Beware of nutrition scams!

With Halloween quickly approaching, haunted houses are not the only thing you need to be wary of. Watch out for nutritional products or services that claim to do something that is too good to be true. Most times if someone is selling you something that seems too good to be true, it is.

Lately, as I have been doing various nutrition Google searches on nutrition, I have noticed many advertisements for an array of products that claim to do amazing things for you nutritionally. The problem is that the claims are a bit too extreme and the promised results occur practically immediately. One example of this is all the nutritional pills that are capitalizing on the acai berry, or as many like to say, the new “miracle fruit”. Some of these pills claim to help you lose weight instantly and drastically increase your health. The fact is that nutrition is not achieved overnight and actually takes a certain degree of work (diet, exercise, etc.). Not only that, but a pill can not match the nutritional benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables. I do not care what anyone says.

So the bottom line is, if you are interested in boosting your health, do not fall into the trap of wasting your money on fancy pills and other similar products. They will most likely leave you feeling the same as before…with less money in your pocket. Your best bet to obtain good health is to avoid the quick fix and to focus on building a healthy lifestyle. The next time you visit the grocery store be sure to purchase more fresh fruit and vegetables. If you are looking to loose weight, keep an eye out for citrus foods since they help to flush your system. Also be sure to fill your cart with whole grain type foods, as they are essential for a healthy digestive system. Do your best to avoid pre-packed meals and other products that are high in sodium. Finally, do your best to control your sweet tooth. Improving your diet along with incorporating moderate exercise into your daily routine will leave you feeling refreshed and healthy. Plus you will never have to be tricked by any of those shady nutrition scams again!

Acai Berry: Is It Really Worth The Price?

Buying acai berry products can be very, very expensive. In fact, some of them cost almost $100 a month. Why is this the case? Are they really worth that price?

The truth of the matter is that acai berry products do work, and if you use them correctly then they can work near-miracles on your body and mind. If this is the effect you’re getting from your acai, then it most definitely is worth paying for.

You may be tempted to try one of the acai berry free trial offers. Don’t do it! These ‘offers’ are barely concealed scams which will see you paying that $100 per month for a product that you don’t want. Good luck with cancelling it, too, because the companies offering free trials will not make that easy for you.

If these internet offers are scams, then perhaps it’s going to be a better idea to buy from your local store? Sadly not. The acai powders and juices in the stores is of much lower quality than some of the products available online. This regrettable situation comes about because ‘real’ acai degrades far too quickly to make it viable for the stores to get it on their shelves.

Buying acai berry online doesn’t have to be a lottery. Do your research and choose your product carefully there are plenty of sites on the ‘net that offer unbaised reviews of acai products: www.AcaiBerrySite.com is one such site. There is plenty of content on there that prospective acai berry buyers would do well to take notice. The resource on acai berry free trial scams is particularly revealing.

Acai berry is not the devil in disguise, but it can throw up a few pitfalls to the unsuspecting buyer. Watch your step, do your home work, and it will treat you just fine.

How To Tell If A Home-Based Business Is A Scam…

The internet is littered with every kind of get-rich-quick con and scam you can imagine.
There are the Nigerian 419 schemes, forced matrix ‘opportunities’ that would require maxing out the entire human population for just 10 percent of participants to ever see a penny, there are over-hyped Pay-per-click and Adsense scams, fake MLM and network marketing ‘opportunities’, and the list goes on and on…
At times like these, desperate home-based business seekers become easy prey for vultures pushing scam products and fake ‘opportunities’.
How to get scammed
- Accept every offer and every promise at face value.
- Give your money to others without thinking things through.
- Let emotion and promises of ‘instant wealth’ carry you along.
- Don’t bother reasoning through on whether or not a program might be a scam.
- Jump in with both eyes wide shut.
Those are sure fire ways to get taken advantage of. But what if you don’t want to be the next victim? How can you really know in advance if a program is a scam or not?
What You See Is What You See
An often overlooked tale tell sign that an ‘opportunity’ is a scam are the products themselves.
Are the products truly valuable? Can the products be sold at its current pricing, or at all, without the ‘opportunity’ attached to it?
If the answer is no then use the R.L.H. formula for protecting your wallet. R.L.H. stands for run like you-know-what (heck).
Also, look to see if there are outrageous fees or ‘qualifiers’ before you can receive a penny in pay.
And finally, does the program tell you EXACTLY what you will receive a commission for promoting, before they take your money? I’ve lost track of the hundreds of scams that have been sent to me saying ‘give us $39 and we’ll tell you what this biz opp is’. I don’t think so buddy…
RLH!
Those are the three most common giveaways that a program is a scam.
Many home-based business ‘opportunities’ openly violate those standards and are easy to spot:
1) substandard products that are unsaleable apart from the biz opp
2) scammy qualifiers that prevent you from getting paid even if you do somehow find someone to buy what you are selling
3) the company ‘hides’ the product until you cough up cash to find out what it is they want you to sell
Bi-Centennial Surprise
I joined my first biz opp around 1976. I was 12 or 13 years old. From then until I “wised up” in the 80’s I had joined hundreds of programs purchased through direct mail offers, income opportunity mags, and joined half a dozen MLM programs promoted by friends, family, and in some cases complete strangers.
I wasted money on envelope stuffing schemes, ‘blind ads’ for business opportunities that were nothing more than vague marketing plans for hypothetical ‘business start up plans’ that required coming up with 5-10 times the average national income in America at the time just to test and see if the idea would work or not. Of course, you couldn’t get a refund without trying the unreasonable and unproven ideas, yeah, I got ripped off on those purchases.
I tried forced matrix systems with junk info products and health products. While just a teen I gave up credit card numbers ‘just for verification purposes’ only to end up with $800 of worthless vitamins shipped to my door. I had fallen victim to online and offline chain letter schemes. And the list goes on an on.
Red Badge Of Experience
Fortunately it only took a few short teen years of bumping my head to finally come up with my list of ‘red flag’ identifiers for recognizing potential scams, and a few more to finally trust in the red flags.
Times are hard. The economy is in a slump. Gas prices are on the rise and so are home foreclosures. Con artists are desperate too.
People from all over are desperate for something that will put money in their pockets quickly. That desperation has put a target on their foreheads for scam artists and hucksters of all sorts. Others are not so desperate but are still looking for ways to increase their income without much hassle or work.
I Bet You Think This Note Is About You…
If either of those scenarios apply to you I suggest taking a close look at any program you are considering.
Verify the program has 3rd-party tracking in place to insure you will get paid. Better yet, look for programs that allow you to keep every penny you earn from reselling or referring the products to others.
What qualifies? Reseller programs and programs that allow you to keep all the money are the next best things to creating your own products — but without the hassles.
Also make sure the company is promoting real products that are being sold or have been sold without the need for an attached ‘opportunity’. Again, if products cannot be sold at the price you are urged to ‘get in’ at while things are “still hot”, you’ve found a scam not a real business.
And especially make sure there are no weird or outrageous qualifiers to finally receive the commissions you’ve earned.
That’s how to tell if a home-based business is a scam.

