Hmmm, well it depends on who you ask. This post is probably going to ruffle some feathers and cause a lot of debates but that's what we're here for. So let's get into this so called "Cash Gifting – Giving" program opportunity.
So what exactly is cash gifting?
Here's what the promoters of cash gifting are saying it is:
A cash gifting program is exactly what it sounds like it is. You give a cash gift to someone so that you can get cash gifts in return. How do you send the person the money? Well the same way you can give someone a check on his or her birthday, or cash in a card as a gift or present.
Well here's how the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defines it:
New club members give cash "gifts" to the highest-ranking club members, with titles such as "captains." And they're promised that if they get additional members to join the club, they, too, will rise to become captains and receive money – far more than they initially paid to join the club — from newer club "friends."
Is Cash Gifting – Giving even legal?
"Not Never!" Don't believe me? Here's what the FTC says:
"In reality, the clubs are illegal pyramid schemes… The problem is that, like most pyramid schemes, illegal gifting clubs must continually recruit ever-increasing numbers of members to survive. When the clubs don't attract enough new members, they collapse. Most members who paid to join the clubs never receive the financial "gifts" they expected, and lose everything they paid to join the club."
Should You Get Involved in Cash Gifting – Giving Programs?
Isn't obvious by now? If not, let me make it abundantly clear. According to the FTC it should be avoided for the following reasons.
1. There is no guarantee that you'll get a cash gift back. Remember this is a gift and you shouldn't expect anything in return which is how the leaders of the company try to pass it off as legal.
2. Most of the success stories you may hear are from the leaders of the club and rarely from the followers. If you can't get more people to give the cash gifts then the whole thing falls apart and you're the one that usually loses.
What are legitimate alternatives to Cash Gifting – Giving Programs?
Look, I'm not a blogger that cries scam and doesn't provide alternatives. Anyone that has read my articles knows that I'm solution oriented and not about complaining and being a Negative Nancy. You have enough of those folks out there. So here's my take. If you were willing to give a stranger up to $3500 in the hopes of having some other person give you that type of money back, why not look into the following legitimate sites?
HomeJobStop.com is an ad free work at home job database that provides you with pre-screened work from home job leads on a regular basis. Are you guaranteed to land a job? Nope. That all depends on your skills, resume, interviewing skills, etc. Are you likely to get scammed? Nope, because the jobs are pre-screened.
Wealthy Affiliate is a website that provides you the opportunity and one on one help to have a successful work at home career as an affiliate. You'll get paid to help people find the products, information and services they are searching for on the web. Are you guaranteed to make money? Nope, but are you guaranteed to get a cash gift from a stranger?
So those are my suggestions for people that were considering giving away money to those cash gifting strangers. The two websites above are legitimate and based on solid fundamental business practices.
Conclusion
So that's the story on Cash Gifting aka Gift Giving aka Ponzi Scheme aka Pyramid Scheme. It's funny as I was doing the research on this article, it made me realize that I had got into one of these programs several years back. It was presented to me by a good high school buddy of mine. He had made money with it, so I trusted him. So I give him $500 and my girlfriend gave $500 and my sister gave $250. We were suppose to have that money doubled within a week. Next thing I know my buddy wasn't answering my phone calls after week 2. Needless to say we all lost our money. Losing the money was hard enough. But I was more torn up because my girlfriend and sister had also lost their money and I lost a good friend. Lesson learned.
In any event, we're all grown adults here, so you have to decide if you want to take the risk on cash gifting/ cash giving. I've given you what the government thinks about it because I know a lot of these programs are pulling facts out the air about the legitimacy of this so-called program. Now you have the facts provided by a government body and not some blogger on a mission or with a grudge. Do what you will but be prepared to live the consequences either way like I, my sister and girlfriend did.
Okay, so I have read what everybody has to say about cash gifting and I think this like with every industry will have some good apples and some truly rotten ones. I am involved in cash gifting and although I have not received any gifts yet the group I am a part of provides amazing training and tools (although pricey because you have to buy leads and minutes and other things I was never told about initially) However I am in contact with a group of people who started out just like me and they are having great success. One person last week on our call said he received a gift of 10,500 and he is not a leader or a guru.
