Internet Fraud, Scam, Rip-off and Identity Theft

Lawn Chair Millionaire, Email lotteries, "The Secret", Science of Being, SurveyScout, Nigerian 411/419, FBI, Sebastian Foss, FAP Turbo, Felix Homogratus, ForexPeaceArmy and more. Are they opportunities or scams like e-gold? Read on...

"All that glitters is not gold" is a very old saying. It's even more true today – and it certainly applies to the Internet and now e-gold!

However, there are safe ways to buy, hold and sell gold, as we do ourselves through BullionVault. Gold bullion is registered in your name and stored in a secure vault. Choose from London, New York or Zurich. See our Bullion Page.

Much has been written about fraud, scam, rip-offs (ripoff) and theft over the internet. 'Caveat emptor' (Latin for 'buyer beware'; it was the Romans who coined the phrase). It's a warning that should be in the back of everyone's mind when paying for something. There is so much information on the world wide web, but how much of it should you believe? Research is not always the key. 'Googling' can bring as much misinformation as the truth. Professional scammers go to extraordinary lengths to get you to believe their offers are not scams. Many so-called review sites can be scams themselves, 'slagging off' others to promote the 'only genuine solution'.

A lot of scamming is blamed on internet marketing itself (more below). In its defence, though, a lot of what goes on is labelled 'scam' or 'fraud' when this isn't strictly true. Often a business or activity is quite legal and legitimate but the heavy marketing tactics are excessive. Again, caveat emptor. Those who believe promises of instant wealth or income without effort are naive, and those whose greed transcends their good sense probably deserve to lose money.

"The best things in life are free." If only that were true today! Free information is often useful, but it's rarely the best. Few businesses give all their 'shocking details and secrets' away when they can sell them (or something else) to make even more money. You may well get valuable advice, but it may be part of a pre-sell or softening up strategy. It's important to do your homework first. Do independent research on the product or service on offer, visiting forums and member sites. Join them if necessary to get proper feedback.

How can you be sure an email is not from a scammer?

Always bear in mind that most internet scams begin with an email. It's often difficult to recognise, as the subject seems so genuine and attractive that you are tempted to open it. STOP RIGHT THERE! Who sent you the email? Was it from someone you have given your email address to? If not then ALWAYS BE ON THE ALERT; it may just be spam promoting a 'dodgy' product which you probably can't avoid altogether, but should simply delete. The same message is being sent to hundreds of thousands of addresses simultaneously. You eventually recognise subject lines and content phrases and can try and filter them out of your system. Sometimes it's easier just to ignore and delete them and give yourself a pat on the back!

Much more dangerous is an email that appears to be intended for someone else, but 'by a stroke of luck' has ended up in your mailbox. It relates to a payment for previous services, a lottery win or other money-related transaction. THESE ARE ALWAYS FAKE. NEVER RESPOND TO THEM. SEE BELOW. If you do you are willingly being led into a trap because you WANT to believe that the email is genuine. That means you are a greedy, clever opportunist, willing to take advantage of a case of 'mistaken identity', putting you on the same moral level as the scammer! Think "NO, NO, NO, NIGERIA!" More below...

Internet Marketing and Affiliate Sales Scams

"FREE GOOGLE ADWORDS CAMPAIGN" CLAIMS MISLEADING

A recent heavily promoted ClickBank product (freegoogle) we almost bought before doing some "due diligence" claims that any amount of Google AdWords PPC advertising can be "bought for free".

The "Get AdWords Ads Free" method does not create free advertising but only the possibility of a separate income stream which may or may not cover the cost of expensive Google AdWords campaigns. It's extremely risky and we would advise against trying it.

SEBASTIAN FOSS IS A WELL-KNOWN GERMAN-BASED SCAMMER. Most of his products don't work and he refuses refunds. Foss promotes by SPAM as well as to subscribers to his lists. Search Google for forum comment. STAY WELL CLEAR OF SEBASTIAN FOSS.

Affiliate Marketing is promoting and selling on commission the products or services of others. An affiliate program manages the logistics of supply and payment automatically. There are scam affiliate programs, too, where affiliates don't receive their commissions, so one needs to be wary. Many of the products that are sold in this way are books and tools relating to Internet Marketing itself. Claims of instant success, huge checks or 'overnight wealth' are misleading, and there are certainly scams among them. Effort, knowledge, understanding, experience, perseverance and honesty are all necessary for success in any business, and Internet marketing is certainly no exception. Look for products that receive positive feedback from users, but also beware of scam review sites that are just trying to sell them.