The Threat Of Scams Targeting Job Seekers

As the unemployment rate rises, so does the threat of scams targeting job seekers. Better Business Bureau warns job hunters to be extremely cautious in their search for work because scammers are out to take advantage of them and make a fast buck.

The national unemployment rate is creeping closer to 10 percent—worse than the Federal Reserve predicted back in April.  Already 13 states are experiencing unemployment rates in the double-digits. As more people find themselves out of work, they are also becoming targets of scammers looking to take advantage of those who are already facing a tough financial situation.

“More families are becoming increasingly susceptible to suspect offers for employment as they try to find work in an extremely competitive job market,” said Steve Cox, BBB spokesperson. “Scammers have set their sights on the unemployed because the number of potential victims is growing by the hundreds of thousands every month.”

BBB advises job hunters to beware of:

Job offers that require an upfront fee
Earlier this year, job ads cropped up in Florida from a company claiming it was looking to hire 2,500 employees for their new headquarters. Applicants had to submit $24 to pay for a background check. Law enforcement later found out that the money only went to the pockets of the company’s owner. Sadly, similar schemes crop up across the country every year. While the amount of money lost by any one victim may be small, the total amount taken in by the schemer can be significant.

BBB advice: Job hunters should never have to pay money up front to be considered for a job. If a potential employer asks for the job hunter to pay the company to cover the costs of testing, training or background checks, it should be considered a red flag.

Job placement assistance that makes big promises but can’t deliver
Job placement companies, or headhunter firms, often do not charge the job seekers for help finding a job, but are instead paid by companies that need help filling positions. Some job placement companies, however, have been taking money from job hunters and not fulfilling their promises of quick employment.

The BBB of Greater Maryland recently warned job hunters about one such placement firm that was advertising on Craigslist. The company charged as much as $195 and guaranteed it could find job hunters work.  Unfortunately, job hunters didn’t receive call backs or refunds and had no real way to contact the company.

BBB Advice: Always research a job placement company first with BBB before signing any contracts or paying any money.  Be extremely cautious about paying up front fees and know the deal on how to get a refund.

Phishing attempts by ID thieves pretending to be real businesses
Identity thieves employ many different methods for getting personal financial information from job hunters.  Spam e-mail might offer a great opportunity and direct the job hunter to a Web site that is designed to install malware on his or her computer or solicit bank account or Social Security numbers. In other cases, the job hunter might even be asked to submit a resume, find out they’ve been hired and then immediately be asked for bank account or Social Security numbers.

BBB Advice: Be extremely cautious when responding to unsolicited e-mails from supposed employers—even if the company name is well-known—and do not click on any links in the e-mail until having vetted the company fully and can confirm that the e-mail came from a legitimate source. Legitimate employers will need Social Security numbers for tax purposes and may need a bank account number to deposit paychecks for new employees, but job hunters should be wary of any requests for such information from companies and job offers that they have not vetted fully.

For more advice on avoiding scams and fraud visit www.bbb.org

Safe Web Act Nets $3.7M in Fines to Spammers

NEW YORK — In the first case to use the U.S. Safe Web Act, a federal judge has ordered key players in an international spam operation to repay the $3.7 million earned from promoting two health mainstream products.

The four-year-old act, which targets international perpetrators of Internet fraud as well as spam and spyware distribution, allows for easier exchange of information among the FTC and its foreign counterparts.

The FTC said the spammers promised that an extract of the hoodia gordonii plant would result in weight loss, and that a human-growth hormone pill would reverse aging. The claims were unsubstantiated, the FTC said, and violated both the FTC law and the CAN-SPAM Act.

Regulators said the operation used spam emails to drive unknowing consumers to sites selling the products, violating federal laws on false advertising. They say the emails had fake return addresses and used deceptive subject lines.

The FTC also claimed that operators also failed to provide an opt-out link or a physical address in the email.