page 2
30 WICKEDLY EVIL
INTERNET MARKETING
SCAMS THAT COULD DRAIN
YOUR BANK ACCOUNT AND
LAND YOU IN GOOGLE JAIL
By James Zakaria
AKA The Marketing Hermit
page 3
Legal stuff:
You may forward this book to anyone who might benefit from it. I
have no problems with that so long as you don’t change or alter anything. If
you have elderly parents or relatives, teenaged children or younger, I urge
you to share this book with them as they are higher at risk for getting
involved with online fraud.
The content of this book is copyrighted in full. All rights and privileges with
regard to its use are reserved by the author.
Any unauthorized use or duplication of the material herein, either directly or
conceptually, is expressly forbidden.
All information contained in this book is strictly intended for entertainment
use only, and does not constitute legal, psychiatric or any other form of
“professional advice”. The author disclaims any notion to the contrary. You
are responsible for your own actions.
MarketingHermit.com
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Scams That Hurt Buyers & Sellers
1) PAYPAL FRAUD …....................................................................................PAGE 12
2) WESTERN UNION/MONEY TRANSFER FRAUD …................................................14
3) TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE AUCTION PRICES ….....................................................18
4) WORK AT HOME SCHEMES STUFFING ENVELOPES OR ASSEMBLING KITS ........ 21
5) FULLTIME INCOME FILLING OUT SURVEYS …................................................... 24
6) MLM/PYRAMID SCHEMES WITH NO PRODUCTS …............................................ 26
7) FAKE PRODUCTS - FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION …............................... 28
8) ENTERTAINMENT TICKET FRAUD SOLD ONLINE …........................................... 30
9) ONLINE MEDICINE FRAUD - HERBAL/WEIGHT LOSS/SEX DRUGS …................ 33
10) BUYING AND SELLING COUNTERFEIT GOODS …............................................. 34
11) WE REPAIR YOUR CREDIT ….......................................................................... 37
MarketingHermit.com
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12) PUMP AND DUMP INVESTMENT ADVICE …..................................................... 39
13) CHAIN LETTERS ….......................................................................................... 43
14) NIGERIAN FEE SCAM/ 419 FRAUD ….............................................................. 45
15) FAKE CHARITIES …........................................................................................ 49
16) LOTTERY FRAUD …......................................................................................... 51
17) SCAMMING PERSONAL INFORMATION TO DRAIN BANK ACCOUNTS …........... 55
Scams That Internet Marketers Should Avoid
18) PUSH BUTTON “5 CLICKS” FREE TRAFFIC SOFTWARE …................................ 58
19) WE SUBMIT TO HUNDREDS OF SEARCH ENGINES …....................................... 61
20) GET TO NUMBER 1 ON GOOGLE …................................................................... 63
MarketingHermit.com
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21) 2,000 BACKLINKS FOR $39.99 …................................................................... 65
22) LINK EXCHANGE PROGRAMS (RECIPRICAL LINKING) …................................ 66
23) WE SUBMIT YOUR WEBSITE TO 1,000 DIRECTORIES …................................. 68
24) EMAIL YOUR ADS TO 10,000 OPT IN SUBSCRIBERS FOR $49.00 …................ 70
25) BOOST YOUR WEB RANKING THROUGH BLACK HAT TECHNIQUES ….............. 72
26) CLICK FRAUD …............................................................................................. 74
27) PHISHING (NOT FISHING) …......................................................................... 78
28) EMAIL SPOOFING …....................................................................................... 81
29) PHARMING AND REDIRECTING TRAFFIC ….................................................... 84
30) COMMISSION STEALING/AFFILIATE LINK REDIRECT …................................. 86
MarketingHermit.com
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Hi James Zakaria here (AKA The Marketing Hermit)
Confession time. I ain't no writer. Just a regular guy who is trying to keep his
online friends from getting tangled up in these damn internet scams.
So excuse my writing with any grammatical errors, run on sentences, misuse
of adjectives, pronouns and whatever else could have gone wrong.
If I could prevent even one person from losing money to online scammers,
this book and it's stories will have served it's purpose. Please help me get
the word out by sharing this book with anyone you know who uses the
internet. Together we can beat down internet crime.
If you have a story you want to share, contact me at james@marketinghermit.com
and I might include it in future versions of this book.
Let's get going..
MarketingHermit.com
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INTRODUCTION
They are out there. Waiting. Watching. Ready to pounce. Looking for their
next victim. It could be you.
But you don't have to be. Arm yourself with the right knowledge and use it
like a bullet proof vest - you might get hit but you won't get hurt.
Every day, every hour, every few minutes, somebody somewhere on the
internet is getting ripped off by some vile, disgusting scam artist and I am
sick of it.
You do have to give these crooks some credit for creativity - they keep
coming up with hundreds and hundreds of different ways to cheat honest
people out of their money.
This book contains thirty of the most popular and deceptive scams on the
planet.
MarketingHermit.com
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The internet has brought the world together so we are connected
electronically to share ideas and grow as a community but it also has created
a new type of crime: Online Fraud....
Crooks are outsmarting everyone and earning billions of dollars through the
internet. These people are not your usual dumb mugger or car thief – these
are smart computer programmers and crafty hustlers who are figuring new
and better ways to steal without getting caught.
The police in most countries are not trained to deal with hackers and online
fraud (with some exceptions) and because these are global international
scams there are also jurisdictional border issues. This is a fancy term that
means cops from one state or country can’t arrest criminals operating in
another state or country without getting permission.
So fraudsters can run their scams with very little interference or
prosecution. Again, there are people arrested all the time for running online
fraud but not in the same numbers such as gang members selling drugs or
small time muggers and car thieves.
MarketingHermit.com
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30 WICKEDLY EVIL INTERNET MARKETING SCAMS was written with the
intention to be shared and passed around so that everyone who uses the
internet can protect themselves from becoming a victim.
This book is intended for three main groups of people.
1. If you are trying to earn money at home, selling via eBay, Amazon,
or CraigsList, marketing online with your own website to grow your
business or trying to earn income as an affiliate you should be aware
of the Paypal/Western Union/eBay scams as well as MLM Pyramids,
Work at Home Schemes, Counterfeit Goods, and Fake Online
Surveys = Read Scams 1-17 plus 27, 27 and 28
2. The second group is anyone who already has a web site online or is
planning to build one soon and wants to get free traffic. You must
read about all of the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Schemes,
The Push Button Traffic Software Scam and Click Fraud (through Pay
Per Click advertising) =Read Scams 18-30
MarketingHermit.com
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If you hire the wrong SEO company or try to use unethical tactics to
get to the first listing on the first page of Google for popular search
words, you could lose all your ranking when you are caught. Some
people call this the Google sandbox but I call it Google Jail.
3. The last group is everyone else who uses the internet to enjoy
videos, music, communicate via email, shop til ya drop and
everything else you can do online. Some people are falling for Email
Spam Offers, 419 Nigerian Fraud, Lottery Fraud, Chain Letter Scam,
Fake Charities, Pump and Dump Investment Advice.
As long as there are victims to be robbed, there will be scams
running all over the internet. Learn how to avoid all these scam
traps and you can avoid having your Bank Account Drained.
They are out there. Sending millions of spam messages every day. Building
thousands of phishing websites every month. Lurking on computers all
around the world, hunting for the weak, the greedy, the hopeless dreamers,
the foolish.
Are you ready for them? Can you defend yourself? Do you know how to spot
them?
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 1) PAYPAL FRAUD
Personally, I have strong belief that PayPal is a very secure payment
processor and is very safe to use when dealing with legitimate businesses
and customers. But as in all aspects of life, crooks are always finding new
ways to steal from their victims. A scammer can either be the buyer, the
seller or just walk in and steal the balance in a PayPal account.
The simplest kind of this type of fraud (and most common) happens when
online sellers (the receiver of funds) fail to deliver the item at all and tries to
avoid issuing a refund. Obviously, Paypal will eventually investigate and shut
down the fraudsters account so he can’t take any more payments online.
More sophisticated criminals may scam people through multiple accounts and
will go through dozens and hundreds of PayPal accounts, adding and closing
them as their schemes grow and die over time.
Scammers can also steal as a buyer (sender), funding his PayPal account
with a bad credit card. If you are an eBay seller be care of the collection in
person scheme where scam artists target auctions where they can
personally collect the item from the seller, rather than having the item
shipped.
MarketingHermit.com
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Okay, the fraudster will buy something via PayPal, use a fake address with a
post office box and then collect the item from the victim. The scumbag will
challenge the sale, claim a refund from PayPal and say they did not receive
the item.