Anyone who starts a new business (internet or offline) should realise that there is a learning curve, and that there will be many stops and delays along the road to success. The idea is to get the best information and that which is suitable for you. There are many different ways of selling products over the internet, but there is a basic set of rules that has to be followed. Most books and courses mention these but with varying emphasis on the major points. There are few if any real 'secrets' left in the internet business.

Should you automatically assume that the words "millions, dollars, internet" strung together in a promotion is a scam? Many would (who could blame them?) and it certainly might be, but it may also be a typically over-hyped but genuine offer.

Programs like Lawn Chair Millionaire, while there are people claiming it's a scam, others follow the method, put in a lot of time (and some money) and of those a very few may eventually make money, but this program involves forex trading and online gambling (both extremely risky pursuits) and success depends mainly on getting people signed up under you. Personally I would give it a miss.

If you're looking for an honest introduction to internet marketing, try Holly Mann's "Honest Riches", a $47 no scam guide which has sold over 35,000 copies and is also available in paperback. She makes no promises but shows how 'ordinary folk' can earn good money online (as she does), but there is some hard work involved. Should that not be so when starting out in any business? On the same page you can also meet a SE Asian internet entrepreneur from Singapore, Ewen Chia, who really has made millions. His personal success story is also now available in paperback from Amazon.

Forex, Stock and Options, e-Currency Trading
Foreign currency trading is another good example of heavy handed marketing, often with claims of instant profit for a few minutes work. It's not completely untrue, but what promoters fail to tell you (or gloss over) is that it can also be instant loss! You can visit our Forex Pages and start learning about this popular online activity. A  few 'names' we mention with confidence as not sellers of scam products or services are Dirk du Toit (Dr Forex), Bill Poulos (Forex Profit Accelerator, Forex Income Engine and the newly-released forex beginner course Forex Nitty Gritty). There is also Ron Ianieri of Options University and OUForex who appears regularly on CNBC. There are many forex sites and you can do your own research, as of course you should, but you will find little negative feedback for the above.

Forex on autopilot is generating a lot of interest right now, and it's worth mentioning a popular one, FAP Turbo. This 'forex robot' was released in November. I bought it at the launch price of $97 and put it on test. Within two days it had made 10 profitable trades out of 12, and more since. See results. Later versions have since been released.

In my opinion, FAP Turbo is not a scam; it's a genuine, well-supported product and value for money at $149. It is regularly updated and improved to cope with changing market conditions and there is a lively user group.

Always try forex robots on free demo accounts first and do not allow them to trade completely unattended. Would you feel safe in an airplane without a qualified pilot or two, in the cockpit and monitoring the autopilot? As a retired airline captain, I may be a little biased against that idea too! The point is you do need some knowledge of trading and at least a forex beginners course is recommended, such as the aforementioned Forex Nitty Gritty; it's under $100 and less expensive than many robots.

Not every trader will achieve success or profit with forex using the same trading method; some will not suit their style or personality; more often than not they just don't follow the instructions or stick to rules. However, losing traders will blame anyone they think is responsible for their losses and happily condemn a genuine product or training course as a scam. This is in many instances unjustified.

Unfortunately there are some forex brokers, dealers and even reviewers it's best to avoid for various reasons. From bad personal experience and adverse comments from many traders, we advise you to not to use GCI Trading.

FX Solutions is alleged to be part of a conspiracy connected with the Forex Peace Army (FPA) broker and product review site previously called Forex Bastards, and Felix Homogratus (real name Dmitri Chavkerov). Do not be influenced by the reviews and 'scam warnings' on the forexpeacearmy site. They promote their own agenda by giving bad reviews to some legitimate companies. Google any of the names for evidence of malpractice and fraud.

Is Forex trading easy? It's easy to open an account and start trading. Does one make a lot of money quickly? Not usually. Success comes with training and experience, although the robots and autotraders may be changing that. Visit our Forex Pages to learn more about this business, and don't start trading 'live' before you are really ready and an understanding of the basics.

Surveys are not all scams and people make money from them, but maybe not the fortune they expect

Survey taking is not a scam, but neither is it a way to 'instant riches' as claimed by most companies promoting it. It will probably take some time and perseverance – as is necessary for all successful 'business' activities.

Surveys should always be free to take part in, either in return for cash or gifts. No genuine ones charge registration fees, and no purchase is required, but you may need to pre-qualify one way or another. American Consumer Opinion pays by cheque (we have received them, but the amounts are pretty small). Qualified Opinions Australia are legitimate and Survey Club may also be worth joining. The income depends largely on how many surveys you are offered, how many you complete. Many people do it for fun, as well as picking up extra cash, gifts or coupons.

