slamboard

I had a sort of ‘Scam Immersion’ therapy recently. I was taking care of the administrative duties for a new WAH website that reposts carefully reviewed job opportunities. I am so glad that we got a kind of blacklisting system installed. Before I got the blacklist configured, the site was pulling in around 7000 postings a day for me to review. That was impossible.

I was pretty ruthless with my keywords for the blacklist. I used words like ‘cash’ and ‘legitimate’ in addition to the web addresses and company names that I had identified as scams.

There have been a few business models that made for a tough call. There are multilevel marketing situations where recruiting down-line salespeople is more lucrative than selling the actual product or service. I am repulsed by these situations because they involve pressuring people to lie and exaggerate about how easy and lucrative the potential sales are in order to earn referral money. That being said, they are often selling actual products and some people are actually making money as salespeople/recruiters.

Longstanding MLMs appear to have people working hard to refute online criticism. I saw at least on person claim that he had a paid job spreading misinformation about an MLM on the scam-watch sites.

Independent distributors ALWAYS conceal the identity of the company when advertising WAH opportunities. I have decide to avoid reposting anything associated with Herbalife. They have been in business for over 20 years and are a publicly traded company. I am assuming, based on the information that I could find, that the vast majority of people who buy into the scheme end up losing money or at the very least wasting their time.

AmeriPlan is another very big MLM. The thing with both of these companies is that they are set up to have a logarithmically increasing number of salespeople serving a finite market. Ameriplan also has a dubious product. It sells discount health and dental plans that less thoughtful people might confuse with actual insurance. Salespeople who find out that the plan is under-served by doctors in their region have to make an ethical choice about whether or not to sell people something that is of little use to them.

What both of these MLMs have in common is a plethora of conflicting information on the internet coming from detractors and defenders who each have their own axes to grind. They are also instigated by companies that operate well within the bounds of the law while tacitly encouraging independent salespeople to act in ways that are legally and ethically questionable. I continue to debate myself about whether or not these are scams. I think the only people who will assure you that they are not scams are either making money from them or still hoping to make money from them.

Check out this site the investigates Herbalife.

Some guy named Larry wants volunteers to help him with sales of an Obama Music CD. I find this to be kinda cheesy and sleazy. Some of the biggest names in music contributed to a few singles inspired by Barack Obama and they were FREE on YouTube and elsewhere. Whatever Larry is selling is in support of Larry.

Obama Music CD Distribution - Volunteers - (Denver)

Reply to: Larry@requestusa.com
Date: 2008-08-06, 2:48PM MDT

Need Help putting out 4″ X 4″ 7 Song CD Flyers and CD Sales for Obama “A BLACK MAN CAN BE PRESIDENT” Song. Contact Larry at 303-730-2100

* Location: Denver
* Compensation: Nego
* Telecommuting is ok.
* This is a part-time job.

Note: I am not promoting this website, I am reviewing it. Here is an example of a very optimistic sales pitch on Craigslist:

Are you tired of the Daily Commute?

Are you tired of the Corporate “Rat Race”?

Are you tired of making everyone else Rich?

Finally, take control of your life and start living
the way you and your family deserve. This is a
legititmate $250,000 first year opportunity. Please
visit my website for all the life changing details:

www.endingthecommute.com

The website includes a loud annoying audio sales pitch and a picture of the Internet Millionaire’s old rusty car beside a picture of him in a nice suit leaning against his new luxury car. I have to wonder if either of these cars are actually his. The old car photo looks like a typical Auto Trader photo.

He misspelled the word legitimate in his ad. It would have never appeared in my feeds if he had spelled it correctly because I filter out legitimate jobs. Seriously, I administer a site that pulls thousands of postings a day for me to review and every single one that ever uses that word is a scam.

I feel compelled to report this to the FBI even though it is most likely fake.

It is testament to it’s failings that I didn’t realize that there was a ‘new’ Facebook until this morning. I Googled the thing and saw some positive reviews. My review will consist of one three letter word:

Meh.

This post is pretty peppy:

Lymabean is a social networking-ish website for college students. The best way to get a feel for what we’re doing is to watch the demo video we’ve put up. It’s at: http://beta.lymabean.com - and if you’re a student, you can sign up and try it out.

We’re looking for a talented marketing student with some guts. Working in a startup means you get to do a lot of different things, and your ideas can help build the company. The site is brand new – launching with the start of the fall semester – so it’s a pretty sweet time to get in on the action.