Michelle,
There is no comparison. This is just a flat out scam. Don’t let your own desperation to find something to make you money online blind you. Cash gifting is a common scam like envelope stuffing, repackaging jobs and check cashing opportunities. Just because someone you heard made money with it doesn’t mean it’s legitimate. I can rob a bank and make money that way too but it doesn’t mean it’s legitimate.
Feel free to read the Better Business Bureau article if the other comments listed here aren’t sinking in for you.
There are plenty of legitimate ways to make money. They may take some time but they do work and they’re not scams. So I would encourage you to explore them like the ones I’ve listed here.
Good luck to you.
Hi Eddy, I read this article today and can help but wonder if the one website program justbeenpaid.com is a scam. It sounds kind of like you explained in the above article, but in doing some research on it myself found both good and bad things about it. Have you heard of just been paid.com program and if so, what are your thoughts on it.
Hi, I’ve seen their ads all over the place but haven’t really done any research as of yet. But I guess I should. A lot of times folks try to cleverly disguise cash gifting scams but no matter how you decorate it, it’s a scam even if people are getting paid because it’s not sustainable.
My advice is stay away from anything that is giving you doubts or second thoughts. Usually our instincts are right when it comes to this stuff. Stick with what’s already proven and working. We list such opportunities on my recommendations page:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/recommendations
This cash gifting shit is a SCAM i tried it a couple years ago with a guy name Dale down in TX took my $500 dollars and i nver heard from him! THIS IS STRAIGHT BULL SHIT!! he talked with me for months before i sent the money like everything is cool and ok than once sent I never heard from his ass. A TRUE SCAM!
Dude, you’re getting all excited and cursing for nothing. If you actually read the article above, we’ve made it quite clear it’s a scam. Woa…
@Gary Cashin: Well I believe cash gifting is illegal if you as a pyarmid. sceme
Giving cash to others is legal up to a certain amount of money. Any amount over it you have to pay the IRS. MLM use the pyarmid sceme by refering others to their website. I call these scams. If cash gifting is use to build down line in a pyrarmid sceme the ones at the bottom will loose out . Only the one at the top will have all the money. The ones at the bottom looses money.That why it is against the law to do the cash gifting in a pyarmid format. On line gift cashing is dangerois when asking to invest $ 5000.00 to the gifting club, Chance of receiving money is nil or none
Trust the government?
I distinctly recall a few years ago that the government shut down an operation called the Telecard Network, which was involved in the sale of telephone calling card as an independent marketing company, using network marketing as their vehicle.
Their justification? The per minute rates were above the market rate for long distance calls and, therefore, representing a scheme to defraud customers. At the very same time, through my own first-hand observation, I noticed the United States Postal Service was selling calling cards a their service stations at a rate that was within 4% of the rates set by the TeleCard network.
The bottom line – what is tagged as a scam or a scheme is sometimes, but certainly not always, attributed to fraudulent business practices, while at other times, it is a subjective, knee-jerk claim to discredit legitimate attempts at productive transactions. In the second case, those without the facts or the wisdom to hear the complete story are just as guilty of slander and libel as in other instances, and without the need to provide justification for their callous condemnations.
But, don’t forget, Goldman Sachs – now THAT’S LEGAL! Just ask the government.
Paul,
I totally hear you about the government. At the end of the day I don’t know any of them that are perfect and without fault. Just like I don’t know of any private company that is without flaw. That being said even if you don’t necessarily feel the government is the most credible organization, I think you do trust your own common sense. Cash gifting is just a pyramid or ponzi scheme that can NOT be sustained. Period. “Ain’t really nothing more to it.” Even if you don’t trust the government you should trust your math skills because long term the cash gifting model doesn’t add up.
By the way, I do agree with you that folks use the word scam very loosely. You’re preaching to the choir on that one. I’ve argued it many times on this blog, just because you may not like a company’s policy or you may experience some issue, doesn’t make it a scam. But I think it’s much easier to get away with such claims on the internet than it was offline. Now more than ever companies have to be diligent about fighting these false accusations by addressing them directly when they do surface.
