How many of you are here because you have a desire to make money online?
Not only to make money, but how many of you want to make money online fast?
Well, if that’s you, I understand because that’s where I was a few years ago. Unfortunately, my desire to be at home with my children made me believe that I could start earning lots of money right away.
Why? Because there were a lot of programs out there telling me that I could! A few thousand dollars later, and I learned my lesson the hard way.
Let’s take a better look at scams and how to avoid them!
How People Get Lured Into Scams
Why do people fall for scams? Two reasons: scammers know exactly what you want to hear and people want to believe them. The basic rule of marketing is to find out what someone needs and convince them that you can meet that need!
What are some reasons that someone has a need to work from home? Here are a few:
- Spend more time with their children or grandchildren
- Get out of a job they hate
- Supplement their income to pay bills, save for a house or car, build a retirement fund, etc.
- Take care of a loved one at home, such as an elderly parent
- Have unlimited earning potential
- Be your own boss
When you look at these, they all have one thing in common–if someone could provide a method to meet their need to work at home, it would be life-changing for them! The more life-changing your need is, the more you want to believe someone when they tell you they can help you.
When I tried to start an online business several years ago, I was a single mom working a 12-hour swing shift job that demanded a lot of overtime. My kids were in elementary school and middle school and stayed with my parents a lot. There were many times that I only got to see them an hour or so a day and sometimes not at all.
I was desperate to be there for my kids more! So every time I heard a story about someone making a great living working at home on their computer, I knew that was what I wanted to do.
I did a lot of research, and of course, there were programs everywhere that showed people who were supposedly making thousands of dollars every month working part-time. I believed the hype, bought one, and in the end, wound up in worse shape than when I started!
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Get-Rich-Quick Doesn’t Work
“Nothing worth having comes easy.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it”– Thomas Jefferson
“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.” – David Bly
You’ve probably heard of at least one of these quotes, and there’s a reason they’ve stayed around so long–because they’re so true! There are get-rich-quick schemes out there everywhere, but the ones buying them aren’t the ones getting rich.
I think one of the reasons that online scams are so prevalent is that every day there’s something new and wonderful that technology can accomplish. So it seems reasonable to believe that all these programs designed to make you money could actually work. It also seems reasonable that the owners of these programs would want you to pay for their inventions.
But there are so many scams out there that the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Information site has an entire section devoted to work-at-home scams. So if you’ve fallen victim to one of them, you’re not alone.
How can you tell if a website or program on the internet is legitimate or not? Let’s check out the warning signs you need to look for!
Warning Signs of a Possible Scam
Here’s some general things to watch out for when searching online:
~ Asking for personal information–Asking for your name or email address to sign you up for a site’s newsletter or to send you more information is a very common marketing strategy.
But asking for your social security number, a credit card number, usernames, passwords or any other personal information that could be used to access your accounts is not. If someone requests this information, don’t give it out and assume it’s a scam!
~ Promises of easy money or enormous wealth–No legitimate program will make promises that you will make fast, easy money. Nobody sells a system that will make you thousands of dollars a month while you work an hour a day sitting on the beach.
If you had that system, would you be selling it to people for $49? $97? Of course not, you’d be using your system making the thousands of dollars every month! Don’t be swayed, remember “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!”
~ Payment upfront without real knowledge–Have you ever watched a video to find out what a program offers, only to see nothing but people telling you how wealthy they are? Then they offer you some general overview about how you’ll get lessons and then their system does it all for you!
- Do you really know what you are buying?
- What will you be selling?
- Once you pay the upfront money, how much more money will you have to pay?
- How does their system work?
- Can you use their system to promote anything or just sell their system to someone else?
If you don’t have good answers to those questions, you need to think twice about opening your wallet since there’s a good possibility you’re looking at a scam!
Here’s an example that most people wouldn’t fall for, but it’s very similar to the type of marketing hype that MMO (Make Money Online) programs use:
Suppose you were walking down the street and saw a man standing there with a simple brown box. He told you that in the box was the secret he had unlocked to losing all the weight you want to in a week starting today.
Not only will you be able to lose whatever weight you wanted, but you don’t even have to put out any effort or change how you eat or anything!
