Chapter VII
There are Poisonous Plants
Besides lions, tigers, bears, oh my and sneaky snakes and cannibals, the jungle is overrun by vegetation....much of it is harmless but some of it can cause you or your computer to itch, brake out in hives or even be fatal if it's consumed.
You see, those of us who venture into the Internet commerce jungle are all hungry when we start. We are hungry for success. We either want our own businesses or we want jobs that we can do from home. That's why we are here...we are hungry.
You aren't the first Internet business jungle adventurer and you don't have to make all of the mistakes yourself. You can learn from the mistakes others, who have preceded you, have made and avoid them yourself. This information can save you a lot of stress and, yes, pain.
Some of these jungle plants look so innocent. They can even be beautiful and have such great appeal. They give off a heady perfume that smells like money.... money that can be made easily and quickly. They practically reek of success.
These plants can be so hypnotic that you can very easily be tempted into trying them. Money. Success. It is what every person who steps into the Internet business jungle is searching for and there is money and success growing in abundance right before your eyes...all you have to do is reach out and gather as much as you want....right? WRONG! Don't touch these fierce jungle plants.
Plants that Make You Itch
The HYIP Plant: This one has long stems that can reach out and grab you. HYIP is an acronym that means High Yield Investment Program. There are two HYIP varieties.
Legal HYIP's usually invest in such things as commodities and futures. There can be a potential of earning as much as a 3% return per DAY on an investment in a legitimate HYIP.
However, you must remember that high yield always carries an equally high risk. There is the potential for earning a large return but there is also the very real possibility of losing the total investment as well.
The legal HYIP variety that grows in the Internet jungle, as well as in the real brick and mortar world, presents opportunities and risks.
If you are really a born gambler and you can financially afford to lose your investment, legal HYIP's might be a reasonable choice for you to make.
The illegal HYIP is very much like the legal variety except that the yield promised is much, MUCH higher and the time of return expected is much, MUCH shorter.
Even the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI} has warned about such illegal HYIP schemes. You can read all of the details of the FBI warning by clicking here. In part the FBI says:
"The purpose of this notice is to alert the public to persons who have reportedly marketed investment schemes which appear to be fraudulent. Various "prime bank" trading programs, or similar trading programs which purport to offer above average market returns with below market risk through the trading of bank instruments are fraudulent. Offering such programs, or claiming to be able to introduce investors to persons who have access to such programs, violates numerous federal laws, including criminal laws."
Whoa. That sounds serious. The FBI report goes on describe the details of these illegal HYIP's.
All HYIP's are based on speculation...both the legal and illegal varieties. If you choose to invest in an HYIP, you need to be aware that what you are investing in is a building that hasn't been built or a product that hasn't been launched or the educated guess of a person or organization that is in the position to make such and educated guess. You are BETTING that other people will succeed in a prospective financial venture.
**Note: Legitimate HYIP's do not send unsolicited emails. If you receive an offer to invest your money in a HYIP via unsolicited email...it IS the illegitimate variety.
The Intermediary Plant: This plant usually sprouts up as an unsolicited "opportunity" in your inbox. That, all by itself, should raise red flags for you. Remember that big opportunities that are real and legitimate are not sent by unsolicited bulk email...that is SPAM. Real big opportunities are very, VERY rare if they exist at all. I've never personally seen one.
The offer will always be from someone that you do not know and will usually have a name that sounds 'foreign'. It will NOT address you by name...that is another little tip off that you are looking at a poisonous intermediary plant.
It will usually begin with a formal greeting such as, 'Good Day'. The following is a copy of a real unsolicited email that made the rounds back in 2004 as reported by Snopes:
"Good day, my name is Evaldas Vytautas.
I'm Sales Manager of Lionder Web Design Agency. We are situated in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Lionder Web Design Agency is pleased to offer you the position of Exchange Manager for our organization. We are excited about the potential that you bring to our company.
We work with corporate clients and some of them prefer to do wire transfers, however we cannot receive international wire transfers because of heavy taxes. Tax for international wire transfer is 25% In Lithuania. There is no sense for us to work in such a way, however we don't want to lose our clients. You need to have Paypal1bank account. System is completely automated. You will work only 1-2 hours a day, receive, process payments from our clients through your Paypal1bank account. Report about all new payments, act only within the limits of law - earn minimum $1500-$2000 per month.
Your salary will be 5-15% from every processed amount (you begin from 5%). To join the minimum requirements include :
-MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS (Skills, Knowledge, Ability, etc.)
-The minimum qualifications are diploma or equivalent.
-Must be able to multi-task and have good communication skills.
-Knowledge of MS Word and other basic computer programs.
-This being a new field there is NO experience needed.
HOW TO APPLY:
If you would like to pursue this opportunity simply send Your Resume (CV) to resume@lionder.net OR Download Job Application Form (www.lionder.net1Job_Application_Form.doc), fill it in and send us to resume@lionder.net (No phone calls please. Callers will not be considered for the position).
We will respond promptly.
Please don't feel shy to contact our Online Support and ask any questions you will have:
Contact Name: Julie Jakulyte
ICQ- 257235542,
AOL IM Screen Name- Jakulyte, Yahoo! ID: JJakulyte,
MSN- Jakulyte@hotmail.com.
No agencies, please.
Lionder Web Design Agency is an equal opportunity1affirmative action employer.
For more information about who we are and what we do, please visit our webiste - www.lionder.net
It is necessary that we know your decision by November 20, 2004, so that we can plan accordingly.