Hopefully as time progresses people are able to read between the lines as I often do when I hear such claims. Either way I hear your points. But a pyramid scheme is just that. Ask the victims of Madoff. Dressing it up in a suit and tie or a gifting labeling doesn’t change the sustainability facts. Questionable corporate bailouts and under the table dealings aside, the facts are the facts when it comes to these ponzi schemes. Take care and thanks for sharing your two cents.
I am looking for information on cashgiftspro.com, I understand it is new. It says to be cash giving site, although it looks like a forced matrix. I joined for free, but I don’t want to pay without getting some feedback.
Thanks!
Look, it doesn’t matter how they dress this up. We’ve made it very clear this nonsense should be avoided. You have plenty of legitimate options listed on the following pages:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/recommendations
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/jobs
Don’t let desperation to make money cloud your judgement when the writing is all over the wall.
Hola again! I’m haunting all your blogs! I found this because in my networking I met a young lady who had posted an information post about this and a link to a youtube video that didn’t show the guys head or face and linked to a cash gifting website. She said she is actually doing quite well and I truly hope she is. My educated guess however is that she isn’t doing that well at all or if she was, she’d have been able to put up a better video and wouldn’t need to post on mysace and deal with all the people there who just are insulting to her and admitting to me that it isn’t working would be bad for business. My educated guess is that she is trying hard to take advantage of EVERY medium out there in hopes of getting a few people to sign up so she can recoup what she may have invested. I sent her this link and I truly hope she chimes in. She was taking a beating on myspace and still sticking it out and if there was income coming in, that’s the last place I would want to be.
The biggest PONZI scheme in the world is run by our government! LOL!
Hi Steve,
Thanks for sharing. I appreciate it. At least you’re one of the few people that are involved in these schemes to be honest enough to reveal the truth about your experiences with it. Ultimately no matter how various companies try to dress this opportunity up with bells and whistles it’s not a real home business opportunity. It’s just another version of the good old pyramid or ponzi scam.
If folks are going to invest money, you want to do it with a legitimate business opportunity like avon or something credible. You all know my constant recommendation is http://www.GoWealthyAffiliate.com
In any event, thanks for sharing. I hope that you move on to more legitimate opportunities, as there are many you can invest in that provide the proper support and training and actually offer a real product.
Don’t worry about the typos. I make them all the time on this blog. Probably have a few in my response to you. You might want to check out our scam video:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/scams so you can avoid anymore of this nonsense.
Take care.
Eddy
Sorry about all the typos…my keyboard sucks on this laptop…never buy a Toshiba!!!…lol
By the way….support absolutely sucks as nobody EVER get’s back to….ever..!!
I think the new gash gifting where you get your money only on your birthday is pretty cool so long as everyone follows through!!
@Kendra:
The website/program you are referring to is the “TheCashLeveragingSystem.com” AKA: TCLS…and I have been enrolled for 4 months now. Initial startup cost is $25.00 ($5 to 5 different people) plus you need to purchase a domain name the correlates to the program…that contains your cloaked referral id so you get proper credit for the sign-ups and all the people brought in under you and their downline.
You also need to sign-up for a (free) ALERTPAY PRO account to handle the funds tranfers because PAYPAL prohites MLM’s. You do not need hosting for your domain which is good…just a domain that forwards to the cloaked referral site and then the system basically sell itself. The cloaked site is exactly the same as the one you intially signed-up from with your embedded ID. Very easy and user friendly set-up….but….unless you are ready to spend a LOT of money on advertising….forget it!! You MUST get a minimum of 10 people in your first level downline for this sytem to be even slightly profitable! There are also ways to scam and join without paying. The admin’s say they are working on a fix, howver, it is STILL happeneing to everyone and nobody is getting gifts, but they are showing up in your downline count! The forum that they have has lately been FLOODED with negatice comments, and people are dropping like flies!