Now, you don’t get to see what’s in the box or know anything about what it is, but he absolutely guarantees that you’ll lose all the weight you want to by barely lifting a finger.
To prove it, he has 3 people in great shape standing next to him, and they swear that they’ve used what’s in the box. They say they’ve each lost 50 pounds in a week, and it’s changed their lives!
No matter what questions you ask, the man just keeps sidestepping them and showing you pictures of people who have used his product and are now slim and healthy after just a week!
The price for this “secret” is just $37. He’d sell it for a lot more, but he just wants to help people out of the goodness of his heart.
Maybe you start walking away because it sounds too good to be true. But then he offers it to you for a discounted price of just $17, and if it doesn’t work, he’ll give you all your money back with no questions asked!
Now, you’d never trust someone you just saw on the street making outrageous claims of what a “secret” weight loss product can do.
Yet when it comes to making money online, a lot of people will believe the same type of outrageous claims from an anonymous person talking in a website sales video. If you don’t know what you’re buying, there’s a good chance it’s a scam!
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~ Pressure to buy now–You’re reading through the information on a program and start seeing high pressure tactics that you need to sign up fast. Any legitimate program will have their membership available to you whenever you are ready because they are confident in the value they are offering.
They don’t need to tell you that you have to buy today because the price is going up soon, or to hurry up and purchase now before they close the opportunity to new members!
~ How is the program owner making money?–I researched a platform that promised it had a software program for affiliate marketers promoting the latest products.
By entering a few details, it would create a landing page that would get you to the top of the search engines. They promised you could make thousands, it only cost $7, and you would get $70,000 in free bonuses!
So after developing this genius program, how exactly was the owner making money? According to the official website, he just wanted to help people become a success!
In reality, it wasn’t from selling his program, but from getting paid for all the upsells and affiliate commissions that followed when people signed up for them as part of his system.
No matter how good something sounds or how much you want to believe that it will make your goal of an online business a reality, you have to look at it with a critical eye. Trust me, it could save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
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Characteristics of Legitimate Opportunities
In addition to spotting the things that could signal a scam, it’s also helpful to know what attributes you should look for to see if a program is legitimate. Here are a few that give me the confidence to look into it further:
~ Real Information about the program’s features—You get specific information about what you are getting with their platform, not a series of testimonials from people about how much money they’ve made. The features of the program stand on their own merit.
~ A free trial period–Any legitimate program will have a trial period where you can experience what they have to offer. They don’t need money upfront in order to show you any real details, and they know how much value a customer will find by trying out their system.
~ No promises of easy money–They don’t need to lure people in by waving a carrot of huge dollar signs around in front of them. Legitimate sites will tell you that it will take effort, commitment, and hard work to make any online business successful.
~ No high pressure selling–There will be plenty of time to look a program over and ask questions. Whether you want to join that day or come back for another look a week later, the features and price will be the same.
So Can You Make Money Online Fast?
If you want to create a successful online business and earn reliable, sustainable income every month, you’re not going to do it fast. But avoiding scams and finding a legitimate program can start your home based business out on the right foot.
The business model that I use is easy to learn and low cost, but it took time, effort, and commitment to start earning consistent income.
For a good general guide on how long you can expect it to take to start making money, you can read How Long Does It Take To Start Making Money With Affiliate Marketing.
If you want to check out the totally legitimate program where I learned to make money online, you can do it completely free of charge–no credit card is required with their starter membership. This membership does not even have a trial limit, you can stay on it indefinitely!
You’ll be able to create 2 free websites, receive training, and have access to their active community of marketers who are ready to help you become successful.
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If you decide that it’s right for you and you want to own your own domains, create up to 25 websites, and have full access to everything they offer, you can join their premium membership for just $49 per month.
The value is incredible when compared with other platforms out there!
I’m so happy that I came across this blog! It resonates with me greatly, due to the fact that I just started with WA about a month ago, and also just found the affiliate marketing world at the same time. I was online searching how to work from home, because I to am a single Mom and I wanted to be there for my children and become financially free. I found out very quickly that there are a ridiculous amount of scams online to work remotely.