Paypal will reverse the transaction unless the seller can provide a proof of
delivery tracking number. This is a loophole not covered by the seller
protection policy.
I should mention that a common target of email phishing scams is our old
friend PayPal. Scammers will send spam messages to their victim’s email
accounts with the message that the PayPal account needs to updated.
The reader is urged to click the link in the email to avoid his/her account
being suspended. The link is really a web page owned by the scumbag (and
not the real PayPal) which will record the log in details. The link, email and
message will look official and the user will never know the difference until it’s
too late.
With the username and password, Mr. Criminal will steal and mis-use the
funds in the PayPal account to make purchases delivered to an anonymous
post office box.
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 2) WESTERN UNION/
MONEY TRANSFER FRAUD
This is another twist on the old “send money for non-existent goods shipped”
scam. Crooks like using Western Union and it’s competitors to request
payment because this money transfer system was never designed for buyer-
seller transactions.
Sellers usually post ads online offering stuff for sale at bargain or normal
prices but make excuses why they can’t accept cash in person or by
cheque/money orders. When you visit your local Western Union and make
the transfer, you just got ripped off. The seller had no intention of sending
the stuff he was selling and won’t return your emails or phone calls.
It was designed for people to send money long distances to people they
already know and trust and NOT for strangers to complete deals with. Even
CraigsList (the online free classifieds) posts warnings in every section of it’s
website telling it’s millions of users not to use Western Union money transfer
services to buy and sell goods and services.
MarketingHermit.com
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As copied from Craigslist itself:
• “DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow
this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts on craigslist.
• NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any
other wire service - anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
• FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and
BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE
when the fake is discovered weeks later.
• CRAIGSLIST IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY TRANSACTION, and does
not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services,
or offer "buyer protection" or "seller certification"
• NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION (bank account
number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.)
• AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and
know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL "GUARANTEE" YOUR
TRANSACTION.”
Basically, Western Union is a legitimate service but there are individuals and
crime groups who will use it illegally to make fraudulent sales.
MarketingHermit.com
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Western Union has posted many warnings on it’s website due to the increase
in money transfer scams. Don’t send money to people you don’t know and
you don’t know the people you are buying from.
There is no protection for the sender when using Western Union because no
identification is required. One reason people use it is to send money to those
who lost their passports, licenses and identification and so Western Union
created a system for those who need money and don’t have any
identification on them: an ID password.
The sender gives the receiver the ID password and then the person getting
the money at a Western Union office is able to confirm they are entitled to
the money.
What a great loophole for scumbags to take advantage of trusting people. All
they have to do is convince the buyer to give them the Western Union ID
password and they can commit the perfect crime with no trace of who they
are and where they live.
MarketingHermit.com
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Another Western Union scam used is the relative/friend in distress scam.
The fraudster will either make you believe they are someone you know (such
as your grandchild or friend) or are acting on behalf of someone you know.
The scam is based on you sending money for an urgent situation or
emergency. The fraudster will create a story such as the need for bail, fines,
medical expenses, etc.
As Western Union says themselves "Make sure you know to whom you are
sending money" + "We caution people who use our services against sending
money to people they don't know. It is the sender's responsibility to know
the party to which the funds are being sent."
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 3) TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE AUCTION PRICES
The internet is the best place to get amazing deals, no question about it,
however some bargains are not what they seem. If the price seems too
cheap to be real something is probably not right.
Out of over a million online transactions that take place on auction sites like
eBay, only a tiny minority are going to go bad. Still one in four complaints
about online fraud involves the big auction sites - 70,000 complaints per year
out of 400,000,000 or so sales online.
As with counterfeit fraud and PayPal scams, these crooks use the lure of very
low prices on a auction site and targets buyers of high priced items like
watches, jewelery, computers and high end collectables.
If you win an auction from these people, your payment will be accepted but
you will get nothing in return or a counterfeit, refurbished (repaired) or used
item that has no where near the value of the stuff advertised.
MarketingHermit.com
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Second-chance schemes involve scammers who offer losing bidders of
legitimate auctions the opportunity to buy the item(s) they wanted at
reduced prices. They usually require that victims send payment through
money transfer companies, but then don’t follow through on delivery.
Fraud artists can also use phishing or hijacking to steal honest eBay
member accounts, people who have a good online reputation and positive
comments.
They will set up a phoney online store to sell defective or non-existent goods
and ruin the reputation of real auction member. Guess who gets the blame
when buyers of the scammer’s store start to complain?
EBay realized that dishonest merchants could take advantage of the ease
and anonymity of their auction and set up a buyer/seller feedback rating
system to keep everyone honest.
People who try to rip off others end up with very harsh criticism and low
ratings from fellow members. Look at the seller's feedback rating and
comments.
MarketingHermit.com
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The best way to protect yourself is to buy with established sellers who have
hundreds of reviews. Auctions are cheaper than retail but not so low the
price seems impossible.
Check the retail price of the merchandise. If it's new merchandise, you can
probably expect to pay 1/2 to 2/3 of retail, even at auction.
Most credit cards will reverse the charges if you can prove your purchase was
not delivered and eBay will mediate or investigate bad transactions if send in
a complaint.
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 4) WORK AT HOME SCHEMES:
MYSTERY SHOPPING, DATA ENRY, MEDICAL BILLING,
STUFFING ENVELOPES OR ASSEMBLING KITS
If you are reading this book in 2011, times are tough all over, Europe, Africa
and North America. Many people are desperate to work and jobs are hard to
come by, especially for people under 24 and seniors over the age of 50.
Con artists love to eat these victims alive by using the internet to advertise
easy and profitable part time “work-at-home” businesses to the
unsuspecting.
It makes me so angry that these jerks would take advantage of people who
are struggling to live and steal their hope by robbing them of precious dollars
(pounds, euros whatever). If you get an email or visit a website that offers a
chance to make money at home, beware, it could be a trap.
A common scam is to offer complete instructions how to work at home for a
very small amount of money (under $100 usually) and then when you get
the package or download you realize you have been ripped off.
MarketingHermit.com
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Either the book or CD will be missing so much information it is useless or it
will be full of common knowledge instructions that you could have gotten
from a newspaper or public library.
Have you heard this one?:
You see a ad telling you how you can earn thousands of dollars of week and
then when you send in your $10, all you get is a short report telling you to
place the same ad that you fell for yourself (so you can scam someone else).
This is a variation of envelope stuffing because you will be sending envelopes
to those who get conned as well. It’s also a Ponzi scheme because the victim
becomes a recruiter and the scam keeps on going.
Another work-at-home scam involves selling kits for small crafts such as
cases, boxes, beaded jewelery that the victim believes will be resold to the
public.
You, the victim, are tricked into paying sizable amounts of money (hundreds
of dollars) for the instructions and materials in the initial kit. After spending
hours assembling and returning the finished product you will wait eagerly for
the cheque in payment for your hard work but here is what will happen..
MarketingHermit.com
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The Fake S.O.B company will reject it and send you a letter telling you your
work is not good enough and then after you waste more time sending more
letters, you may or may not hear from them again. You will never get your
money back.
Scammers have also offered biz opps (business opportunities) such as
helping assemble directories, stuffing envelopes, doing medical billing and
data entry.
Again, never pay money to get a job. Real employers will never ask for
money ever to get started (with the exception of union dues with real
unions).
Never give out your personal information especially your national insurance
number or your credit card number to any organization that offers to hire
you without a face to face interview.
Follow your instincts and listen to your gut, especially if the income claims
how much you can make are outrageous.
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 5) FULLTIME INCOME FILLING OUT SURVEYS
Here is where a legitimate industry is copied by scammers and turned into a
trap for unsuspecting victims. The biggest lie is that you can earn a full time
income of $30,000 to $50,000 working at home, just filling in surveys online
or over the phone.
The truth is that corporations and government organizations just don’t have
the capacity or budget to pay thousands of people to do nothing but
complete surveys month after month after month.
In reality, most participants will receive gift certificates and small payments
under $100 just a few times a year from the majority of legitimate survey
companies.
The following forum post is more typical: “In the past 24 months or so, I
have received several gift certificates for restaurants, a $50 Amex cash-card
that I had to spend at specific stores (spent it at Borders.com), and a little
cash in the form a checks (never more than $20). I must warn you though...
this is not something that you can support yourself on, but just a little extra
cash every-now-and-then, as it takes a while to accumulate the points for
the rewards.”
MarketingHermit.com
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Unfortunately, most survey companies online are not run by reputable
marketing firms. As much as 90 percent of all survey sites are actually run
by one person, working at home, who collects data and re-sells it to larger
established survey sites for a profit.
A common scam is to request a membership or processing fee to join their
site or to sell a list of thousands of paid survey sites to their victims.
