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Email boxes are filling up with all kinds of
unsolicited commercial email. Many of these offers are scams and should not be
pursued. Below are scams that are most likely to arrive in consumers' email
boxes.
Seniors Are A Favorite Target Of These Scam Operators. Hopefully, the
information provided will prevent you from falling victim to one of these
schemes.
E-Mail Scams
- Business opportunities - These business
opportunities make it sound easy to start a business that will bring lots of
income without much work or cash outlay. The solicitations trumpet unbelievable
earnings claims of $140 a day, $1,000 a day, or more, and claim that the
business doesn't involve selling, meetings, or personal contact with others, or
that someone else will do all the work. Many business opportunity solicitations
claim to offer a way to make money in an Internet-related business. Short on
details but long on promises, these messages usually offer a telephone number
to call for more information. In many cases, you'll be told to leave your name
and telephone number so that a salesperson can call you back with the sales
pitch.
The scam: Many of these are illegal pyramid
schemes masquerading as legitimate opportunities to earn money.
- Chain letters You're asked to send a small
amount of money ($5 to $20) to each of four or five names on a list, replace
one of the names on the list with your own, and then forward the revised
message via bulk email. The letter may claim that the scheme is legal or that
it's been reviewed by a lawyer, or it may refer to sections of U.S. law that
legitimize the scheme. Don't believe it.
The scam: Chain letters—traditional or
high-tech—are almost always illegal, and nearly all of the people who
participate in them lose their money. The fact that a "product" such
as a report on how to make money fast, a mailing list, or a recipe may be
changing hands in the transaction does not change the legality of these
schemes.
- Work-at-home schemes - Envelope-stuffing
solicitations promise steady income for minimal labor—for example, you'll
earn $2 each time you fold a brochure and seal it in an envelope. Craft
assembly work schemes often require an investment of hundreds of dollars in
equipment or supplies, and many hours of your time producing goods for a
company that has promised to buy them.
The scam: You'll pay a small fee to get started
in the envelope-stuffing business. Then, you'll learn that the email sender
never had real employment to offer. Instead, you'll get instructions on how to
send the same envelope-stuffing ad in your own bulk emailings. If you earn any
money, it will be from others who fall for the scheme you're perpetuating. And
after spending the money and putting in the time on the craft assembly work,
you are likely to find promoters who refuse to pay you, claiming that your work
isn't up to their "quality standards."
- Effortless income - The trendiest get-rich-quick schemes offer unlimited profits
exchanging money on world currency markets; newsletters describing a variety of easy-money
opportunities; the perfect sales letter; and the secret to making $4,000 in one day.
The scam: If these systems worked, wouldn't
everyone be using them? The thought of easy money may be appealing, but success
generally requires hard work.
- Free goods - Some email messages offer
valuable goods—for example, computers, other electronic items, and
long-distance phone cards—for free. You're asked to pay a fee to join a
club, then told that to earn the offered goods, you have to bring in a certain
number of participants. You're paying for the right to earn income by
recruiting other participants, but your payoff is in goods, not money.
The scam: Most of these messages are covering up
pyramid schemes, operations that inevitably collapse. Almost all of the payoff
goes to the promoters and little or none to consumers who pay to participate.
- Investment opportunities - Investment schemes
promise outrageously high rates of return with no risk. One version seeks
investors to help form an offshore bank. Others are vague about the nature of
the investment, stressing the rates of return. Many are Ponzi schemes, in which
early investors are paid off with money contributed by later investors. This
makes the early investors believe that the system actually works, and
encourages them to invest even more. Promoters of fraudulent investments often
operate a particular scam for a short time, quickly spend the money they take
in, then close down before they can be detected. Often, they reopen under
another name, selling another investment scam. In their sales pitch, they'll
say that they have high-level financial connections; that they're privy to
inside information; that they'll guarantee the investment; or that they'll buy
back the investment after a certain time. To close the deal, they often serve
up phony statistics, misrepresent the significance of a current event, or
stress the unique quality of their offering—anything to deter you from
verifying their story.
The scam: Ponzi schemes eventually collapse
because there isn't enough money coming in to continue simulating earnings.
Other schemes are a good investment for the promoters, but not for the
participants.
- Cable descrambler kits - For a small sum of
money, you can buy a kit to assemble a cable descrambler that supposedly allows
you to receive cable television transmissions without paying any subscription
fee.
The scam: The device that you build probably won't
work. Most of the cable TV systems use technology that these devices can't
crack. What's more, even if it worked, stealing service from a cable television
company is illegal.
- Guaranteed loans or credit, on easy terms -
Some email messages offer home-equity loans that don't require equity in your
home, as well as solicitations for guaranteed, unsecured credit cards,
regardless of your credit history. Usually, these are said to be offered by
offshore banks. Sometimes they are combined with pyramid schemes, which offer
you an opportunity to make money by attracting new participants to the scheme.
The scams: The home equity loans turn out to be
useless lists of lenders who will turn you down if you don't meet their
qualifications. The promised credit cards never come through, and the pyramid
money-making schemes always collapse.
- Credit repair - Credit repair scams offer to
erase accurate negative information from your credit file so you can qualify
for a credit card, auto loan, home mortgage, or a job.
The scam: The scam artists who promote these
services can't deliver. Only time, a deliberate effort, and a personal debt
repayment plan will improve your credit. The companies that advertise credit
repair services appeal to consumers with poor credit histories. Not only can't
they provide you with a clean credit record, but they also may be encouraging
you to violate federal law. If you follow their advice by lying on a loan or
credit application, misrepresenting your Social Security number, or getting an
Employer Identification Number from the Internal Revenue Service under false
pretenses, you will be committing fraud.
- Vacation prize promotions - Electronic
certificates congratulating you on "winning" a fabulous vacation for
a very attractive price are among the scams arriving in your email. Some say
you have been "specially selected" for this opportunity.
The scam: Most unsolicited commercial email goes
to thousands or millions of recipients at a time. Often, the cruise ship you're
booked on may look more like a tug boat. The hotel accommodations likely are
shabby, and you may be required to pay more for an upgrade. Scheduling the
vacation at the time you want it also may require an additional fee.
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