And it’s quite sad how they prey upon people who are actually making a choice to try and better their lives and also their families. I really appreciate this post and it was very informative of the signs we need to be aware of as we search for that awesome, money making career from home! Well done!
I’m so glad you found my article helpful! You are looking to work from home for the same reason that I wanted to years ago.
You’re very smart to read reviews and get informed when looking at any program that claims to help you make money online. Hopefully you’ll find the right program for you so that you can start making your dream of working from home a reality.
If you’re interested, I recommend checking out my #1 rated program that specializes in affiliate marketing. You can read my full review and see if it’s something you’d like to check out. Good luck, and I wish you every success!
This was really helpful. I wish I had one of these articles when I was starting. As many other people, I too wasted money on some scams. This mostly to unexperience and the big thirst to earn money online without actually figuring out how it is done. It was not anything big but that experience taught me a valuable lesson.
Makin honest and real money online takes time. There is no other way to put it. All the other “revolutionary products” are just a ways of getting the money out of your pocket.
Thank you.
Strahinja
I couldn’t agree with you more! Time, effort, and commitment are what it takes to earn money online, and there are no shortcuts.
An interesting article, and I love people like you who try and help people avoid all the scams out there. I think one of the worst tactics they use is the “limited time offer”, where if you don’t buy know you won’t get the bargain. They do suck people in, instead of being able to take the time to research a program and really see if it’s for you. I’m now in my late forties, and for me the saying “if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is” and by that I mean if it sounds easy, or that you can make unusual amounts of money in minutes, it’s probably a big fat lie. It’s so sad that we all fall victim to these scams at times, but I think you’ve provided some good advice here.
My hope is that people will learn what to look out for when they’re thinking of trying a program to make money online. The more educated someone gets about scams, the more likely they are to see through them!
Great Post! I think you’re right about how people get lured into scams. Before I learned how to do research and reading reviews, I’ve run into so many of them. I really enjoyed visiting your site and look forward to learning much much more as your site builds out. I agree with you that Wealthy Affiliate is the best legitimate program to start your online business. They have the best training system, I recommend everyone to try it.
I add new posts every week, so check back often! I’m glad you’re having a great experience with Wealthy Affiliate. If someone is willing to put in the time, effort, and commitment to succeed, WA will definitely help them become successful making money online.
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!
Nice article, I also agree that there is no get rich quick schemes but people believe that they make money easily without any hard work and tend to join such programs and get scammed. It is really an eye-opening article because this can save a lot of people from losing money. I believe that if we want something we must work hard and nothing comes easy.
You’re exactly right–we have to work hard because very few things come easy in life. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Janelle
i really understand everything about scammers just before i joined WA i was approached by a so-called company i had said no to them they give you so much garbage to read say there is nothing to pay out but that was a lie i told them this as well you say there is no payments upfront but they ask for 12.000 pound i told them they are a joke and should not be allowed to even advertise. There is a guy who introduced me to WA i really appreciate this greatly.
I had a call back last year from this guy i knew this was a scammer i investigated and kept all the emails informed the man who he was making out to be now i am ready to take it to the police with the information but i also have the contact information and informed them what was happening.
Thankyouu for sharing it is a fabulous post
That’s great that you were able to give information to the police to help stop this guy. Glad you had great instincts and told him no!
I like you subject and the website. I also like that you confronted the subject of scams. Scams are so real in this day and age. I like that you actually give points to watch out for scams and find real opportunities. Great job.
Thanks for the information, and I’ll be coming back to your site more often!
My site has many program reviews and posts about starting an online business–I’d love to have you come back!
Thanks for this article! There are so many scams out there it can definitely be difficult to sort through them all and figure out which programs and such are legit. So thank you for creating articles like this to help people steer clear of scams. What would you say the biggest sign of an online scam is?
The biggest sign for me is the outlandish income claims while doing very little work. “Make $5000 a week working only 30 minutes a day!!” Anything like that is a surefire sign of a program you want to stay away from!
I was lucky to find things that worked for me after some searching, but I feel terrible for everyone who gets pulled into programs that are so expensive and offer nothing. It’s really unfortunate. That’s why I’m super thankful for people like you who write about the things to avoid. Your recommendations are spot on as always.