If you don’t do a background search to investigate these fake websites, it’s
easy to sign up with hundreds of different online paid survey sites. You will
never receive any checks in the mail though.
Tens of thousands of people have complained that they paid money to join
dozens of survey sites and never got a reply or request to join a survey.
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 6) MLM/PYRAMID SCHEMES
WITH NO/BAD PRODUCTS
I don’t like to paint all Multi Level Marketing (MLM) business under the same
brush. After all, many legitimate marketers have made fortunes under
Amway, Primerica, Mary Kay and many other companies. They have also
helped millions learn how to sell, lead others and manage themselves. These
are the good ones.
Unfortunately, most MLM’s just use the product to hide their real source of
income - joining fees selling product internally and distributorships in a
pyramid structure.
Whether the product or service is good or bad, people are joining these
schemes to make money by recruiting others to join the program.
In a bad MLM system, recruits spend far more time recruiting then selling
and the head office spends it’s time supporting this activity rather than
selling it’s legitimate service or product.
Rather than market the product through retail channels or a salaried sales
force, the MLM organizer works to maintain the pyramid from collapsing.
MarketingHermit.com
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Two nasty signs of MLM fraud is a lack of retail sales and inventory loading.
Inventory loading occurs when a company's incentive program
forces recruits to buy more products than they could ever sell, often
at inflated prices.
If this occurs throughout the company's distribution system, the people at
the top of the pyramid reap substantial profits, even though little or no
product moves to market. The people at the bottom make excessive
payments for inventory that simply accumulates in their basements.
Every MLM is watched over by a regulatory body in most countries. In the
United States, MLM’s must (by law) earn at least 51% of their income from
product or service sales, rather than fees and distributorships. If they don’t,
they can legally be classified as a pyramid scam and shut down.
That's why each distributor must buy sales kits, trial kits, and sometimes, a
certain amount of "product" each month themselves.
Three ways for you to know your MLM is crooked: Do they spend most of the
time on recruiting and very little on how to sell? Are they pushing you to buy
product all the time even if you can’t sell it yourself? Would you really buy
their sales or services at the prices they charge if you could get less
expensive alternatives?
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 7) FAKE PRODUCTS -
FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION
Okay, this is just like the Western Union Scam, Counterfeit Goods Scam,
Auction Site Fraud or PayPal Fraud but of a more general nature. We are
talking about the practice of outright lying about what the product or service
is and using deception to sell things that don’t work.
Unfortunately, this covers every possible product or service under the sun
sold online because every type of business has attracted some dishonest
people who are creatively thinking about imaginative ways to exploit others.
Here I am talking about situations where the unethical business owner
delivers the goods and services legally and safely but in a scummy,
underhanded lazy way that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of the
customer.
I can give an example from personal experience. Last year, I needed a new
mobile phone and searched for various alternatives but could not make a
decision which carrier and phone to buy. It occurred to me to look at my TV
cable company’s website and add mobile phone service to my existing TV
bill. After looking around online,
MarketingHermit.com
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I called the cable/mobile phone company and was sold a good 2 year plan at
a discount.
Two months later, I discovered that the plan sold to me was different than
the one explained to me over the phone and my mobile bill was sky high.
The problem was fixed, my account adjusted but I was not amused at all.
Now I can’t wait to get out of my contract.
Another forum user posted “I bought a check book case and a wallet from
“LV“, a luxury brand and they were bigger than what I wanted and decided
to return them; both in an excellent condition and within the 14 days time
limit.
The sales person said " one of them was used" but the person who sold it to
me said " return it in a salable condition." The receipt says " Merchandise in
salable condition may be returned or exchanged within 14 days,,etc." Both
products were in an excellent condition” Now she thinks “LV” has a dishonest
return policy.
I am sure you can think of your own disappointing online shopping
experiences yourself.
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 8) ENTERTAINMENT TICKET FRAUD SOLD ONLINE
This is a huge operation involving thousands of online ticket agencies
because the profits are so huge and the authorities so slow to prosecute. I
am talking about fake tickets sold online (or via phone) to popular concerts,
shows and sports events.
Dishonest ticket resellers exploit hysterical hyped up demand and limited
seating so that ticket buyers rush to buy their tickets without checking to see
if the ticket seller is legitimate.
With some tickets being sold for hundreds of dollars/pounds and euros,
victims can experience huge losses. The scammers are counting on
desperate concert or sports event customers searching for ticket agency
alternatives when the original authorized dealers sell out.
Now since the tickets are sold well in advance of the events taking place,
many fraudulent ticket touts (sellers) will issue real (or counterfeit tickets) to
the early birds (people who buy the first batch) but as time goes on and the
event draws near, the scammers will stop mailing out tickets once it’s too
late to break up the scheme.
MarketingHermit.com
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A huge problem for ticket buyers is the length of time it takes for scam sites
to come to attention, this gap helps provide huge sums of money to the
fraudsters comfortably and with little risk; it can take months for them to
come to light which gives them time to disappear.
The sites are closed and the fraudsters have got away with your money, a
ticket scam isn't officially recognized as a ticket scam until you've been
scammed over tickets, missed your gig and lost your money.
Of course you can get your money back if you’ve paid by credit card but
ultimately who picks up the bill for these refunds?
With the internet, online ticket sellers can open and shut down their sites at
will, evading the authorities, hosting companies and Google before they can
be tracked and prosecuted.
MarketingHermit.com
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Three rules to follow: Don’t buy from secondary no name reseller sites, stick
with the name brand authorized sites that have full telephone customer
service and a good online reputation.
Don’t buy tickets via eBay, CraigsList or any other classified/auction site and
especially don’t buy tickets from sellers in other countries. Never purchase
tickets that is to be delivered by post or courier (unless you trust the
company). You should insist on meeting the seller in person, preferably at
their place or office.
Don’t pay with cash, cheques, Western Union, or money orders - always use
your credit card so that you can get a refund if you are scammed.
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 9) ONLINE MEDICINE FRAUD
- HERBAL/WEIGHT LOSS/SEX DRUGS
Sometime you will find these fake medical sites online but more often you
will get here through email spam. The three main categories are weight loss
pills, male sex performance enhancement drugs and secret herbs that cure
any illness.
Let’s hope that none of these medicines are dangerous or life threatening
and that the worst they can do is nothing at all. If you ever bought any thing
like this from an unsolicited, unwanted email, can I ask you something?
What were you thinking?
Fake pills can make you really sick and delay you from seeking actually
helpful treatment from legitimate professionals. Your health is not worth
risking by buying from a spammer, right?
Unfortunately, it's easy for modern day snake-oil salesmen to convince
people that anything can be cured by mixing a few rare plants together.
All have astonishing claims that have no basis at all in any healing field, be it
mainstream or alternative. The reality is that when used correctly, herbal
remedies can improve many health issues, but they are not magical instant
cures.
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 10) BUYING AND SELLING COUNTERFEIT GOODS
Big problem for everyone. Did you hear about this distributor in China that
has copied entire Apple stores, right down to the walls and counters and
plopped them in several Chinese cities?- the Apple products sold in the fake
stores are very real but Apple itself may cancel the licensing agreements
with them due to this company’s dishonest retail strategy.
It’s not so bad if sellers are upfront whether the stuff they sell are fake or
real but when retailers represent fake goods as the original and charge the
premium prices, obviously that sucks for the victim.
It’s very hard to tell the difference between real and fake stuff even if you
are holding both in your hands and impossible to protect yourself when you
purchase online.
It goes without saying that dishonest online stores will not give you a refund
out of the kindness of their heart. If you bought an expensive designer shoe
or clothing item and discovered it was a fake, you can report it to the
manufacturer.
MarketingHermit.com
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They might help you out by offering a discount on their products but more
likely all you might get is some sympathy. Asian manufacturers often don’t
care about breaking trademark and copyright laws and most governments
don’t have the time and resources to fight this type of crime.
Read one story of a victim of counterfeit goods buying through CraigsList:
“I saw an ad on Craigslist about a pair of sneakers that I wanted for some
time, and the pic he send seemed fishy cause it was dated 1/2007. But I
went thru with the transaction anyways cause he promised they were
authentic items. After I paid, he sent tracking info and I realized that the
items were coming from Shang Hai, China and instantly became wary about
the authenticity of the shoes....
….After receiving shoes in the mail, and confirmed that they are counterfeits,
I contacted seller numerous attempts to get a refund, he refused and
continue to claim his shoes are not fake. I'm not looking for any monetary
returns, but would like to see this guy put behind bars for selling counterfeit
items.”
