Top 10 Tips to Avoid Online Scams

The following article is written by our fellow scam fighting buddies at IveTriedThat.com. The good folks over there are always on top of the latest scams and have a take no prisoners approach to reviewing companies. IveTriedThat.com is one of my trusted resources to do research. So I'm honored to share the following article with you. If you actually read and apply the technique I've referenced in my scam video and IveTriedThat.com tips below, you should never need to ask us the questions is CompanyX.com is a scam? But I'm sure someone will anyway. lol

Enjoy this guest post and help me give our visitors a warm and hearty welcome. (Insert virtual applause here.)

Over at our place (IveTriedThat.com), we get a lot of emails asking whether or not we've tried a specific program. We get these kinds of questions every day but just don't have the time or resources to thoroughly look into every single request that we receive. Generally speaking, we can tell whether or not a program is misleading by quickly looking over the pre-sell page for just a few seconds, and sometimes even just from the URL. With this post, we'd like to pass our scam-avoidance knowledge onto you through the "Scam Killer 10 Commandments." If you're looking to make money online, you will want to live, breathe, eat, and sleep the following 10 tips until they become habit. They'll help you separate the scams from legitimate opportunities in no time.

1. Thou shalt do your research!—First and foremost, always do your research. This is as simple as typing in the questionable site's name along with the word íscamí into a search engine. While reading the results, try and stay towards forum and user discussions and avoid sites that are trying to sell the product you're researching.
2. Thou shalt read the URL—The first strong indicator of whether or not you're viewing a scam is the URL. If it's something like www.proven-system-to-make-you-four-million-dollars-while-you-sleep.com, you can safely move along. Key scam words in URLs include: wealthy, rich, million, proven system, Enron, and of course, scam.
3. Thou shalt avoid sites with stock photography—These are the sites that have happy people holding bags of money and gold in front of their Ferrari thatís parked in their 8 car garage attached to their mansion on the Moon. I hate to say it, but you'll never become that rich online.
4. Thou shalt not view the dreaded Google Adwords Image—Many sites promote the same crap packaged with different names. You've probably seen data entry, rebate processing, home typing, or make money on Google advertisements, all of them using an image that is allegedly a screen shot of online earnings. The problem with this image is that it just doesn't prove anything. The image is easily altered and there's no way to confirm the source of the money.
5. Thou shalt copy the text—Randomly select a paragraph on the pre-sell page and copy and paste it with quotes around it into Google. Make sure the paragraph you choose doesn't contain any specific name related to the site. You want something generic like this:
   

   "Whether you are purely a customer using our products and services, or also an affiliate promoting them, we have an incredibly exciting year in store for you!"

   This text copied and pasted into Google yields numerous results and pre-sell pages. Itís safe to say that it's misleading and that the way it shows you to make money is to sell the same program you just bought.

6. Thou shalt watch out for ìhigh-pressureî sales tactics—No site magically sells out of PDF files. It's impossible to run out of digital copies. So if you see that membership is closing tomorrow and there is a timer counting the remaining time left for you to join, you're being manipulated with a high pressure tactic. Refresh the page and the timer will reset. Visit the page the following day and again you will read that membership is closing tomorrow. These are common sales tactics that put you on the spot to make a decision in a split second. Don't fall for it.
7. Thou shalt talk to a human being—Always try and get into contact with the site owner if you have any doubts. You see how easy it is to contact Eddy here at Work at Home No Scams? That's the way it should be. If you can't get in contact with an actual person or you receive an automated message, stop trying and move along. Getting in contact with an actual person isn't a clear indicator of a site's legitimacy, but it will help you narrow your decision down.
8. Thou shalt not sign up for an offer through an unsolicited email—Never, ever sign up for a random program that was sent to your email address. Also, upgrade your spam filter. You shouldn't be receiving unsolicited emails in your inbox anyway.
9. Thou shalt check the BBB—Use the Better Business Bureau's search function to check the legitimacy of a company as well as any complaints previous customers have had. Be sure to read any complaints in full.
10. Thou shalt go with your instincts—If all else fails, go with your gut instincts. If your eyes are telling you "Sign up! Look how happy those people are with their gold plated spaceships!" But your gut is telling you "I don't think this is such a good idea" follow your gut. It's usually right.

You really don't have to learn a lot to avoid scams. They're tricky, but it's not rocket science. If you follow these 10 Commandments, you'll never be a victim again.