Creators of these scams prey on people who are naive, and sometimes desperate. With enough knowledge, hopefully they’ll be able to spot scams and identify legitimate opportunities when they come!
You are most welcome, Janelle.
Happy belated New Year to You and Your loved ones.
Kindest regards from Canada.
Paul.
Hi, Janelle.
As you know, or have learned, there is no way that one can make money online fast. I too, am one of those that learned ‘The Hard Way’ through trial, error and lost money.
What a refreshing post you have shared. Thank you for making us aware of how people get lured into scams and for providing the ‘Warning signs’ as they relate to these possible scams.
The link to The Federal Trade Commission was very helpful also.
As we learn more and more that “Get Rich Quick” just does not work, I’d like to thank you also for including some characteristics to look for when seeking out legitimate opportunities.
Another area where scams are running rampant have to do not with product scams or push button technologies, but rather Pyramid and Ponzi Schemes. I like to call them ‘Flimflam’ games.
John Kenneth Galbraith once observed that “…the man who is admired for the ingenuity of his larceny is almost always rediscovering some earlier form of fraud.”
Although the details may vary, all ‘flimflam’ games rely on their ability to make a lie look like the truth. Even MLM (MultiLevel Marketing) and Network Marketing has evolved now into nothing more that just that…a flimflam game.
Do you have any experience with MLM, Network Marketing, Pyramid and Ponzi schemes and if so, would you share your thoughts (in a future post or in the comments here) on why so many people keep gravitating back to these schemes even after they have been fleeced over and over again like good sheep by the ‘Ponzi’ Wizards as I call them?
Your writing style is addictive to read and I would really value your thoughts on the type of human behavior of which I speak.
I really enjoyed visiting your site and look forward to learning much much more as your site builds out.
Nicely done.
Regards from Canada.
Paul Mindra.
Thank you so much for your kind words, and I’m glad you found my post helpful!
I’ve reviewed a couple of MLM and Ponzi type programs and have not recommended any of them. There are a lot of people who try program after program, like you said, and lose money with each one of them. I think part of the reason is because of 2 things:
1. These people are inexperienced and naive, and a lot of the programs appear to have information that looks professional and comprehensive. When they lose money, they think it’s because they didn’t do a good enough job or somehow it’s their fault. When you’re experienced, you can see that the information is general or poor quality and realize that it isn’t going to produce the results claimed.
2. I also think a lot of people want to believe that there’s a program out there that can solve their problems and help them make a lot of money online. They hear stories about people who’ve done it and believe the marketing hype that’s designed to hit all the right buttons.
The creators of these scams are very good at knowing what to say to reel in their target audience. When I lost money years ago, I was totally convinced that the program was going to be the best thing that ever happened to us. So much so, in fact, that I kept putting more and more money into it to get it to work. Now I can look back and wonder why I ever believed it could be successful at all!
Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to comment!
Hi, Janelle.
Thank you for your reply to my comment made earlier.
I would agree with the reasons you provide for those that try program after program in search of the ‘Holy Grail’ so to speak. It’s almost like the ‘Lottery’ mentality.
I came across a couple of Youtube videos that I thought you and your readers might enjoy.
The first addresses ‘product launches’ and push button technologies organized by a ‘cartel’ of professionals in this arena.
https://youtu.be/Z0LZ6DNCgrY
The other is a satirical look at MLM’s.
https://youtu.be/hCuT_k2TT7Y
Keep up your great efforts in educating people about some of the dangers on the Internet.
Kindest regards,
Paul.
Thank you so much!
Hi Janelle,
You article is an eye opener. I also been scammed by rich-quick scheme before. And you are right, there is no such thing as quick money. I really like the quoted phrase from Thomas J., I think I will incorporate those words to my system. And hope I could gain success in life.
In your blog, it is obvious that Get-Rich Scheme is a scam based on what you have listed. But, why are still many people fall into their traps?
I think that so many people are inexperienced and naive when it comes to how to make money online. When you combine that with a desire, and sometimes desperation, to work from home, scammers have an audience to target who want to believe what they say.
