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Protect Yourself From Scams - Do a Little Homework!
By Joe Reinbold ©2004 All Rights Reserved

SCAM - - a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation... avoiding Internet scams We are all afraid that some business we get into might turn out to be a scam. But sometimes the personal needs of individuals outweigh the thought process needed to recognize that something could be fraudulent. Many people are looking for ways to make extra money and the Internet can provide many ways to accomplish that need. But it can also provide an easy vehicle for individuals to lose their hard earned dollars. avoiding Internet scams We recently did some research on a program that we were interested in and found that the entire operation was quite questionable. While we couldn't prove that it was outright fraudulent at this point, we saw enough risks to say no, we are going to put up any money. We also advised the 90+ people who joined based on our referral and most have told us that they are passing it up too. avoiding Internet scams Sometimes all it takes is to do a little checking on your own behalf. Sure it takes time but if you invest a little of that time up front you may save a lot of future headaches. Sometimes when you do a couple of checks you may find that a lot of the work has already been done for you and is posted on sites that are available for your review. avoiding Internet scams The following are some sites and suggestions you might consider in checking that program out that you are considering. These are by no means all that are out there. You can go to one of the major search engines and search on scams and find many more resources. Victims Against Scams
http://pub31.ezboard.com/fvictimsagainstscamsfrm60 International Council of Online Professionals
http://www.i-cop.org/pledge/1029.htm In an effort to keep fraudsters from slipping through the cracks, the US government has created The Sentinel. It's an online database of all sorts of information regarding Internet scams and fraud.
http://www.consumer.gov/sentinel/
avoiding Internet scams The Better Business Bureau Online
http://www.bbbonline.org/ Internet ScamBusters
http://www.scambusters.org/ The National Fraud Information Center
http://www.fraud.com/ The Federal Trade Commission
http://www.ftc.gov Look at a program and ask yourself some of these questions: avoiding Internet scams Is the product something that I would be proud to sell or promote? If the answer is no, then stay away. Make sure that there is an actual service or product that you will be selling. If you are just going to get paid for every new member you recruit, then it may very well be an illegal pyramid or ponzi scheme. avoiding Internet scams Is there contact information easily available at the site? Do they show their email addresses, street address, names of principals, company name, telephone number? Send them a question and see if you get an answer or an automatic reply. If you have a address or telephone number go to www.yellowpages.com or www.whitepages.com and check them out. You can use the telephone number and do a "reverse directory check" which checks the telephone number and gives you an name and address if one is on file. avoiding Internet scams Check out the web site's domain name at http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois Just enter the domain name i.e., whatevername.com and you can determine who the administrative contact, normally the owner, where they are located and how long the site has been registered. avoiding Internet scams Do they offer you a free promotional site for your use with your own personal referral code? If you have to pay your entry or membership fee and then find out you have to pay another $100 or so to get a promotional site and email advertising package, and that is the only way they allow you to promote it, be leery. They are making their money up front. I don't believe that you should have to pay a company for basic promotional tools to promote their company. They can take the expense off as a business expense if they are for real. avoiding Internet scams Of course you will still have to make an informed decision on your own after doing your research. But you may find enough information from any one of these resources or all of them to sway you one way or the other. Just make an informed decision before you spend your hard earned money and resources

JOE REINBOLD, Publisher of Home Income Quarterly E-dition, a free weekly on line marketing newsletter. To subscribe just subscribe@homebizlink.com Or visit The Entrepreneur's Home Business Link where you will find the solutions to your home business needs at:

http://www.homebizlink.com