April 8th, 2009
Scam Fodder on the Nightly News
If you want to get an idea where some ideas for scams are hatched, look no further than the nightly news. The biggest stories are the best fodder for scammers. Last year when gas prices soared to over $4 a gallon, it was a huge story. Soon thereafter, ads for water for gas started to appearing everywhere. Despite independent claims that these products didn’t work, the ads overwhelmed the voices of dissent.
After gas prices sank, and the overall economic situation became the focus, government grant and bailout sites started cropping up en masse in late 2008. Though they seemed to have peaked in February, they continue to be seen advertising regularly to this day.
What are the big stories today? Unemployment and housing foreclosures. Both of these stories are generating new breeds of sites which are attempting to take advantage of the people affected the most.
For unemployment I’m seeing sites for “secrets” to a successful job interview, dubious employment sites, new job listing sites. And many of the fake Google/Grant sites are also buying keywords related to unemployment.
“Foreclosure” is a hot keyword right now, too. The bidders are a wide array of types, with many legitimate services, and many not. Realtors, foreclosure listing sites, auction sites, and some bankruptcy lawyers are all jockeying for the foreclosure business. You also have many questionable “stop foreclosure” sites that are known scams.
There are some advertisements that will never go away, such as weight loss, male “enhancement” products, porn, insurance, et al. And not all advertisements are scams. The biggest news items of the day will attract all kinds of businesses, some legit and some not.
So how do you know?
Do your homework and be careful. Google anyone service you are considering using, and try to find real user forums with real opinions about it. Don’t rely on testimonials or comments on the same site you are considering. Read the terms. Do a whois lookup on the domain and see how new the website is. Visit the BBB and Ripoffreport for complaints. Does this company have a brick-and-mortar office? Are they even located in your country? I’ve seen quite a few scams in the US run by Canadians who are out of our jurisdiction.
People are desperate in this economy. There are businesses that are designed to help, but there are unscrupulous people out there who also wish to take advantage of people in hard times. It’s a reality as old as economics.
Give out your trust sparingly. Trustworthiness isn’t something that you should be convinced about; it should be something that is earned.
Be careful out there.
April 11th, 2009 at 6:39 am
These ads are pretty pervasive on the radio, too. The radio stations make big advertising bucks on the stuff you mentioned, plus other questionable things “the companies don’t want you to know about…so pay us $99 and we’ll tell you.”
April 13th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
And the scams are getting worse. Somehow these need to be stopped. With the economy like it is and people who really need the money to stay afloat are the ones who really get suckered because they’re so worried about losing everything they have worked so hard for. It’s a crying shame really, the government -could- start a task force and one by one shut these predators down.
April 16th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
I would just like to thank you for creating and maintaining this blog. The amount of treachery and deceit and ignorance in the media and especially on the internet makes me sick to my stomach… If only everyone had to take a mandatory Critical Thinking class before being given a credit card, or even leaving highschool for that matter! It’s nice to see an example of clearheaded thought in a sea of E-con artistry
May 17th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I’ve been exploring your very funny and enlightening site for the last few day. This is my first comment.
The latest ad nauseum internet ad seems to be “Follow (X) simple rules to get a flat stomach in just (Y) weeks!” I’ll bet they all originate with the same crooks.
June 15th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Just came across an interesting tidbit in a small-town newspaper’s crime blotter. It shows that when it comes to avoiding scams, we’re on our own.
“A man reported that he received a check claiming he had won $250,000. The letter informed him he needed to contact a phone number provided to give his bank account so the taxes could be taken out, then the money would be deposited. No money was lost so the case is closed.”
So much for contacting the authorities! Though I have to admit, there probably are indeed other things the Nacogdoches, TX police department has on their plate.
Here’s the article URL, at the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel:
http://www.dailysentinel.com/news/content/news/police/stories/2009/06/13/cops_police_report_061409.html