MarketingHermit.com
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Can you determine if you have a fake? Not unless it’s of low production value
or the name and design is altered. Products purchased from a non-
authorized retailer or on auction sites are at your own risk.
Online classifieds as well as flea markets and stores in shady looking
neighborhoods are risky places to purchase branded, luxury goods.
If you get a voice in your head telling that you are making a mistake, listen
to it and walk away. Many people have reported that they got a bad feeling
while buying but ignored it and then later discovered they made a mistake
buying a fake. They should have trusted their feelings.
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 11) WE REPAIR YOUR CREDIT
More scumbag activity. I actually used to believe that these companies could
repair anyone’s credit but now I know better. Not that I have fallen for it
myself, I just have talked to several bank officials and bankruptcy lawyers in
Canada and all credit repair companies (no matter which country you live
in) are scams.
They can’t help you okay? If your credit score is very low and no one will
lend you any money, you can’t change or alter your credit reports. Even if
they have offices all over the country and the counselor wears a fancy suit
and says the right things, they can’t do anything you can do yourself.
If the information in your credit file is accurate and you did take on too much
credit or miss too many payments, you can’t fix your credit at all.
Now if there are mistakes due to stolen credit cards, bad reporting on the
part of your creditors or something else like identity theft or incomplete
updates, you can request that the credit bureau (Equifax is one) make the
required changes.
Companies that offer to remove negative information from your credit history
faster than you can are lying. They can’t skip over the legal time period.
MarketingHermit.com
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There are no loopholes or back door deals that insiders can get around to
magically polish up your credit. These crooks are just interested in emptying
your wallet.
You have the right to look at your credit files and request changes if there
are mistakes or something you don’t agree with. If you find dealing with the
credit reporting agency too intimidating and there are real errors to be fixed,
then yes, these credit repair companies can help by representing you.
Now there are some underground groups that will help you change your
identity, new passport/drivers license identity or get an new social insurance
number to circumvent the credit system.
Yeah, this stuff is all fraud that will send you to jail if convicted. Don’t mess
around with these kind of offers. It just ain’t worth it.
Any company that offers you easy credit while you have bad credit is gonna
hurt you real bad. You are looking at sky high interest rates at 20 to 30
percent per year. Or they will repossess your car or house as soon as you
miss your first payment.
There are no easy solutions if you have messed up your credit and need
more loans. You just have to work with the system to rebuild your credit and
manage your debt properly until you earn the right to obtain more credit.
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 12) PUMP AND DUMP INVESTMENT ADVICE
“Pump and dump" schemes date back to start of the first stock exchanges
but they have never spread faster ever since the internet became
mainstream. Fraudsters do what they do best, outright lie and manipulate
the story about the potential of their stock to boost the price of their shares.
After pumping the stock, fraudsters make huge profits by selling their cheap
stock (usually tiny micro cap companies) into the market.
It all starts with messages posted that urge readers to buy a stock quickly or
to sell before the price goes down. Telemarketer may also call their list of
prospects to promote these “winning” stocks. The insiders aka the thieves
will claim they and only they have insider advanced knowledge about some
economic data or stock market tips that is exclusive to them.
These paid promoters spread out their message all over investment forums,
internet boards and spam emails.
MarketingHermit.com
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The investors get all hyped up, start chatting about it and create a buying
frenzy driving up the price to a multiple of it’s market value real worth.
Because these are small companies trading low value small quantity shares,
it only takes a small number of victims to drive up the price. This is called
THE PUMP.
When the price reaches the level that these criminals wanted it to get to,
they immediately and dramatically sell off their holdings. Because they
bought the shares at rock bottom prices and sold at highly inflated values,
they make a ton of money - tens of thousands, even millions.
Once these fraudsters "dump" their shares and stop hyping the stock, the
price typically falls, and investors lose their money. This is called THE DUMP
Any buyers of the stock who aren’t part of the fraud will lose most or all of
their money. When they realize the fraud, it is too late to sell; they have lost
a high percentage of their money.
MarketingHermit.com
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Even if the stock value does increase, the stocks may be difficult to sell
because of it’s bad reputation and lack of liquidity.
Here is an blogger's example of a Pump and Dump stock called AERN:
“Wow! This pump and dump really blew me away today.
To get right down to it, Gladiator Stocks was paid $1.3 million… yes you read that
right, they got $1.3 million to promote AERN for one month.
In the email I got, our pumper did say “the party is just getting started and it ain’t
stopping anytime soon!” That’s one hell of an analysis guys. Great work!
This must be one great company right?
Well, not so fast.
I took a look at their numbers and what I found was a little concerning. For
example, AERN doesn’t have any documents on file with the SEC. Wait, that’s not
entirely true. The last thing they filed was in 2002…and that document terminated
their securities registration.
The company could use part of that $1.3 million being spent on the pump and dump
to get their filings up to date. A few good lawyers could set them on the right track
in no time. Unfortunately, the financials I did find online left a very bitter taste in
my mouth.
MarketingHermit.com
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So what’s bothering me so much about the financials?
It’s not the fact that the company has only $22,985 in cash on their books. Or the
fact that they owe people just over $1 million in notes payable and long term
liabilities.
Nope… my problem centers more around the $811 in revenue they made last
quarter. Seriously, $811 total revenue. I know some weekend garage sales do
better than that!
Can anyone explain to me what’s so special about a company with $811 in total
revenue?
Or at least tell me why it’s worth spending $1.3 million on pump and dump emails?
Couldn’t that money be better used by the company?
This is one stock I’d stay away from.”
Oh, did I mention that this is insider trading and totally illegal? Yup, so why
would anyone tell you and a million other people about an insider trip if it
really was a good deal? Repeat after me: “If it’s too good to be true it
probably is”
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 13) CHAIN LETTERS
I used to see chain letters all the time in my email box, not so much lately.
Either Gmail and Hotmail have gotten better at blocking them, they have
become less of a problem or I am not that popular with my friends anymore.
It’s got to be number two. Yeah, it’s got to be less in style these days and
not me.
Chain letters are easy to spot. You will get a message that will try to
convince you to make some copies of the letter and then pass them to all
your friends. This way the chain will continue and the trouble maker’s
scheme will scoop up new recipients.
Chain letters used to be sent by the mail, starting before World War 2 but
now take the form of email messages, social network postings and text
messages. Don’t fall for it.
You will either be offered a chance to “get rich quick” in a pyramid structure
with the promise that you will make money if you forward the message. But
often the scam artist will request your personal information or some money
so that you can join.
MarketingHermit.com
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Or you might get a hoax message to trick you to delete a necessary
protective file in your computer by claiming it is a virus. That way a hacker
can get into your programs while you are online.
Or you might get some urban legend manipulative sob stories as a chain
letter which might cause you to forward it on. These messages will pretend
to give you important or useful information which may or may not be true.
I think you are safe from being cheated but it’s a huge waste of time for
everyone and huge joke for the pranksters.
Most chain letters use a reward-punishment incentive method which works
on many people. They make you feel like you are doing a good thing by
passing it on and yet they threaten you with bad luck or even physical
violence if you break the rules of the scheme. You will know a chain letter
when you see one.
And yes, these things are illegal and immoral and plain stupid. It’s banned by
all governments, the military, schools, and corporations in the United States
for obvious reasons.
Side effects include a loss of money, a chance of personal information being
stolen and angry friends in your network talking how they can't believe you
fell for it.
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 14) NIGERIAN FEE SCAM/ 419 FRAUD
It’s unbelievable that people fall for this extremely dangerous evil scheme
that could wipe them out financially but it’s a huge money maker for
organized crime.
Also known as Advanced Fee Fraud (AFF), 419/Nigerian Frauds are named
after a section of the Nigerian criminal code that is used to prosecute
criminals who use this scam.
Even though it’s called Nigerian/419 Fraud (because that is where it started),
it’s a global scam that is going on in every country and city in the world.
Crooks use clever manipulation and their victim’s greed to get them to
advance money so that they can get a huge win fall (return on investment)
once the deal is completed.
This is my favorite scam to talk about just because it such a fascinating yet
terrible scheme with more plot twists and surprises then most action-thriller
films could put together.
Here is how the scam usually works:
MarketingHermit.com
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Victims will receive an unsolicited letter by mail/email from a Nigerian
claiming to be a senior civil servant.
In the letter, the Nigerian will inform the recipient that he is seeking a
reputable foreign company or individual into whose account he can deposit
funds ranging from $10-$60 million that the Nigerian government overpaid
on some trade/construction contract.
In return for doing almost nothing, the victim will receive a 30 percent share
for secretly getting the money out of the country. The scammer tells the
recipient that the money will disappear very fast so urgency is required to
get him/her to act quickly.
