How To Avoid Getting Scammed
by Joseph Demasi

I am really getting tired of seeing all the scammers out there ruining it for the rest of us. There are ways to make money online that is moral, ethical and legal. There are also ways to make money that are immoral, unethical and illegal. A question for you to ponder: Which camp would you like to be in?

That may seem like a strange question and of course you would answer that you want to be in the first camp, right? Of course any self respecting person would answer that question that way. If you ask that question of your business partners and they answer this way: "As long as I make money, what difference does it make." If they actually said that to you I hope you would run like h*** away from that person. The problem you run into is that most of the time they want to be in the first camp, but they may actually be in the second camp without even knowing it. Everyone wanting to make money with a home based business needs to do research into the company that they want to be a part of.

Let me give you the definition of a scam: A fraudulent business scheme. Fraudulent comes from the Latin word fraud, which means deceit. Deceiving someone means to trick them.

Some people have also been asking me about pyramids, meaning illegal pyramids:

Illegal Pyramid Scheme
An illegal business that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, usually without any product or service being delivered.

Sometimes there may appear to be a product - but it’s only there to “look” like a real business. Few people outside of the pyramid desire the product or they can get the same product elsewhere at a less expensive price.

If you enrolled me into your business and I paid $300 to join BUT THERE WAS NO VALUABLE PRODUCT THAT WAS EXCHANGED - that could be an illegal pyramid.

Network Marketing or MLM as an industry is not a Pyramid scheme, although there are companies that pop up that run a pyramid scheme. In 1979 the courts ruled that the Business of Network Marketing/MLM was a legitamate business practice see AMWAY v FTC 1979

If you are looking at a business that is set up in such a way that it rewards you for recruiting and the only people actually buying the products are in it for the business, you need to take another look at it. The FTC ruled that the product must have 'value' and be desired by people outside of the organization. There are many 'business' programs out there that offer products that have no real value or have a 'me too' aspect to it with inflated prices so they pay out huge bonuses for recruiting people. Anybody remember Prosperity Automated System that was shut down by the SEC, over 5000 members lost the $4k it cost to buy the system. The FTC has its sights on BurnLounge that it has determined to be an illegal pyramid, rewarding members for recruiting others heavily. BurnLounge has dismantled the MLM aspect of its business and left thousands of distributors out in the cold.

You must always do your due diligence and research before you join any company. The old saying always works- "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is"

Keep in mind, it will always be easy to find people that have "failed" in any particular business. No matter what business you are researching. People get into businesses all the time and either don't do anything or feel they shouldn't have to do anything to succeed. That is a problem that we as business people need to deal with. The internet is full of great things and bad things. One of the bad things is that there are many people online that actually believe you can get rich by doing nothing. This myth is perpetuated by the endless ads and sites touting this very thing as a sales pitch. Let me say this only once IF YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN MAKE MONEY BY DOING NOTHING THEN YOU DESERVE TO LOSE YOUR MONEY!

There are many great businesses out there and ones that require only part time commitment, but don't think that there is some magic formula to achieve success. If you are willing to work hard and put in a consistent effort with the right company and business model your chances for success are greatly improved. When you do find a business and company you want to partner up with, make a decision to give at least 1 year of constant effort. I feel for the people who do not realize that these are businesses that we are talking about, and like any business it will take time and a focused effort to succeed. If you are looking to get rich quick- you will have better luck with the lottery!