Interns will be directly involved with the large-scale launch, including planning and running the launch at your particular school. It’ll help if you’re outgoing and fearless, since our goal is to get out into the public eye. We’ll also be finishing and refining the Lymabean site itself, so we’re looking for someone with experience in Facebook, MySpace, etc., and opinions about how to improve on them.

The biggest thing we’re looking for, though, is ideas for rolling out Lymabean to campuses everywhere – viral-style, guerilla-style, internet-style, whatever new and cool ways we can spread the Bean love. You’ll report directly to the CEO, and your ideas will actually be used (as long as they don’t suck).

We’re in California, and you’re probably not, but that’s cool. We’re looking to get talented people from anywhere – so if you’re graduating and can come out here, or will be spending some time out here for any reason, let us know. We’re not terribly rigid. Plus, our office is literally minutes from the beach. It’s a good place to end up.

Hours are very flexible, and we have a very relaxed and fun office – and we get a lot done because of it. We’re bringing in interns to get new, fresh ideas, and because the company is growing faster than we’re able to keep up with it. What we need most is people who can capture the vision of the Bean, and run with it.

Contact:

Jeff Wurtz, Lymabean CEO

jwurtz@lymabean.com

(714) 856-2762

Interns can be an asset to a company. I have spidey senses telling me that this startup is a dog project that isn’t attracting any money and that they NEED interns if they want to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or they could be pedophiles. You have to watch out for that in startups.

Ok, so I am being a bit harsh. I checked out the enterprise and it seems to be a going concern. Could it be possible that there are enough anti-facebook university students to make this model profitable?

I was able to find an article stating that founder Jeff Wurtz was ‘closing in’ on some seven figure angel investment. Captain TechCrunch stopped short of calling it dead in the water when he reviewed it back in February. That may be because it is not in the water yet (still in beta) or he may have been PAID to say it looked pretty.

Some people find it hard to get ripped of by scammers, so they have to take out their own ad calling attention to their own stupidity…

if there is any one who has sucessfully set up a marketing or any kind of ineternet base income i am willing to join if it is properly explained. ive tried several and get it but still need a physical person to guide me.

First off, for the sake of search engines… X2O is a SCAM

This product is touted as a breakthrough discovery in natural science, but it is really just a means to an end for an MLM scheme. Multilevel marketing has to have a product in order to be legal in the USA and many other countries. Selling little bags of electrolytes to people who are desperate to lose weight fits the bill. I tried to find out exactly what was in the product, but the site is more about enlisting salespeople. They even sell amphetamines so they can have wired salespeople.

I have a life sciences degree and I can concur with the hype to the extent that drinking an adequate supply of water is important to good health.

Here is a silly testimonial that is meant to be taken seriously…

Testimonial:
I have been drinking 40-50 oz. of soda every night working the over night shift for the last 9 years. There are no words to explain how I feel after using X20. This product has been a blessing for me and my family. I feel alert, healthy and have more energy to work. As an added bonus…I LOST WEIGHT TOO! THAT IS GREAT! Thank you Xooma for this X20 product.

Hmm… So a Floridian stops drinking 40-50 ounces of soda and replaces it with water. That reduces daily caloric intake by over 500 calories, yet the happy customer credits the packets of proprietary electrolytes with the improved health and weight loss. Do you think that customer might also be selling the stuff?

EDIT: As an added bonus, this Weight Loss Water miracle comes complete with a Lexan bottle, which is quite possibly carcinogenic.

I am presently administering an employment related site that is new. I am working on creating a blacklist to help weed out inappropriate listings from our automated feed pulling thingy (I am such a techy). Anyway, I am stuck actually reading hundreds or thousands of postings. I figured I should get a little blog material out of it, so I am going to quote some of the interesting stuff that I find. This one speaks for itself (with a lot of derision):

Attention Graphic Designers:

I am local designer new to Craigs List. I have to say it is disgusting to see what people are looking to pay for design and it’s even more disgusting to see designers giving in to it.

BUSINESS OWNERS: When you hire cheap and unprofessional design, keep in mind, that is how people will look at your business. When you hire a talented designer, they become an asset to your company. If you choose to hire an amateur for less money, they become an expense. You can spend $300 with an amateur and loose it all, or spend $500 with professional and make money. You decide what you would rather have.

Designers: If you can’t get contract work without charging less than at least $40/hr, you obviously are in the wrong profession. Find something that you are good at. Not only that, you are taking work away from people who ARE talented and who CAN charge more than that. Also, you are completely devaluing our profession.

This guy should abandon Craiglist and try oDesk or Elance.