I love this post! There are so many websites out there that profess there way of making money as the FASTEST and EASIEST way to make money online. I tried a couple of these and found out the hard way as well that this way doesn’t exist. To be honest with you I’m happy its not this way. Through some trial and error, I’ve found I much prefer the working hard aspect of making an income online. It’s far more rewarding and the knowledge you pick up is indispensable. So what exactly is affiliate marketing and why do you prefer it over other ways of making money online? Is it a way that will be in parallel with the integrity and values I strive to uphold?
Affiliate marketing is definitely a legitimate way to make money online, and can be very lucrative. With affiliate marketing you choose a niche and create a website. Then you write content in the form of posts that inform and educate people about topics within your niche.
In these posts you’ll review and promote products and provide links where your visitors can go to purchase the items. If they do buy something, the merchant pays you a commission. The great thing about affiliate marketing is that you can make money with any niche. So you can choose one that is near and dear to your heart or anything that you enjoy!
I must say that your article is very informative and helpful. I would like to read this many years ago when I was scammed so many times by many programs and platforms promising millions in short period of time. I think that this topic will greatly help new online workers who want to earn cash online.
I hope you’re right! More and more people are doing internet research before buying make-money-online programs. So if they read reviews, they can get a better idea of how legitimate a program is and make a good buying decision.
Great article as ever Janelle. It’s true, many people are falling in the wrong hands when looking for opportunities online because they want that cash as fast as yesterday. Little is known that the online world works the same as the offline world. Gone are the days of Moses and Aron when wealthy could come from the East, nowadays, you have to work, whether online or offline, working for money remains the same. You have to sweat, nothing will come in a silver platter .
Thank you for great tips
You’re exactly right! Creating consistent, long-term income online is the same as any business–it takes time and effort. No one would think twice if someone told them that it would take a year or more to be profitable if they started a brick and mortar store. But with an online business, it can take the same amount of time.
The benefits are that you can work from home in your spare time and it costs very little to get started. So if you go into it with the right mindset and a legitimate program, you’ve got a great chance of being successful!
Hi Jannelle
I can relate to a lot of what is stated in this article and I too went through the same process. I so easily deceived and actually thought that making money online was as easy as putting up a simple website. These unethical marketers never tell you the true reality until you have paid them upfront and then they tell you ‘oh its actually not that simple but if you pay me a bit more, I will reveal the true secrets’ and then you are upsold a million times until they have bled you dry. Okay, the last part is bit of an exaggeration, but you do have to be wary of them and their persuasive marketing. I sometimes wish these marketers were more closely regulated, then there wouldn’t so many scams around.
Unfortunately, being bled dry is not an exaggeration for some people. By the time they are convinced to buy the program and the upsells, and then they follow their advice for paid traffic methods and subscriptions, people can be out thousands and thousands of dollars. They pay it out because they’re convinced by the sales hype that they can make hundreds of thousands a year and get that money back.
These types of programs should be regulated more. But the problem lies in the fact that it’s so easy to shut down one site and then start it up again under a new name. Even though I see low quality and scam type programs all the time, it’s still hard to wrap my head around the fact that it’s so easy to get away with making grossly false statements online.
Luckily, I think a lot more people are doing research and reading reviews before buying nowadays. So they can make better informed decisions and avoid these types of programs.
Thank you for taking the time to comment!
Great website and great content. I’ve run into so many scams I can’t even remember them all. It seems everyone is looking for a way to snatch up someone else’s hard earned money. Thank you for the great advice and great content. This is the sort of website we need to pay attention to before we get ourselves in trouble. Thank you!!! Please, keep it coming!!!
Thank you and I will! I want to make everyone as aware as they can be when searching for online money making opportunities so they don’t waste thousands of dollars like I did. Too many people making money off of those who just want to earn a living and spend more time with their families.
Haha, when I first did a google search on how to make money online, around 5 years ago, I started my journey of going through countless of scams before actually finding anything legit. I guess it’s easier to just make up some story, show some big numbers and fake testimonials, and the sell it to people, instead of actually making something legit that could help people. Well, at least after getting scammed numerous times, you get that immunity to these scams and you’re able to spot them miles away.
You are exactly right! There are still countless scams out there, but you don’t realize it until you’re caught up in one. I hope my tips will help keep someone away from the false get-rich-quick schemes and into a great program that will help them build their business!