Money Making Opportunity or Scam?

"Make $5,000 this Week!" We have all seen them, and some of us have even fell victim to these promises of overnight wealth. Some of these ads can be very compelling, and can easily lure one in. But, in reality, most, if not all, of these are scams. But how can you tell? If you look closely, you can see some basic similarities in each one of these "opportunities", and be able to avoid being scammed by them.

If you venture upon a site that is telling you that you can make a huge amount of money in your free time, but it doesn't tell you how, more than likely it is a scam. You should not have to "guess" what you will be doing to make money, and look all over the site just to find a little information about the opportunity. This information should be clearly listed on the website.

Another thing that should be readily available on the website is contact information. If you cannot find a phone number, email address, or mailing address on the website, then beware. A reputable website will always have contact information available for all of their visitors and customers. No contact information is usually a sign of a high quantity of dissatisfied customers, or a company that will take your money and run. If there is an email address on the website, a good idea is to check it first to see if it is valid. Try sending the company an email, and make sure you do not get a response that the email address was invalid.

There might be a few places where you have to pay for an actual, legitimate job, but I have yet to find one. Therefore, I would not suggest ever paying anyone in order to make money. But, if you ever do, you need to be very careful. You should never give you credit card information to any of these kinds of websites. You also should not give out any social security numbers, or other personal information. If you have to pay, it is better to use an option like PayPal, so you can cancel the payment at anytime, unlike with a credit card, where they can bill you over and over again. With PayPal, you can also file a dispute with the seller if things turn out badly. If the seller does not provide this option, then it is better not to go through with the transaction.

Always do your research. If you see an opportunity you find interesting, check the search engines. You can usually find out from other people who have tried the program whether or not it is legitimate. Don't take the word of the "testimonials" you find on the website. Type the name of the website into the search engine, and if you find other people who seem to be happy with the website, then it's probably safe. However, if all you see are negative comments, then back off.

One would like to believe that these website are telling the truth, and that you really can wake up tomorrow with a lot more money in your bank account. But, that's simply not how it works. It takes hard work to make money, and you should be suspicious of anyone that tells you otherwise.