Article by Charlie Wright
To get your minds off the football for a while, I’d like to introduce you to another little pastime of mine.
It’s boisterous… it’s fun… and it’s all over in ten minutes.
No, you can get that dirty thought out of your head.
…I’m talking about SCAM BASHING!
A very kind reader sent in an opp for me to look at, and it was so ridiculous, I thought I’d show you the mental process I go through when I read a promotion like this. It might be a useful approach to take yourself.
Ready? Here goes…
“Who Else Wants to Become a Millionaire this Year?”
Yes that’s the headline of this rubbish internet mailshot. It begins with what copywriters call THE BIG PROMISE. In this case, it’s a whopper:
“Just 15 minutes today is all you are going to need to set yourself up as a millionaire in as little as 6 months from now.”
Erm, well, no it won’t. I’ve never heard of anyone going from no money to a million in 6 months. That’s like a car going from 0 to 100mp in a second.
Quite simply, it’s too good to be true. When someone next tells you that they can make you a millionaire within a year, just moo like a cow.
Works for me.
Now back to the scam…
“Very shortly the world’s media are going to go in to a frenzy about an incredible opportunity that is going to create billions upon billions of dollars literally overnight.”
In copywriting circles, this is called adding ‘urgency’ – to get you to rush into a decision. Usually it comes with some kind of prediction, and evidence to back it up. In this case, the writer gives no details of how billions of dollars will flood the economy overnight.
Unsurprising, really, as it’s utter balls.
And he goes on…
“You won’t hear about this on the radio, see it on the TV or read about it in the newspapers until after the event.”
No, you won’t hear about it on the radio or telly AT ALL.
“The few people who know about this tend to keep it very quiet, and quickly turn themselves in to very wealthy individuals…. and now you have the chance to do the same”.
Wow, so this guy has heard about a mystical money event that nobody in the media has heard about it. And rather than keep it to himself – like the other billionaires – he’s going to pass it on.
I assume that if the billionaires find out that he’s leaked the secret, they’ll come chasing after him in their top hats, brandishing massive golden hammers.
Actually, that’s MORE likely than you or I becoming a millionaire within 6 months with his help. But he’s doing his best…
“I’m going to give you the same information that major governments and leading world banks are using right now to generate billions upon billions of dollars.”
Again, he’s mistaking me for an idiot.
What the world banks to generate billions of dollars is either print MORE MONEY, causing inflation. Or they lower interest rates so that people spend and borrow more.
Who is this guy? President Bush?
Later on, it gets worse…
Near the end of the promotion, the writer says:
“You will simply spend around 15 minutes following the very simple instructions I am going to give you; after that your work is done. At no point will you need to do another thing whatsoever. There is absolutely nothing to do at any point after the initial 15 minutes.”
Right, so 15 minutes and you’re done. Quite literally, DONE.
You’re more likely to be molested by an angry, vengeful salmon in a wedding dress in those 15 minutes.
Then there’s a bunch of testimonials without any names or even initials attributed to them! I mean, if this guy was a decent scamster he’d have at least made up some names! What’s he got to lose?
There’s not even a name to sign it off! Would YOU trust someone who doesn’t give his name?
I don’t need to road test an opp like this. It’s so obviously a scam, it should be wearing a moustache, twirling a cane, and cackling like a maniac.
AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE, please!
This one also sounds too good to be true
This one is called the Ultimate Earning System. Now this may not even be a scam, but I am going to bash it anyway, because it DEFINITELY won’t do what it promises.
The headline is:
” I’m going to show you A Little-Known Secret That Can Help You Earn £300-£1000 Every Day Spending One Hour A Week Online!”
Well, £300-£1000 is not exactly specific is it? Although it is possible to generate big money online… one hour a week for a grand a day?
Nah…
“I know it sounds incredible,” says the mystery writer (again, no name at the sign off). Well, yes it does. Because it IS. “But I am going to introduce you to a fun and easy way to generate an extra income of over £30,000 per month spending 1 hour a week on the internet.”
So now it’s OVER £30,000 a month. He’s sticking with his LEAST conservative estimate.
Well, who cares about realism anyway? This guy lives in a chocolate house surrounded by playboy bunnies and golden robot servants… IN HIS MIND.
“You’re probably like me fed up of working hard and have nothing to show for all your time and effort and have experienced all that useless information and tips which claim to never lose but are still waiting to ‘make money’.
Yes, and you’re shoving another one down my throat. Cheers, mate.
Later he says, “Ultimate earning is not a “get rich quick” scheme. So £360,000 in your first year for an hour a week’s work is NOT get rich quick?
What is this then? Get-rich-at-light-speed?
What worries me about this is that there are no details, not even teases of details. It’s promises, promises, promises… but no PROOF.
A photo of his bank statement is not proof. We need evidence that he has genuinely found something new and workable.
The clincher is the free laptop worth £1,199, offered at the end.
Not a bad free gift for a product that you pay £29.95 for. In fact, it’s such a good gift, my BULL-o-meter is off the scale.
I wouldn’t touch this with a stick attached to another stick at the end of a bargepole.
But if you know otherwise and have tried it, let me know. Or, even better, go to the forum – and vent your spleen.
This is a long letter today, but I just wanted to deal with an email I got about fast2net.co.uk…
Not so sure about this one…
A reader writes:
“Could you tell me about a company called fast2net.c.uk? They set you up as an affiliate with online shopping companies. Their start up costs are £150 which is a lot of money for me because I’m on a very tight budget.”
Well, I’m a one-man show, so I can’t always research my reader requests in detail… but whispers from my contacts say that you should probably steer clear of this.
It’s not a scam, but you have to be quite PC literate to do it. You also shouldn’t expect much in returns each month, if any.
What happens is that you pay £150 for 2 websites, choosing from Adult, Gambling, CD, DVD and Books and Women’s sites. They set up these affiliates on websites like Amazon and Clickbank for you.
The trouble is, your websites will be ‘clone sites’, which means they’ll be identical to thousands of other sites, all going for the same affiliate sales.
Fast2net.co.uk will then offer you various schemes to bring in customers each month. These cost money. Costs that will far outway any profits you might have.
Again, send me a mail or go to the forum if you know otherwise. I’m an open minded man. (Says the guy who’s just gone mental over a couple of sales letters.)
But I suggest you keep your £150 for something better.
Oh, and if you’re looking for some real and workable Internet opps, check out the internet marketing section on this site.
PS: Argh, no! The fat cats and billionaires have discovered that I’ve LEAKED THE SECRET of how they scam millions out of us. They’re coming for me! Help me, aaaaarrrgggh…