The victim’s greed gets a hold of him and he becomes a co-conspirator to
keep it all secret and undercover from the authorities (who can steal the deal
away)
Many people think that the criminal is after the victims bank account so he
can empty it but no, the crook is really trying to get the victim to willingly
give up all of his money from all his accounts so that the deal does not fall
apart.
But eventually it does, the scammers disappear and the victim is usually so
ashamed that he was tricked, he keeps it a secret from friends, family and
the police.
MarketingHermit.com
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Here are the main steps to the Nigerian/419 Fraud:
• The criminals use technology to send millions of spam emails, letters or
faxes to millions of people around the world. 99.999 percent ignore the
messages but thousands of people do take notice and reply back.
• If you fall for it, you will receive a letter or fax from an alleged "official"
representing a foreign government or agency.
• An offer is made to transfer millions of dollars in "over invoiced
contract" funds into your personal bank account.
• The letters refer to investigations of previous contracts awarded by
prior regimes alleging that many contracts were over invoiced. Rather
than return the money to the government, they desire to transfer the
money to a foreign account.
• The sums to be transferred average between $10,000,000 to
$60,000,000 and the recipient is usually offered a commission up to 30
percent for assisting in the transfer.
• You are encouraged to travel overseas to complete the transaction,
usually to Nigeria or a border country.
• You are requested to provide blank company letterhead forms, banking
account information, telephone/fax numbers.
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• Everything is done in secrecy via letters, faxes and packages so that
others don’t find out.
• You receive numerous documents with official looking stamps, seals
and logo testifying to the authenticity of the proposal.
• Offices in legitimate government buildings appear to have been used
by impostors posing as the real occupants or officials.
• You will eventually meet a Nigerian “official” or person who is
associated with a clearing bank for the Central Bank of Nigeria.
• Eventually you must provide up-front or advance fees for various
taxes, attorney fees, transaction fees or bribes.
• The fees start small and then there are requests for more fees and
more, with new excuses and reasons why the deal is stuck and a
promise that this is the last fee required.
• Other forms of 4-1-9 schemes include: C.O.D.(cash on delivery) of
goods or services, real estate ventures, purchases of crude oil at
reduced prices, beneficiary of a will, recipient of an award and paper
currency conversion.
Now in many very poor countries where there are no jobs, famine is
persistent and civil wars common, criminals can easily steal $5,000 to
$100,000 from their victims.
Believe me when I say, there are people who will kill their victims to shut
them up so they can scam their next target. Please don’t ever fall for this. As
always, if it seems too good to be true, it usually is.
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 15) FAKE CHARITIES
In some cities, people will come to you on the street asking for donations for
non profit charitable organizations. I bet most of those operating out in the
open are real & legitimate because it’s just too easy for scammers to start
fake charities and solicited online . However they may also set up tables in
the local mall or even go door to door just like the real charity.
False charities prey on nice people like you and me who want the chance to
help others in need. Scam artists love tricking us into freely giving away
donations to them. It’s easy money. After all they are hard to spot and quick
to run and hide once the big disaster or opportunity ends.
Fake charity scams often set up quasi-legitimate agencies so that, at first
glance, they look real; they may also name themselves something similar to
other legitimate charities.
They may even carry 'ID' in the name of the charity, complete with a logo.
They might have names nearly identical to the legitimate charity with just
one word being different.
Here is how to protect yourself:
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1) Be careful of incoming e-mails or calls asking for donations. Listen to
the professionalism, words used and manner they used while talking to
you.
2) If you don’t believe the caller or email message, just visit the official
website via Google or call the charity yourself.
3) Don’t use the telephone number or web address given to you by the
caller or from the email.
4) Tell them how much you want to donate and watch out if they use
pressure tactics to increase your donation amount. Real ethical
charities don’t try to push you to give more than you want. Yes, there
are exceptions to this too.
5) Never donate via email links.
6) Avoid smaller charities and only donate to the established national and
international charities who actively pursue and fight fake charities who
imitate them.
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SCAM 16) LOTTERY FRAUD
This is one of the most common scams sent over email spam. It’s almost the
same as the Nigerian 419 Fraud but instead of talking about foreign bank
accounts full of money, the scammer tricks the victim into thinking he or she
has won a gigantic lottery win fall.
In order to claim the money, the “winner” just has to prepay the taxes or
some administration fee. But of course there is no lottery and no prizes, just
one very sad loser.
Say one day, you receive an unsolicited email (or phone call), which states
that you have won a major prize in an international lottery. The story you
will hear is that your email address was taken off a pool of emails and the
number assigned randomly selected as the winning lottery draw.
All you have to do is call or write to the official “agent” who is managing your
winnings. If you respond in any way to the email, the scammers will send
further messages or even contact you by phone in an attempt to draw you
deeper into the scam.
MarketingHermit.com
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Again, using your greed and lack of common sense against you, your lottery
agent will ask you to reveal everything about yourself to prove your identity
as the real winner of the prize. You will be foolish enough to give up your
bank account numbers, copies of your passport and driver’s license.
Now the scammers can hurt you in one of two ways: they can steal your
identity and saddle you with thousands in debt
OR they can milk you for money. The scammers will request some sort of
advance fee supposedly to cover administration, legal or delivery costs.
Like Nigerian scams, you will get demand after demand for additional
payments to cover “unforeseen expenses”. The scammers won’t stop asking
for more money until the victim realizes he or she has been ripped off or,
more tragically, runs out of money.
In some cases, the scammers give victims the option of opening an account
at a particular bank as an alternative to paying upfront fees.
MarketingHermit.com
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However, this "bank" which is completely bogus, will insist on an initial
deposit of $3000 as a requirement for opening the account.
You won’t know what hit you because this fake bank will have a legitimate
looking website and will be connected to legitimate companies and
government departments.
Most of the time, all this activity is done over the phone or via email. But
sometimes victims are offered the chance to travel to “official offices” on
prestigious streets in major cities.
Quite a few people have gone to other countries to transfer advance cash
fees to release the prize. However, any "winnings" released to the victim will
be counterfeit and therefore worthless.
The elderly are very vulnerable to such attacks and there are many stories of
people losing their life savings to these very evil and dangerous criminals.
MarketingHermit.com
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The prizes offered by these fake charities does not always have to be a
million dollar/pound/euro jackpot, it can often start as a small electronic item
(TV or computer for example) or a brand new automobile so that people
might find the possibility they won believable and reasonable.
The bottom line is that real lotteries are funded by ticket sales and if you get
a notice that you won prizes and money by without any purchase, it’s a
scam.
Don’t even reply to lottery spam messages because once the criminals
discover they can manipulate you, they will harass you, threaten you, sweet
talk you until the game is over.
MarketingHermit.com
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SCAM 17) SCAMMING PERSONAL INFORMATION
TO DRAIN BANK ACCOUNTS
This is the most basic of scams online but has been going on for years well
before the internet, phone, automobile, right since people started saving
their money in the first banks hundreds of years ago.
Person A talks to Person B and through manipulation and smooth talking gets
the victim to reveal his or her personal information to get access to Person
B’s bank accounts and credit cards.
Here are three common forms of identity theft:
Mortgage Fraud:
This is scary because you could be out hundreds of thousands of
dollars/pounds/euros.
Your personal information is taken so criminals take your identity to purchase
property and get mortgages under your name. Sometimes crooked lawyers
and mortgage brokers are involved so that the scheme goes undetected.
MarketingHermit.com
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Carefully guard your personal information. Check your credit report regularly
for unauthorized financial accounts and properties in your name. When in
doubt, you can request a property search at your provincial land registry
office to ensure that your home’s title is still in your name.
Power of Attorney Fraud:
A Power of Attorney is a legal letter that lets someone else manage your
legal and business activities. Once a fraudster gets a hold of such a
document, they can do what ever they want (as restricted by the power of
attorney form)
A family member or close friend may be using their privileged access to
commit fraud and theft. Do not sign anything unless you read the documents
and all attachments. Fully understand what you are signing.
Telemarketing Fraud
I have a strong hatred towards telemarketers, even legitimate business
selling real products and services over the phone. Imagine how I feel about
criminals calling their victims over the phone to rip of people, with seniors
being the most vulnerable.
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Your BS detector should go off (be alert and cautious) when you receive any
calls offering free prizes, fantastic promotions and offers that are impossible
to get in any mall or business.
Telemarketing is used by legitimate businesses to advertise and sell their
products and services over the telephone. Unfortunately, criminals also use
the same telemarketing techniques to defraud people.