There is one survey organisation that seems to be on the level and promises good payouts ($10-$40 typically); there is a 56 day refund policy for anyone dissatisfied. This is guaranteed by Clickbank and no questions asked. We have checked out the program's 'credentials' and there's a video that explains it all. Make Money Taking Surveys is extremely popular and very few refunds have been requested, which is a good sign.

Is Survey Scout a Scam?

Survey Scout is probably the best known among programs which basically claim that a high income can be made just by taking surveys. It's debatable whether paying for 'insider secrets' of how to make the most income from surveys is better than 'going it alone', but you can save a lot of time. Survey Scout offers an 8 week free trial, money back guarantee, and $35 is not a huge outlay; there's limited risk in joining and start taking some surveys. They also offer an initial survey to earn $25. If you're interested, visit Survey Scout.

Fake Lotteries and Lottery Scams
Similar in concept to the 419 are scams are more advance fee fraud schemes operating in various countries including the UK, Europe and now South Africa. These relate to large corporate like CocaCola and so-called National Lotteries. You receive a spam email informing you of a win in one of these lotteries. If you follow it up you will be asked for expenses or taxes before you can claim 'your prize'. There is only one authorised UK National Lottery (operated by Camelot) and they do not use email. Neither does Coca Cola. "Coca Cola Lottery" is a label used by a fake lottery and fake "claims agent" in the UK and West Africa, usually Nigeria. Coca Cola does not randomly select email addresses for winners. So beware. Remember too, you are unlikely to win something from a country you've never been to, even less entered its lottery, unless you have purchased a ticket through an agency.

Genuine, Legitimate Lotteries, Sweeps and Jackpots
If international lotteries and sweepstakes such as USA PowerBall or MegaMillions, Euro Millions, El Gordo, Australian or UK Lotto, Japan or Irish Lottery and others are of interest, you can buy tickets through a legitimate online lottery service called Overseas Subscribers Agents. OSA Lotteries have been operating since 1988 and offer 24/7 telephone support in the USA, UK, Netherlands and Australia.

However, be aware the OSA name is also used by scammers to promote fake lotteries, claiming they are based on email addresses. These emails sometimes have .hk (Hong Kong) reply addresses. Do not respond!

Here are some points to note about international or foreign lotteries:

• You cannot win a legitimate lottery if you have not entered it. In almost all cases you must purchase a ticket to enter a genuine, legal lottery, either personally or through a recognised agency.

• You do not have to pay to collect winnings from a legitimate lottery. You may be liable for taxes AFTER you you receive your winnings, but there are no other fees.

• If anyone holds a winning ticket, the lottery does not (cannot) contact them by email, phone or regular mail. There may be a winning number list published on the lottery site. If you purchase tickets from a recognised agency like OSA, they will advise you how to claim your winnings.

• It is illegal under federal law for US residents to play foreign lotteries from within the United States. Some other countries have similar laws for non-residents. Check fully with the agency before entering a foreign lottery.

• If a lottery isn't conducted by a government or government-authorised charitable organisation, it is highly unlikely to be legitimate.

While entering lotteries is hardly a reliable source of retirement income, it certainly provides a diversion, and you never know, you could be lucky. Here is an ebook we found on lottery techniques. Disregard most of the sales hype; the book content is useful.

"The Secret" Scam, the "Law of Attraction" and the "Science of Getting Rich" exposed/explained

"The Secret" was part of an MLM reseller affiliate program that for a while was scam of the year in 2007. They even cribbed the name from a free publication of the same name written in 1910 by Wallace D Wattles. "The Secret" uses high profile promoters like Bob Proctor, Stephen Pierce and Jack Canfield. They were also part of the $1,995 "The Secret Affiliate Package", now revised to make it more 'respectable'. It claimed that you could recoup your $2K investment by signing up just two people and earning $500 commission from each. The usual "rich beyond your wildest dreams" etc. etc. Steer well clear of anything else "The Secret" offers you.

If you bought "The Secret" DVD and found it inspiring, it possibly raised thoughts and questions about your own life and well-being. Have a look at the "Science of Being", also based on texts published in the 1920's. When it comes down to it, there's really "little new under the sun".

Trading in e-currency may have once had potential but the market changed and it is virtually impossible to make a profit or redeem the proceeds as cash or to a bank account. Stay well away from scammer Gary Jezorski. His $299 Currency Exchange Profits Video Training System is a fraud. Confirm it with your own research.

Nigerian 411 – even stale bait will catch greedy fish

"PLEASE CONFIRM YOU ARE DEAD
As you may know, the total amount in your favor is a total sum of $12Million Dollars. We need to confirm from you if it's really true that you are dead and If we did not hear from you it automatically means that you are actually dead and the information passed to us by Mr. Peter is correct."

