A safe mindset to have when surfing the internet is to have “Everything is a scam.” When you think everything is a scam, you are less likely to let your guard down and you will put in the necessary research to make sure a company is legit. Although in reality, everything is NOT a scam, because of the bad apples, you have to pay attention or you may fall victim into another legit-sounding service that takes all of your money. How can you tell when something is a scam? Here are a few signs that the website you’re visiting is a scam.
Do you need to pay a membership fee in order to access this amazing product or service? Are you paid only if you can invite other people into the program? If so, be wary, because at the heart of most subscription based services, lies only empty air. Like a ponzi scheme, the only way to get paid is to push your crappy products onto other people and try to get them to join the program too.
Are they promising to tell you information that is special and that experts don’t want to know about? Is it information that can make you thousands of dollars with little effort? Is it information that they can only tell you once you give them your credit card number or email? If so, it is most likely spam. Once you give your credit card number or email, it’s over. You’ll be spammed with endless emails asking you to buy their products and you will find your bank account suddenly empty.
Some companies offer to give you a job, but want you to pay them a fee first. How does that work? I want to make money, so I pay someone else to make it first? What? That makes no sense. Or they might offer a free trial, but they need you to input confidential information “just because.” More than likely, they claim that after the trial, all you need to do is cancel and you won’t be charged. An important tip is never providing personal information without properly doing research on a company and checking out reviews. Real reviews, not those fake reviews that are posted to make a company look good. If a company has no bad reviews at all, or nothing but overly bad reviews, it is likely a scam. One of the most common scams is when you’re desperate and looking to get out of debt, and you see a debt relief scam that promises they can help you. Instead, they just take your money and run. A low blow indeed.
The mantra of “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is,” works all too well in this case. In addition to the above scams, don’t forget about the all important “Wealthy Nigerian Price has died and wants to leave you his money” scam and the “Your account has been compromised. Click on this link and change your information now” scam. Although it’s terrible to say, many people only exist in the world to take your money. It’s terrible but you must be ever vigilant with your money and account details. The best way to avoid a scam is being smart and taking preventive measures. Once you get stuck in a scam, it’s extremely hard to escape. Before you buy a product or service on the internet, ask yourself “Is it too good to be true?”