You should therefore be cautious when receiving a telephone call stating that
there is an amazing promotion or prize to be won. Also be cautious of
organizations that you do not know and do not be fooled by their
extravagant promises
The bottom line is NEVER give your social security number to anyone you do
not know and trust. Don’t give any financial information over the phone
unless you know the caller to belong to a legitimate business. When in doubt,
call them back and don’t get intimated or sucked into revealing stuff just to
save money or get bonuses.
Always destroy credit card solicitations and use common sense with your
personal information. You should not apply for credit cards that were offered
in the mail even if it's from a real bank. (Don't get me started what a rip off
credit cards are to you and me – I will leave that for another time).
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SCAM 18) PUSH BUTTON “5 CLICKS” FREE TRAFFIC SOFTWARE
In this scam you will be sent to an sales page with a headline that looks like this:
SECRET SOFTWARE THAT PUMPS $200K MONTHLY INTO MY BANK ACCOUNT
ON TOTAL AUTOPILOT WITH ONLY FREE TRAFFIC or some variation of that
idea.
Then you will watch a video where the “hero” claims he invested thousands
of dollars in Internet Marketing courses and never made a dime. He will talk
about his past and his family in an effort to bond with you.
You will then be amazed at screen shot after screen shot of online bank
accounts with amounts in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
There will be a story how he was unhappy in his job, flat broke and ready to
give up. In his most desperate hour, he will reveal how he outsmarted “those
greedy gurus” by meeting an insider in the guru world, who gave him a top
secret software.
He was skeptical at first but decided to try it and to his amazement, his click
bank account was flooded with cash due to huge numbers of visitors.
MarketingHermit.com
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Just because he is a cool guy, he is going share this software worth millions
of dollars with you for not $2,000, not $500 but only $47.00 US. Yeah, right!
At no point will you get to see the software in action or be told how it
actually works.
Let’s shoot some holes into this story. Why would anybody give away
software that makes millions for only $47 or $37? Why won’t they reveal the
software until you get past the checkout page? Why all the mystery?
If it’s stealing traffic from Google or other major websites, how is it doing
that and why are the authorities not taking action?
Truth time: It’s a clever scheme to separate you from your money. These
websites are praying on your desire to get fast traffic without understanding
how the internet really works.
You will get software that has some SEO element to it but this software
was created so they (the fake gurus) could make people think that
they actually got rich from it. In fact the website and sales video
was often build even before they hired a programmer to make the
darn thing.
MarketingHermit.com
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Unfortunately, there are far too many internet marketers creating these
types of sales products and an even greater number of unsuspecting
affiliates trying to promote the offer in hopes of getting their 50 to 75
percent share of the front end product.
Every week, I get two or more offers like this sent by some big name
marketers and they all are very seductive and fascinating but they all follow
the same lousy formula.
The sad thing is that tens of thousands of people have fallen for it, including
myself (twice), and these scam artists promote these products to their email
lists over and over again, under the ruse that they are trying to help them.
Millions of dollars have been made so far since 2008 or earlier. So far this
syndicate (they work as a group to pump out product after product) has
gotten away with it with no consequences.
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SCAM 19) WE SUBMIT TO HUNDREDS OF SEARCH ENGINES
Bad idea. Often you will be charged a flat fee of $30 to $100 or a monthly
fee of say $29 for example and it is money that will be lost forever. First of
all, there are four primary search engines that handle about 95% of all
internet searches, so submitting to anything other than the main four is
pretty much useless.
Second of all, search engines don’t like submissions. There is hundreds of
articles and posts to prove this. SE’s simply like to find websites on their own
through incoming links to the site. And submitting every month as no effect
on your traffic or rankings.
In fact, they have gotten so good at it, that it doesn’t take weeks or months
for a site to get indexed anymore. If there are incoming authority links to the
site, it can be indexed in a matter of days.
The thousands of search engines the offer refers to are often FFA pages
(Free-for-All pages) on spam sites. You really don't want your site listed on
these sites- it's highly doubtful it will drive useful traffic (if any) or improve
your link popularity.
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They are often feeding grounds for email harvesting bots. You might even be
dropped in the search results for associating with such sites. Your email
spam complaints will skyrocket.
Many "submission services" are merely fronts for email list marketers. You
are actually paying them to sell your email address.
The last issue has to do with the fact that many of these services mention as
a selling point that they will re-submit your site weekly or monthly to the
search engines.
This is definitely a no no, and is actually completely pointless. If the search
engine already knows you exist, there is no point to telling them over and
over.
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SCAM 20) GET TO NUMBER 1 ON GOOGLE
Every marketer’s dream! (because traffic equals cash, right?). Because of the
value of ranking high in search results and the secrecy about how search
engines decide how they pick the order of competing websites, fraud is
common in this growing area.
Fraudsters take advantage of inexperienced online marketer’s impatience by
promising to use their “expert knowledge” to get their client’s website to the
number one position on the first page of Google.
S.E.O (Search Engine Optimization) is actually a time consuming, repetitive
task that requires weeks and months of efforts just to get to the bottom of
page one for a popular keyword.
Actually, large corporations, banks and insurance companies have entire
departments that spend tens of thousands of dollars to rank highly in organic
search. This means S.E.O can be expensive to compete in.
If the price seems to good to be true. IT IS.
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Often you will see no results at all and the S.E.O company will tell you to be
patient and wait because Google, Yahoo and Bing take their time to adjust
the rankings. Months will pass and your messages will go unanswered.
Let say you do find a decent S.E.O consultant who will complete the project.
You are not going to get the keyword you want (with all the popularity and
activity). NO WAY.
No competent SEO consultant is going to guarantee a #1 ranking for a set
price for any keyword you choose.
Instead of getting ranked for keywords with thousands of searches per
month, it is more likely you will get top ranking on search engines for
uncompetitive keywords with only a dozen or so searches per month.
The reason they are easy to rank number one is there is no traffic for them
and therefore no competition. Beware of unreasonable guarantees…
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SCAM 21) 2,000 BACKLINKS FOR $39.99
This sounds awesome! So many links for so little money! I’m bound to get to
page one on the search engines with so many links, right? WRONG!
Let’s ask some questions. What kind of links are you getting and where are
they coming from? I don’t know either. It’s a mystery to me too.
Your website could end up pushed down the rankings rather than go up.
Why?
The only way someone could offer this many back links is through
spammy link sites and/or crappy directories.
One thing Google wants is links from relevant content sites similar to your
own. I will bet you that the links will be from site nothing like your site or
from very general sites filled with ads and links.
The pages will be of such low quality, the links will be nearly worthless.
Google realizes this is happening and for that reason ranks one link from
trusted authority sites like Facebook, Youtube, Digg, and established
newspapers is equal to thousands of ordinary links from newer sites.
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SCAM 22) LINK EXCHANGE PROGRAMS (RECIPRICAL LINKING)
I don’t care if it has a fancy name, hundreds or thousands of partners, a
really cool story how it works, It’s AGAINST THE TERMS OF GOOGLE. Don’t
do it.
“Your site's ranking in Google search results is partly based on analysis of
those sites that link to you. The quantity, quality, and relevance of links
count towards your rating.
The sites that link to you can provide context about the subject matter of
your site, and can indicate its quality and popularity. However, some
webmasters engage in link exchange schemes and build partner pages
exclusively for the sake of cross-linking, disregarding the quality of the links,
the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites.
This is in violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact
your site's ranking in search results”
That’s straight from Google’s official blog. Oh, those nice people offering the
exchange of hundreds of new links for $49 per month did not tell you that?
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They must have forgot. (this is my sarcasm of course).
Search engines don’t like “let’s trade links to help each other” deals among
webmasters. In fact, Yahoo, Google and Bing don’t want you to build links
from unrelated websites.
They want unique, useful or cool content that visitors want to share with
others. In an ideal world, your customers and audience will build your links
for you in appreciation of your efforts.
From Google's blog: “Links are usually editorial votes given by choice, and
the buzzing blogger community can be an excellent place to generate
interest“.
If you still want to do this, only a tiny fraction of link exchange groups are
honest and chances are you will end up joining a group of link spammers.
Good luck with that.
MarketingHermit.com
page 68
SCAM 23) WE SUBMIT YOUR WEBSITE TO 1,000 DIRECTORIES
You would think this is a good idea. It takes about 15 minutes to an hour for
an experienced web designer looking for links to find a suitable directory and
then submit the website .
It would take hundreds of hours to manually submit to 1,000 directories and
many companies will submit your URL for only $10 to $200 depending on the
service. So what could go wrong?
Plenty, actually. Yes, of course there are plenty of free and paid directories
out there that are worth getting listed on like DMOZ and BOTW and other
legitimate directories.
But you are more likely to be sent to automated link farms that will damage
your rankings and put you in Google jail.
