and I have made money so it is an ‘urban legend’.
I must admit that scams are more rampant in the internet marketing niche simply because of the 3 reasons I listed above.
While writing, I am waiting for a call from my ‘coach’ on SEO to train me. I have decided to get someone to work with me on SEO but he hasn’t called and it is almost 2 hours past the time he promised to call.
Will I get to hear from him now that the money has been paid? What do you think?
Wow, it has been a long post and I would love to hear from you your story and take on online scams.
Take care and be careful.
Cheers,
