Buyer Beware: Real Estate, Business, and Stock Scams on TV

Any insomniac with a remote can probably recite the "the no money down" techniques word for word. And it doesn't matter who's selling it because they're all saying the same thing. If it's not a real estate "no money down" scam then it's investing in stocks or starting your own home business. It used to be the kings of late night were Leno and Letterman but if you're watching late late night TV then you know who is in charge.

Right about the time there is nothing on to watch, around 2 or 3 am is when they come on. Sure, we all want to know the secret to making millions and retiring early but how many of these late night commercials can actually do for you what they say? My guess is not many, if any at all. It's quite obvious that nothing they are selling actually will get you the deals promised.

These kings of crap, the real estate gurus, stock geniuses, and self made millionaires are all full of themselves and assure you their product or whatever they are selling is worth it. They wear glued on smiles and plastic hair, paired with tacky hawaiian shirts or bland grey business suits. They are always desperate to share with you how they made millions but you can never quite seem to figure it out, even though it sounds like they are just repeating the same thing over and over again.

Even key sentences they use are common sense most of the time. Even if they are a bit redundant and none of it makes any sense we seem to think may be it will work. Thousands of people are sucked into these programs nightly and will give up hundreds of dollars to learn their trade secrets. The only problem is, many of the plans, books, videos, and audio cds don't do anything for you.

What if one of these late night TV personalities showed up at your front door. Would you be as receptive? Would you actually believe what they were trying to sell you? Could you see past the fake smile and vague phrases? Ask yourself, if this "guru" was standing at your front door, would you let him in? Most of us would say no, but when everyone is sleeping you let him sneak in the back door.

Soon, he's drinking your last beer and sneaking money from your purse. These late night TV "gurus" are all one in the same. They offer courses and book packages, business trips, and seminars that promise to make you millions. Meanwhile what they are really selling is the idea of making millions. They want you to believe you can make money in real estate with "no money down", that you can make millions in the stock market with no experience, and that you, yes you can start your own business right now.

Who wouldn't want to believe it. I'd like to trade a few houses for a million dollars and I've always dreamed of being independent but is this the way? Thousands of people have spent time and money on these scams. Some of us have spent thousands of dollars attending crappy seminars in hotels, buying books and workbook packages, spending hours listening to audio cds and watching information videos. But, out of all of us who have taken the time and invested the money with these late night TV "gurus" how many of us have actually made any money? My guess is not many.

Almost every self made millionaire seems to have hit it big when they were at rock bottom and they make it sound so easy. It's just a play on our emotions. These scammers know we are looking for a way out of the rat race and for many of us this is our last shot, and they take advantage of this fact. Every time I tried to follow the advice of these scammers I have been met with closed doors, lost money, and ultimately failed.

The truth is, most of these late night scammers are bankrupt or on their way to jail. Many of the self made millionaires have no proof to back up their claims of being a successful investor. The truth it seems is many of them actually made their millions from selling books and hosting seminars. Even simple turn key operations sold by real estate and business mentors don't work. Not one of these investing programs works because they are too vague and often require you to lie or bend the rules.

They are all the same thing; a get rich quick scheme that quickly becomes the go flat broke plan. Just ask anyone who has invested time or money into one of these programs and you will see it was either very difficult or did not work at all, and was probably very expensive too. More often than not you just end up acruing debts if you follow the advice of these so called gurus. They never actually tell you what should be done, or in what order it should be completed.

Over the years it seems likes hundreds of these mentors and gurus have come and gone. Some of them have even managed to get their books on the bestsellers list, become a popular voice of a financial TV or radio show, and even some make appearances on talk and news shows. Meanwhile, their silly presentations, confusing calculators and charts, and boring lectures are not worth much in the real world. Most of the time, nothing they say actually works, or is legal for that matter.

They make promises of wealth and freedom of time but their main goal is to take your hard earned cash and run. Even if one of these late night TV scammers happens to get into trouble they hide out and then play the same infomercial for 2-3 years. During this time they readjust their strategy and hope to pull in a few more suckers before resurfacing with some new materials.

In fact, many of these late night kings of crap have a rap sheet dating back 10 years or more. Many are being sued, held liable for damages, and filing for bankruptcy. Others are hiding out and will resurface later, while some will never be seen or heard from again. They lie to financial lenders and banking institutions, create fake names and documents, and most of the businesses only aquire debt.

If you do some research on your own you will find out many of the companies that provide us with these infomercials and book sets and intertwined with each other. The same company that sells books for a real estate investor may also push infomercials for a stock market guru. You will see that they all run the scams together, even co authoring books together. It's pretty clear that it's a set up against the American public.

If you think back to all the get rich quick infomercials you have seen it the past you will notice they all have something in common. Often a young pretty woman and a middle aged man are filmed on the beach, or in an expensive and grand home a with sprawling lawn, and even the use of jewelry, cars, and cash helps sell their product, and they know it of course. These infomercials only sell you the idea of becoming a millionaire. Many of these individuals downright guarantee your success.

Try to get a refund on that guarantee and you will see what I mean. Even the most popular of the late night TV gurus have filed for bakruptcy in the past, served time in jail, and even lost it all. Much of their information is also outdated, they've just been repeating the same things since 1985, reprinted in 1998. I mean come on, financial strategies are not timeless. All these scammers want to do is share their so called successes but they never get to the point exactly.

Year after year these scammers, gurus, and mentors still try to sell us the same things. They take advantage of our feelings of inadequacy and our want for more. They trick us by saying it's affordable or that you can get started with little or no money. You can buy anything from real estate books and stock investing packages, to buying a premade business complete with a website and live help, but buyer beware. Of course these things appeal to many of us but if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

Most of the books are pretty bad, the advice is terrible, the seminars are even worse, and they may not even be that convincing or charismatic. This has been a problem since the early 1980s and it's about time we stopped being misled by these con artists. Anyone offering to help you make millions really has an underlying agenda, and it's ususally some sort of take the money and run, you'll never hear from me again plan.