Many submission services use automated submission software that takes
about 5 minutes of their time to submit to their list of available directories
which may or may not be relevant to the focus of your website, offer no page
rank or measurable traffic either.
MarketingHermit.com
page 69
No legitimate company will be willing to submit your website URL manually
to hundreds of directories for such a small fee.
If you have very few links going to your website and suddenly overnight you
have thousands of links coming to your main page, Google will get mad and
drop you from the search results for your desired search results.
Many directories request that if they link to you for free, you must add a link
or ad for them. The search engines see that as participating in a link
exchange scheme and you will either get zero credit for that link or even a
negative penalty.
The submission service may also ask you to add their logo on your site to
boost their ranking on Google but both of your site will get busted for this
discouraged behavior. Don’t do it.
MarketingHermit.com
page 70
SCAM 24) EMAIL YOUR ADS TO 10,000 OPT IN
SUBSCRIBERS FOR $49.00
Let’s say you don’t care about being called a spammer or the tiny possibility
that you could be fined or convicted of a crime under the Can-Spam Act. As a
marketer, this is a complete waste of money. There are too many problems
and unknowns associated with it.
• You have no idea who these people are.
• Are they interested in your offer?
• Are they buyers or just people with no money who want free stuff?
• Are the emails harvested or really opt in?
• What are the click and open rates for these people?
• If they are opt in, they did not agree to view or receive your messages.
Going back to the illegality of participating in a spamming scheme, your
emails are likely to be blocked from ever reaching your target market’s
inbox.
If your “spam” messages do arrive you will probably receive some complaints
or even angry replies.
MarketingHermit.com
page 71
If you keep using these illegal services, you could lose your email account,
your auto responder service and/or your website could be banned or deleted
by the hosting company. Scary, huh.
As a side note, you should also not purchase a list from someone else.
Chances are the previous owner has spammed the list with hundred of bad
offers and now almost no one is opening any email messages anymore.
If you are really interested in starting an email campaign, start one
yourself, don't buy someone else's list.
That way, you will know for sure that they are opt-in, and you will be able to
manage the results.
MarketingHermit.com
page 72
SCAM 25) BOOST YOUR WEB RANKING THROUGH BLACK HAT
TECHNIQUES
“Black Hat” sounds like a cool name for doing something underground but
make no mistake, these SEO techniques are shady and unethical methods
that try to trick search engines into better ranking.
Basically you are cheating by jumping the ranking systems so that search
engines robots think your website is something it really is not.
Some SEO firms will get you high rankings using illegal tactics because they
don’t care if your website drops out of the rankings once Google, Yahoo and
Bing figure out what you are doing.
There are hundreds of techniques involved, but some of the more well known
are doorway, gateway and mirror pages, redirects, cloaking, invisible pages…
the list goes on and on.
The other terms used in the community is “White Hat” or “Grey Hat” which
are legal encouraged and borderline tactics used that Google won’t penalize
you for using.
MarketingHermit.com
page 73
What are Black Hat techniques?:
• Much of Black Hat is using spam (unwanted links, blog posts, forum
comments) that breaks search search engine rules and regulations
• Anything creates a poor user experience directly because of the black
hat SEO techniques utilized on the Web site
• unethically presents content in a different visual or non-visual way to
search engine spiders and search engine users.
• Using Keyword Stuffing by filling out your site with nothing but long
lists of keywords to rank under hundreds of keyword searches.
• Using Invisible text which includes lists of keywords in white text on a
white background to trick Google, Bing and Yahoo robots to rank even
if the content is unrelated.
• Using Doorway Pages there are fake invisible pages to the visitor but is
visible to search engine spiders.
Look, if you are reading this book, chances are you won’t know how to use
any of the hundreds of illegal, stupid SEO techniques but you should be
aware that many SEO companies will not hesitate to damage your website
reputation in order to make a quick buck.
MarketingHermit.com
page 74
SCAM 26) CLICK FRAUD
As a PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertiser, this burns me up. Companies spend a lot
of money to advertise on Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, Youtube and other
lesser search engines and social networks. All of them are getting ripped off
through click fraud in one way or another.
What is it? Dishonest internet users use online robots programmed to click
on advertising links displayed all over the web, thus costing the advertisers
millions of dollars.
A growing alternative employs low-cost workers who are hired in China, India
and other countries to click on text links and other ads. A third form of fraud
takes place when employees of companies click on rivals' ads to deplete their
marketing budgets and skew search results.
No matter what the search engines do to put a stop to this nasty practice, it
goes on in a massive scale. But some marketing executives estimate that up
to 20 percent of fees in certain advertising categories continue to be based
on nonexistent consumers in today's search industry.
MarketingHermit.com
page 75
That means one out of five visitors gained through PPC is not a customer but
your competitors, robots or scammers who will gain profit from click fraud or
at least hurt innocent companies.
Here is an interesting story about click fraud:
Search ads were perfect for Mr. Cauff's business. He ran a charter jet service
based in Miami and his potential customers were scattered across the
country.
If he used traditional newspaper, television and radio advertising in many
cities, most of his money would be wasted. Not with targeted PPC ads on the
search engines.
Still, the ads were expensive. The price and placement depend mainly on
how much the advertiser wants to bid for the search term - also known as
the keyword in ad jargon.
As other charter-air companies began PPC advertising, the cost of a click on
a top-ranked ad rose to about $10 - in some cases as high as $30 - and
there could be hundreds of clicks a month.
MarketingHermit.com
page 76
Which is why Cauff was infuriated when he discovered that up to "40
percent, maybe more" of the clicks on his keyword ads apparently came not
from potential customers around the nation but from a single Internet
address, one that belonged to a rival based in New York City.
"If we get clicked fraudulently, it uses up our ad budget," he says.
Advertisers usually set limits on how much they will spend, and search
engines drop ads once they hit that limit.
As a result, fraudulent clicking "literally pushes us off the page," Cauff
explains. "And then our competition buys in at a lower price when we're not
there."
Cauff was a victim of "click fraud," the illicit manipulation of keyword-based
advertising. In this case, the scam appeared straightforward - one company
clicked on a rival's search engine ads to drive up its costs.
More complex is a second type of bogus ad click that exploits a second form
of PPC advertising: ads fed to Web sites - anything from personal blogs to
the sites of major corporations - by search providers like Google, Yahoo and
Bing.
MarketingHermit.com
page 77
The system creates an incentive for affiliates to cheat. "All you have to do to
make some money is find a way to click the ad sent by Google or Yahoo! to
your own Web page," says search marketing consultant Joseph Holcomb.
"Click! - there's 10 bucks. Click! - there's 10 bucks. It goes on all the time."
If we are unable to stop this fraudulent activity, these refunds may increase,"
Google said in its SEC filing. "If we find new evidence of past fraudulent
clicks we may have to issue refunds retroactively of amounts previously paid
to our Google Network members."
Google and Overture (MSN and Yahoo) employ "fraud squads," or teams of
people dedicated to fighting click schemes.
But at least two marketing executives say such countermeasures are missing
fraudulent clicks that are responsible for between 5 percent and 20 percent
of advertising fees paid to all search networks.
If you decide to get involved with Pay Per Click advertising, you will have to
write off a percentage of your advertising due to click fraud. That's just the
way it is.
Does that mean you should not advertise with PPC? No, look to your overall
return on investment: Did you make more money than you spent? If yes,
keep on going.
MarketingHermit.com
page 78
SCAM 27) PHISHING (NOT FISHING)
Phishing is such a stupid name for such a vicious act that involves imitating
known real people, government offices and business to steal your personal
passwords and credit cards. Computer hackers named the phrase in the mid
1990’s to describe how they attempted to gain access to AOL (America
Online) accounts.
These attackers would pose as AOL staff and send instant messages to their
potential victims. The message would ask the recipient to “verify your
account” and reveal his or her password.
As this was a new scam, many if not most people were tricked into showing
all their account information.
Today phishing is a rampant disgusting behavior used by smart identity
thieves to trick people into revealing their bank and credit card accounts.
They have graduated from AOL to using spam, malicious web sites, email
spoofs and instant messages including text messages.
MarketingHermit.com
page 79
Phishers aka scumbags love email because they can make the messages
appear to be coming from legitimate banks and companies. They will send
you to copycat websites that are twins of the real website that belongs to the
company they are copying.
They are great marketers in the sense that victims are scared by the
message and sold into the idea they must reply before it’s too late.
According to CommTouch's October 2011 State of Hacked Accounts report
(PDF), phishing e-mails are being sent increasingly from compromised
accounts rather than from "zombie" addresses.
This makes it more difficult for your e-mail provider to block the messages
because they appear to originate from trusted domains.