Think about it..do you know how many people you would have to get signed up under you to make any kind of profit at all?? I wasted hundreds of hours doing free advertising, email blasting and Adword campaigns and to date, I have made $15.00 and invested over $1,500.00..!! That’s right…if you take a moment and do the math after the fog settles from seeing $75,000.00 from $25.00..in less than 5 weeks..you will see it’s basically impossible to even break even! Then, after 6 months you must re-join and start all over again!! From the begining….I got 3 signups in 4 months…2 more and I have to leave…so how does it sound.? By the way…Alertpay charges $.50 for every $5 gift you receive…I have a sneaky suspicion that the owners of Alertpay may have a hand in TCLS..?? If you would like to know more about please feel free to contact me!!
You can think what you want. I’ll go with what the government has said, and they say it’s a scam.
Eddy
I don’t think it’s scam!
Hi Kendra,
Thanks for your kind words.
Does this cash leveraging system work pretty much like a cash gifting opportunity? If it does, then pass on it. I know sometimes these people like to put variations on things to differentiate themselves but if the basis is still similar it should be avoided.
If you’re willing to invest money in an opportunity your better off investing in your training to get careers that are available like medical transcription:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/typing or becoming an affiliate: http://www.workathomenoscams.com/aff or job site like http://www.GoHomeJobStop.com to get pre-screened job leads without dealing with ads.
Or just invest in another home business opportunity that has been around for a while with a proven record, avon etc.
So that would be my advice.
Hope it helps.
Eddy
Eddy,
I have been using your blog as a resource for the past few days and I want to thank you for your diligence and fantastic info. With that being said, I was sent info on a cash leveraging system and have been researching that. It claims a $25 start up. And according to my research on other forums, you can only be enrolled for 6 months and then you have to start over. What are your thoughts?
Oh Gary,
I think most people will trust the feds that say cash gifting is a scam over you any day buddy.
My advice to you is to get involved in a real home business that won’t end up getting you in trouble in the long run.
These things all end in the same way.
Eddy
Making Money is TOO Hard…Try RECEIVING It!
Receive CASH To Your Door Using Our System!
this is not a scam go check it out don’t believe the nay sayers go here for more info
– url removed by me! –
Gary Cashin
Ummm, what aren’t we getting here?
The federal trade commission says its a scam! “Ain’t no more to it!” I don’t care if you get a thousand people with so called proof which could all be fake by the way.
It’s not legal and will be shut down like 12dailypro and all other pyramid scams.
There are too many legitimate ways of making money at home than risking giving a stranger a cash gift hoping to get it back and more.
So unless the feds say otherwise, I’ll trust the feds in this instance more than 100 people I don’t know from a hole in the wall.
Just doesn’t add up.
But if this opportunity makes sense to other folks reading this than good luck to you.
Eddy out! lol
“Most of the success stories you may hear are from the leaders of the club and rarely from the followers.”
Well after doing some research on Cash Gifting. I’ve found hundreds of video testimonials of regular people from video sites such as Youtube and Metacafe. And most of those video clips are of average joes/gals openining Fedex or UPS envelopes, showing the cash gifts that they recieved.
I also found several articles online that offered unbiased and insightful information on this activity. I must say that I found overwhelmingly more good information and evidence than bad about cash gifting. One article comes to mind, of a gentleman that also saw all the video testimonials online, did his research and eventually joined this activity himself – http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1110023
I found one where you must be able to signup 4people to quote unquote bless.There is no upfront cost to join program. You have to open an AlertPay account after at least 3 of the people have confirmed they are joining the program to. $11000 supposedly is sent to you if you agree to do 2 things After the pastor confirms the 4 people through email (they also must get 4). You also have to do 2 favors once you get your money. #1 is you agree to BLESS Hoopers Church with a gift of $1600 to help keep program going and #2 you agree to Bless your own Church with a tithe of 10% of your $11000 gift or $1100. It all stems from ministers hoopers generosity to help people. I just dont see how this could work. They list a phone number for conference calls to learn more about it. Has anyone heard of this. Is it another Scam? If there is no tie to your personal accounts and u dont pay anything up front like most scams, and all u have to do is open up an acct on a secure site like AlertPay. Where is the scam. Is it money laundering???