Technology Blog

A few days ago I post about paid survey sites, and my experience at trying to get even $10 out of one site that was free with nothing but links to other survey sites (and so the circle jerk went). One of the sites I landed on asked for my personal info in case I was interested in “legitimate earn at home” opportunities, oh and get this… specific to CANADIANS.

Now, I’m a bit of an american-phobe when it comes to “business opps”. I have this belief (since I am Canadian) that the scams come from south of the border. SO NOT TRUE.

If you’ve ever been trapped in an Amway call, by say, a sister, a brother, a brother-in-law, an uncle, a cousin, or some other close relation, then I strongly urge you to AVOID THIS WEBSITE NOW: canadianhomebusiness dot ca. I hate their tactics so much that I absolutely refuse to give them a direct link. Considering the methods of operation and communicating is so INDIRECT, they deserve nothing from me, except this negative commentary.

I made the mistake of providing my cell phone while filling out the info for a “survey site”, completely forgetting that I’d be using my cell phone quite a bit while visiting family in Toronto. I received about 2-3 calls, one as late at 10pm EST on a Sunday from a number I didn’t recognize. Not only was it a private number, but they left no voice mail. Shortly thereafter, I received an email from these guys asking me to call them to discuss this “wonderful opportunity” blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, etc etc etc. No details on what the company/opportunity is actually about.

To my anger, surfing to their website was also a waste of time because once again no details are provided.

I’m reminded of the time a good friend of mine was encouraged by his work buddy to attend a “meeting”. My buddy knew I was looking for potential opportunities for self employment and suggested I give this a try. He was busy with work, but figured I could go and check it out for the both of us. His work buddy, a very nice guy and programmer was quite enthusiastic about this business “opp”. Very enthusiastic. Ok, so I bit.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived at the hotel was that there were no signs, no company logos, no brochures, no reports, not even a single page handout. In fact, the conference room sign was not labelled announcing the name of the company that had rented the room in the first place. RED FLAG #1. The next thing I noticed was my friend’s work buddy up on the podium talking about the business opportunity in very broad general terms without announcing the name of the company. RED FLAG #2.

I sat in that chair in frustration as my confidence in these characters was quickly slipping. After about another 15 minutes, the “final reveal” took place. The “opp” was for distributing skin products for none other than: NuSkin international.

I felt completely had by this guy that I was somewhat friendly with since I’d met him a few time previously. Naturally, to be polite I stayed for the entire schpeel about NuSkin, the whole time wholely aware that I was suckered into listening to these clowns talking about their obvious pyramid scheme.

Now, my opinion on MLM (multi-level-marketing) is somewhat mixed since my foray onto the internet for employment. I believe people should be rewarded when they refer other people to business opportunities. But when a scheme is almost entirely about creating sub groups or seller underneath you and the general jist about the opportunity is nothing but referring other people to your “pyramid” we might as well start talking about the circle jerk again. I’ll say this much, J. did not have any luck in recruiting me to this scheme. My hope is that he never quit his day job.

Although I mention Amway in the title of this blog, I would like to say that I did visit their website to compare it to the canadian business opp site that I went to. To my surprise Amway was very upfront about their MLM, and discussed their model of people buying products, everyone buying products from the same suppliers thus sharing the profits/savings amongst themselves. That’s pretty much the jist to most MLM’s that I’ve seen.

I think I’m done kvetching about this on my blog for now. The one site I will share directly however is this one: http://www.falseprofits.com/MLM%20Lies.html

This is a good read if you’re looking for work or if you feel like someone is trying to get you interested in an opportunity that appears too good to be true. As for me, this is just continued validation to trust me gut more and be very cautious as to what information I put out on the net.

Spam spam spam, and more spam!

I’ve seen this ad several times now: “I got scammed 37 times!” So naturally, I’m curious, I click.

Only to be lead to one of those typical one page spreads that have a link to ‘find out the truth to money making programs’, along with an opt-in email newsletter, not to mention 2 links to other one page ads to programs/tips on how to make thousands of dollars, and assurances that these are not scams, and 100% satisfaction guaranteed (if of course, you legitimately do all the steps they suggest, over a 90 day commitment).

Did I mention that these are the typical “act now and we’ll give you this program for 49.95, a full $100 off the full price” ads? Did I also mention that both links from this “info” page, just like this info page has similar popups? oh, and of course, there’s testimonials, and while I didn’t look any further, I’m sure one of more of these links has a link to an image of an “actual paycheck”.

I once got suckered into a scam like this supposed “none-scam” is, and low and behold, I was linked to a website with information alright… information that’s already free for anyone who’s curious: how to place ads and make money on Adsense.

But what gets me frustrated is the way this guy chooses to get people interested. His claims of being scammed in the past, get people interested in his story, and somehow, you the reader should feel sorry for him, identify with him, and therefore, trust that he’s giving you real information without any kind of direct benefit to himself.

That’s marketing.

It also sucks.

Why not be a little more upfront and honest about it? Do what I do, and countless others do: provide honest opinions, on sponsored blogs. Yeah, there’s advertisements. Absolutely… just look to your right, and you’ll see my Adsense banner. I’m not going to white wash this and say I’m not getting compensated because I am. (ok, this is not something I’m going to say 99% of time as blatantly as I’m stating in this blog).

But seriously folks. I want to be a respected as a surfer and possible marketer. I know that information, good solid information isn’t always free. But is the dress up really necessary? His whole schtick is: he’s been scammed 33 or 35 times, but he wants to show you 2 *true* programs that he’s making money on. uh huh. Ok, that makes you even more believable dude, thanks.

The other thing that bothered me was, his leads you into the page by saying, hey, don’t trust the get rich quick schemes, go with the one of the two programs that I recommend, they don’t make you as much money as quickly, but they work. (I’m paraphrasing here)

Well, I don’t know about you, but when one of the programs bragged about making $50,000 in one month, that screamed SCAM to me. Right there and then.

Is it impossible to make $50,000 in a month on ad placements on the net? No, in fact it’s very possible. (have I personally done it? No) Do I think that it’s possible within their 8 week guarantee? Highly unlikely.

As far as I’m concerned. I just got scammed. Scammed for reading spam.

And no, I’m not going to link to this guy’s website. Not directly anyway. You might find it on an adsense ad to this page, you might not. I leave it up to you to search for this site and judge for yourself.

Feel free to come back and tell me if I’m off base with my general discontent for his antics.