According to a CommTouch survey of people whose e-mail accounts were
hacked, Yahoo Mail (27 percent), Facebook mail (23 percent), Gmail (19
percent), and Hotmail (15 percent) were the principal targets of phishers.
MarketingHermit.com
page 80
Not surprisingly, 62 percent of the survey respondents said they didn't know
how their e-mail account was hacked, while 15 percent blamed a Facebook
link, and another 15 percent pointed the finger at their use of a public Wi-Fi
hot spot.
Perhaps the most telling result of the CommTouch survey is how people
responded to the phishing attack: 42 percent changed their password, 8
percent ran anti virus software, 23 percent changed their password and ran
anti virus software, and another 23 percent did nothing.
Doing nothing is a bad idea. At the very least change your password and/or
run all your spy ware/mal ware/anti virus software.
The corporate world has their own tactics to deal with phishing attacks. If
they have to discuss urgent matters with their customers they tend to do it
over the phone and by post office mail.
Remember real businesses and banks will never send you a request to
change or add your personal information via email. When in doubt, close
your email and go directly to the main website on your browser and never
through an unsolicited email link.
MarketingHermit.com
page 81
SCAM 28) EMAIL SPOOFING
OMG, this recently happened to my friend’s email account. I got an email
from him asking to click on a link to a “get-rich-from-home” scheme. This is
not something he would normally send. It turns out his email was forged by
a hacker and sent to me to appear that it came from my friend. (That’s
spoofing)
It is really easy to spoof an e-mail address and anyone can do it. All you
need to do is change the settings in your e-mail program. Simply change
your name, and choose any e-mail address as the reply-to address. When
your e-mail arrives, it will appear to the receiver as having been sent from
another person.
But that’s the manual way, fraudsters use complex software to spam millions
of people with spoof emails so they can get victims to click and open their
messages.
There are four main types of email spoofs:
MarketingHermit.com
page 82
1) Spammers like doing this to trick anti-spam filters. It makes the email
seem real instead written by a machine (because they steal real
people’s email addresses). Spoofing also hides their identity so that
most recipients can’t trace the message to it’s source.
2) Virus Programs use email spoofing because people will easily open
attachments sent by people they know. Once activated, the virus will
use the address book in the first victims computer to send new spoof
messages to everyone in the book. Again the virus will use a new email
address in the contact list to disguise itself once more. And so it
spreads from one computer to another as the new victims complain to
the person who’s email has been hacked that they are sending out
viruses.
3) Fraud Artists will email spoof addresses from real legitimate banks,
governments and corporations. Victims will be tricked into revealing
their passwords or credit card numbers and may end up going to a
fake web page to reveal more information. The email and web pages
will look so real that you won’t know the difference until your accounts
are attacked.
MarketingHermit.com
page 83
4) Angry Vindictive Idiots may email spoof to cause trouble or financial
loss for a company or organization. Maybe they are angry because they
were laid off, fired or demoted, or they disagree with the target’s
activities. Their goal is cause rumors, misinformation, finger pointing
and disruption.
The person the email spoofer pretends to be, may get in huge trouble and
might have to defend himself/herself at great cost of time and reputation
while the organization investigates.
You just can’t trust any email these days including those that appear sent by
friends. You just have to be aware of all the scams out there.
If a friend sends you a strange message that does not sound like his previous
messages or has a link to a questionable website, his email may have been
spoofed.
MarketingHermit.com
page 84
SCAM 29) PHARMING AND REDIRECTING TRAFFIC
Pharming has nothing to do with Facebook Farmville or even real farming. “It
occurs when occurs when a hacker redirects website traffic from a legitimate
website to the hacker's fraudulent website by exploiting vulnerabilities in the
Domain Name System (DNS)”.
By corrupting a computer's knowledge of IP addresses, the attacker causes
the victim's computer to communicate with the wrong server—a technique
known as domain hijacking” (from Wikipedia).
Scammers build a fake web site that looks like the real one and redirect as
many users as possible to the bad ones. The bogus sites to which victims
are redirected to look just like the legitimate site. But when users enter their
login name, PIN and password, the information is captured by criminals.
"Phishing is to pharming what a guy with a rod and a reel is to a Russian
trawler. Phishers have to approach their targets one by one. Pharmers can
scoop up many victims in a single pass," said Chris Risley, president and
chief executive officer of Nominum , a provider of IP address infrastructure
technology for businesses.
MarketingHermit.com
page 85
The most alarming pharming threat is DNS poisoning, which can cause a
large group of users to be herded to bogus sites. If a DNS directory is
"poisoned" -- altered to contain false information regarding which web
address is associated with what numeric string -- users can be silently
shuttled to a bogus website even if they type in the correct URL.
MarketingHermit.com
page 86
SCAM 30) COMMISSION STEALING/
AFFILIATE LINK REDIRECTS
Here is a dirty little secret about affiliate marketing that few people on the
top talk about. Commission Stealing. You may have heard all the hype on
blogs and forums over affiliate links getting stolen and losing up to 40% of
affiliate commission.
Commission hijacking occurs when a scammer redirects or changes the
affiliate link on a blog post or review page so they get the commission
instead of the affiliate who wrote the article. Don’t ask me how they do it, I
don’t know either.
It used to be a big problem until Clickbank, Commission Junction and
Amazon improved the leaks in their affiliate systems a few years ago.
However it still goes on today.
Some people don’t like to click long ugly links with affiliate codes and
sometimes will retype the URL web address without the extension robbing
the affiliate of the commission (well they did not know either)
MarketingHermit.com
page 87
Many marketers use cloaked affiliate links or redirect pages to avoid being
ripped off of their commissions. If you want to learn how, there are some
instructional videos on YouTube that might help.
Another reason is to make your link shorter and more attractive. Compare.
http://www.make-you-rich.com/copy.asp?storefront=weishengwu and
http://www.make-you-rich.com Which one looks more clickable? The answer
is pretty clear.
Another activity that many affiliates will do to get a massive discount on a
product they want is buy through their own affiliate link. While discouraged
by the networks, the product owner doesn’t care who get the commission so
long as he gets a new customer.
Once you get regular commission checks from being an affiliate, you should
randomly check your affiliate links every few weeks or months to see if any
have been hijacked
MarketingHermit.com
page 88
CONCLUSION
Let me squeeze in one more scam before we wrap this up: # 31. 10,000
visitors for $98.00. No, No, No!! Don't do it. This is trash traffic because it
does not really exist. These are software robots that will click your links and
are not human traffic (real people).
The way you can tell is you will not get one customer or new subscriber from
this traffic. The going rate for most legitimate traffic sources is about 20
cents US to $10 per person on average and not 1/10 th of a penny. You have
been warned.
So here is where you can help. Pass this book around, forward it to your
friends and family. You may freely distribute this book, provided that
you don't change any of the words or links. If you have a online fraud story,
share it with me so I can possibly add it to an updated version of this book.
Let’s get the word out. Play safe.
MarketingHermit.com
page 89
SOURCES:
http://ranking-number1.com/the-google-news-marketing-scam/
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66356
(link exchanges)
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/MLM_pyramid.php
http://www.homebusinessresearch.com/archive/6_easy_ways_to_cloak_and
_redirect_affiliate_links.html
http://www.scambusters.org/Scambusters48.html
http://melissabarrett.hubpages.com/hub/herbalscams
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2005/03/66853?currentPage=all
http://scam.com/showthread.php?t=427 (surveys)
MarketingHermit.com
page 90
http://www.newsletter.kaijewels.com/paypal-frauds-paypal-email-scams.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_letter
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/scams-fraudes/canad-practical-pratique-guide-
eng.htm
http://www.scambusters.org/charity.html (fake charities)
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/Fake_Products_Nike.php
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/32359839/ns/today-money/t/too-good-be-
true-skirt-work-at-home-scams/ (work at home)
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2009/june/auctionfraud_063009
http://www.419eater.com/html/419faq.htm (Nigerian Scams)
http://scams.flipshark.com/westernunion.html (Money Transfer Fraud)
http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams
MarketingHermit.com
page 91
http://www.safeconcerts.com/tickets/buying-tickets-safely.asp (fake tickets)
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/email-lottery-scams.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_fraud
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.01/fraud.html (click fraud)
http://www.webtech.on.ca/spoof.htm (email spoofing)
http://us.norton.com/security_response/phishing.jsp (phishing fraud)
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20117331-285/only-you-can-
prevent-phishing-attacks/
http://www.sec.gov/answers/pumpdump.htm
http://www.pennystockresearch.com/pump-and-dump-alerts-%E2%80%93-
october-7-2011-%E2%80%93-aern-byrg-afpw/
MarketingHermit.com
page 92
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