Regards,
Evaldas Vytautas
Lionder Web Design Agency"
This intermediary plant was designed specifically to attract those who are searching for a work-at-home job. It was sent well after the enactment of CAN– SPAM...so a little thing like it being against the law to send SPAM does NOT stop these plants from proliferating.
**NOTE! It would be a very good idea for you to book mark or add to your favorites this link: http://www.snopes.com/ Snopes sniffs out and broadcasts all kinds of frauds and scams. Before you invest any money or even before you forward an email to your friends, you should always check the claims out on Snopes.
The SSS Plant: I made that acronym up....it refers to the secret shopped scam but it is plant that flourishes in the Internet jungle. Who doesn't like to shop? The idea of shopping with other people's money and getting PAID to do it is a big temptation. You would really like to pick armloads of that plant, wouldn't you? Wait.
Secret shopper 'jobs' come in two varieties. There is the legitimate variety and the illegal variety...or the scam. It is very difficult to tell the varieties apart. They can appear side by side in the classified ad pages of a newspaper or on work-at- home job websites.
One very certain way to tell some of the illegal plants are that legitimate secret shopper jobs will never require you to purchase training supplies or courses to teach you have to do the job. The problem is that some of the illegal ones don't require that you make purchases either but knowing that the legal ones NEVER do will help to eliminate at least some of the wrong choices.
The better of the bogus secret shopper job offers are only out to sell you useless training supplies or courses with no job attached. The worst of the secret shopper job offers are to get you to make illegal purchases or to ship illegal goods or to act as a middle man for illegal fund transfers.....all of which can get you into some very serious legal difficulties.
The advertisements for secret shopper jobs are made to sound very enticing. They promise that you can make large sums of money by working only a very few hours each week. They assure you that there are no educational requirements and no experience that will be required. These promises make these advertisements look like answered prayers to those who are desperate for a job and have little or no experience and a limited educational background.
Those who answer these advertisements will often receive a check in the amount of several thousand dollars with instructions to get the check cashed either at their personal bank or at a bank that is designated. Then they are to purchase a money order for the amount of the check less the cost of the money order and a hundred dollars or so that they can keep. The money order is to be made payable to a person that they have never heard of but whom they must say is a relative. The money order then must be mailed to an address (usually a Post Office Box} in Canada or some other country.
It is what is called money laundering...and the secret shopper who participates in the scheme is now part of the illegal act. Not only will they have committed an illegal act but they may well have paid for that privilege.
Here is the free advice that is offered to those seeking secret shopper jobs by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC}:
"The truth is that it is unnecessary to pay money to anyone to get into the mystery shopper business. The shopping certification offered in advertising or unsolicited email is almost always worthless. A list of companies that hire mystery shoppers is available for free; and legitimate mystery shopper jobs are on the Internet for free. Consumers who try to get a refund from promoters of mystery shopping jobs usually are out of luck. Either the business doesn't return the phone calls, or if it does, it's to try another pitch."
The Forwarding Plant: This plant (also known as the 'forwarding-e-mail') grows wild in the Internet jungle. It has been around a long time. Many have tried to eradicate it and yet it thrives. There are dozens of varieties.
The very idea of being able to make money, get paid for vacations or great merchandise by simply forwarding emails sounds very enticing to those who are not all that computer savvy. It sounds easy and it sound quick and it sounds like something that they already know how to do....forward.
The problem is that the technology doesn't even exist for email tracking. Another tiny little problem is that nobody is going to pay you or anybody else for forwarding emails...it hasn't happened...it isn't happening...and it will NEVER happen.
Please take note....you will NOT receive:
By forwarding emails! It isn't going to happen! Let me tell you what you WILL get if you choose to pick this plant. You will get a lot of very unhappy recipients of forwarded email. Forward enough of these things and you could be facing an angry lynch mob made up of a few hundred of your nearest and dearest friends.
The World Currency Plant: It seems that unless you were a couple of cans short of a six pack, this would be an obviously poisonous plant and one that you would avoid.
This is another of those plants that you usually first see when it sprouts up in your inbox as an unsolicited bulk email....do you see a pattern here? SPAM is always, always, ALWAYS offers and opportunities that are bogus and downright dangerous.
The world currency cartel plant looks a lot like a cactus plant that has gone wild. It will be a very long letter filled with large blocks of text that you won't be inclined to read.
Remember? Anybody can write a testimonial and type anybody else's name as the author. Just because there is a testimonial from a person whose name you recognize, does NOT mean that they actually wrote that testimonial.
Say, WHAT???? You can make tons of money by doing nothing more strenuous than making an occasional phone call? You have GOT to be kidding.
Well...actually they aren't trying to be funny....they are trying to get into your bank account. They usually only want 35 of YOUR dollars but they are planning on taking $35 out of many, many bank accounts. You are just one of many that they are offering to share this incredible money making secret with. Save your 35 bucks....making money is a little harder than making a phone call.
The UWON Plant: How strange. You are notified that you have won the lottery and you didn't even buy a ticket. How lucky is THAT? Not only did you win the lottery, you won it in a foreign country that you have never even visited.
This plant thrives mostly on greed and gullibility. News flash! You can't win a lottery if you haven't bought a ticket. Lottery winners are selected according to numbers they choose when they PAID to enter a lottery.
You can find details on the Snopes website. The gist of this scam is that you will need to send anywhere from $300 to $2000 in order to collect the millions that are owed to you because you won a lottery...a lottery that you didn't enter.