A letter addressed to BENEFICIARY from the FBI's so-called Anti-Terrorist and Monitory [monetary?] Crimes Division in Washington DC, signed by the FBI Director himself asking you to send your personal details to someone at a Gmail address, to be followed by $300 to secure an ATM card for an account in your name with $800,000 in it.

Would you think the above were genuine? Some uneducated people do. We touched on email scams above. Unsurprisingly, many of the general public already doubts the credibility of Nigerians or anything traceable back to this and other mainly African countries. Professional thieves and scammers are doing their countries a great disservice and they cause enormous damage to the legitimate business sector (hopefully assuming one exists) in these countries.

However, amazing as it may seem after more than 25 years, the Nigerian 411 or 419 scams and their new variations known collectively as advance fee fraud, continue around cyberspace because greedy people still fall for them. One would think after all this time and publicity, everyone would have heard about these spam email scams. But new users discover the internet and open new email accounts every day and most are unaware of the dangers of the fraudsters and scammers lurking in wait. Some will lose considerable amounts of money. The 411/419 fraud perpetrators now operate from many countries besides Nigeria and well beyond Africa.

Emails appear in all sorts of formats now, but the original basic one is still used: poor or archaic English, hiding under a cloak of Christianity and quasi-religious claptrap e.g. "I STRUGGLED AND WORKED HARD AND ALMIGHTY GOD BLESSED ME ABUNDANTLY WITH RICHES". Note the use of all CAPITAL LETTERS. This is a sure sign of a scam, but in recent years, scammers have become far more astute and some are well-educated masterful copywriters. But the basics are that 'out of the blue' you are asked for assistance by a complete stranger. Often it's to help the family of a well-known deceased business or political figure, or central bank official to get access to millions of dollars being held with no known legitimate beneficiary. You will be offered a large percentage of the funds in return for helping to retrieve this fortune for the 'rightful heirs' or your co-conspirator.

First, THERE ARE NO MILLIONS! The way the scammer gets YOUR money is first by establishing a rapport; a personal relationship which leads to disclosure of addresses, phone numbers and eventually bank account details. Here is the scam: at some point you will be told there are some advance expenses which need to be paid before the money can be released. This may be small to start with, but further, larger requests will be made until you start to become suspicious, but you are reluctant to back out, because you will lose what you've already paid; you keep hoping that the whole thing is genuine and you continue following through until your bank account is compromised and emptied. Along the way you might be requested to attend a meeting in another country, for which you will probably pay the expenses for all those involved.

This is highly dangerous, maybe life-threatening. Loss of money ($3000 on average according to the FBI) is almost guaranteed for anyone who responds to these emails which are scams and fraud by professional criminals who are well connected in their own countries and rarely brought to justice.

Here is an email we received originating in Hong Kong, China:

Identity theft over the Internet
This unfortunately is scam and fraud at its worst and is an increasing problem. There are many ways of obtaining personal information under false pretences. Banks, loan, credit and finance companies, PayPal and eBay and other organisations that already have your details on file do not request personal updates by sending out emails. They ask you to log in to your account. If you receive this sort of email message, be very wary, and much more importantly DO NOT RESPOND. Visit the website the same way you usually do. Never follow instructions to click on a link; you may think you are being taken to the correct site, but it will be a fake.

Apart from these emails, never give out personal information over the phone, either, no matter how genuine the caller sounds! If you are unsure, then contact the organisation direct. There is also a practice by internet thieves called 'phishing' (fishing for information). By accessing your computer while you are connected to the internet without you being aware of it, they may try to get details of bank accounts, credit card numbers, PINs and passwords, social security number and more. You can protect your computer to some degree by using a firewall, such as is built into Windows XP, but this is not infallible. Dedicated security software gives you better protection. Even a free one is better than none at all.

Logins and passwords to sites are another potential security risk. If you are a member of many sites or have affiliate accounts, the tendency is to use the same password for them all. This is highly risky as once your password has been found by a clever hacker, it could even be used to gain access to your bank or credit card accounts. Here's the secure password manager that we use and it's one that will give you full security for free. It's called RoboForm and you should download it right away.

We don't like to see people (even the greedy or just plain stupid ones!) being scammed or defrauded by professional thieves, and we draw attention to fraud, rip-offs and scams as we learn of them. Get new articles and warnings that we publish by becoming a free site member. Then you get full access to links and downloads on a variety of topics.  Included recently are Scam & Spam Reports, showing you how to recognise fraud and spam emails and schemes more easily. Your privacy is assured as Retire-Asia.com does not rent, loan, sell or give members' details to any third party.

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