Ultra Sales Secrets Newsletter - In This Issue: Avoiding Frauds & Con Artists


by Chris McKay - Date: 2006-11-17 - Word Count: 3864 Share This!

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Ultra Sales Secrets Newsletter
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This is a long, yet important article, so it has been broken
into smaller, more easily digestible segments that roughly
follow this format:

Introduction - Our purpose in this issue
Hypothesis - A sample of a potentially fraudulent offer
When To Stop Listening
Examining The Structure Of A Fraudulent Offer.
Signs You're Being Scammed
Researching Potential Business Partners
Resources to Help You Stay Informed


Introduction
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Well, we at the Ultra Sales Newsletter are committed to
bringing you a quality newsletter that's informative and offers
content that will not only help educate you, but also helps
protect you. Therefore we devote part of our research time to
reviewing and exposing fraudulent activity, offers, or any sort
of business venture that seems questionable.

This particular article is intended to help you arm yourself
against the growing plague of internet fraud, identity theft,
and the various scams you WILL be exposed to. Since you are an
online business person now, you have an increased exposure,
not only to potential customers, but to potential scam artists.
You are now a MUCH bigger target than you were as a regular
internet surfer.

Why? First, you're much more visible, and exposed to more
people. Secondly, it is assumed that a business person has
more disposable income or cash which they can use for various
purposes. Most businesses have a budget for things like
advertising, and these expenses are tax deductable. That means
the proprietor is more likely to spend that money, since it
is a "recoverable" expense, ie you can claim it on your year-
end income tax or business tax forms.

So, the question becomes, "How do I know when I'm in danger
of being someone else's 'mark' or meal ticket? How do I know
if this offer or opportunity is a scam?"

Good question. Today, you're going to get your answer.

Once I'm done relating this brief story, I will also tell you
step by step, the most common signs that you are getting conned.
I will show you some of the steps you can take to research a
company for yourself to see if they're legitimate.


Come Listen To A Story 'Bout A Man Named...
---------------------------------------------

Here is a "hypothetical" situation.

A business person such as yourself receives a phone call from
a marketer who, after a brief introduction, tells you that they
are associated with someone you know, or have done business with,
or who you have purchased a product from. They tell you that, as
a result of your interactions with that person, you've been
selected to participate in their program.

This marketer, who we shall call Contact A, tells you the name
of their business, and points you to a website where they show
they are registered and/or members of the BBB, with few or no
complaints. They may direct you to a state website with a
lookup feature to show you, quite simply, that they exist.

The program you've been chosen for is "fr.ee", whether it be a
membership, mentoring program, or whatever. Mentoring programs
are very popular.

This will sound great. A second call is scheduled. It will be
brief, perhaps fifteen to twenty minutes.

During that second call, a rapport is created with you. It's
very friendly. You are given the rough outline of what will be
required. Again, you are chosen to receive a free service,
provided, of course, that you are the right type of person, and
qualify for it. Towards the end, a modest advertising budget is
mentioned. You'd have to pay for this regardless of whether or
not you used their program anyway. You realise that, right?
Great!

You are asked questions about your debt load, credit card debt,
and financial goals. This is to help establish how realistic
your goals are and how motivated you will be. They want only
people who they know they can make successful. They want to
know you're willing to "put in the work", and follow their
step-by-step process to the letter.

Contact A will soon be passing you off to Contact B, who will
be having a longer conversation with you, probably about an hour.
Contact B will probably call you the next day, but the sooner the
better, because these offers are rare, or very few, and/or are
filling up very fast.

This person shows an interest in your business, and describes
universal tools that will aid you in promoting it. Contact B
is usually a "superior", and will probably be your chosen
long-term contact or mentor for whatever program you've
qualified for.

Contact B is a really great guy. A very nice person, very
friendly and easy to get along with. You like him or her.

As a quick side note, you will usually find that Contact B is
usually a "him", since males typically present an authority
figure that you are more likely to take direction from, while
the initial contact MAY be a woman, who you are more likely
to trust. This is probably due to our natural instinct to
trust a maternal figure, but to obey a father figure. Many
people were raised to trust and obey their parents without
question.

Anyway, I digress.

Contact B is here to explain the details. Somehow during the
conversation, you have that nagging feeling that he's
explaining the program without really explaining the program.
It seems very difficult for you to come up with specific
questions for him, though. You haven't really had much time
to consider things.

Then Contact B explained that to begin, I would need to
establish an advertising budget, and pay for the software
and tools that you'll be using to advertise with. He explains
to you that this is a one-time expense that should never
have to be repeated, since they'll be teaching you how to
advertise without any more money as time went on.

Your budget shoud be at LEAST three to five thousand dollars.
Five is better, he explains. In fact, some clients pay up to
twenty or thirty thousand, depending on how aggressive their
financial goals are. How much you pay doesn't really matter,
since you're guaranteed you'll recouperate every last cent of
your investment, and more on top of that.

The more the merrier, is the basic concept. With more money,
you can buy better advertising, and reach your goals much faster
than if you only gave them two or three thousand. How much you
gave them is really up to you, though, because you should be in
control of your own pace and your own marketing campaign.

It's explained that ultimately, the goal is to teach you how
to do this for yourself, so the control really needs to be in
YOUR hands. It is emphasised repeatedly that you need to take
control over your OWN marketing campaign, and that's what the
program would teach you. You need to learn how to market my own
site, and manage your own business affairs so that you're not
trusting some complete stranger on the internet to market your
site for you. When questioned, you reveice a vague response
that this budget will cover all the software, mentoring
expenses, advertising, and so forth.

This money will be sent to their company, and they will make the
advertising and software purchases on your behalf, and you can
later access or download them. That way they can set you up as
quickly as possible, and then teach you how to do this for
yourself later on.

When you ask what the procedure is that you should follow, and
for details as to how the paperwork will be handled, you are
told that you will sign up for their program with someone either
on the Internet or, more likely, with a secretary over the
phone. They will take down your details, including credit card
or bank account info, and then fax you an agreement, possibly
even a "non-competition" agreement, that you must then sign and
fax back to them.

If your credit card can't handle it, you are told you can also
use a wire transfer, or you can allow them access for direct
withdrawal from your bank account, via a debit card or other
means you will authorise them for when you sign up.

This should all take place as soon as possible, in order to get
you moving right away. They want you to start making money NOW,
and any delay could jeopardise your ability to receive this
complimentary service you've been CHOSEN to receive. In fact,
they even offer to set everything up on the phone right now,
and they can get the ball rolling before they hang up. Their
secretary should be right back, and she'll look after faxing
the agreements to you while Contact B takes your information
down and signs you up.


Put On The Brakes!
------------------

Whoa, Nellie! Back up that horse and cart! Long before now,
warning bells should have been going off like a four-alarm
fire!

A voice inside your head should be screaming BAIL OUT! You can
probably tell why by now, having read the story in the way I
wrote it, but believe me, when it happens, it happens to you,
the entire setup will be very fast, very slick, and very
subtle.

In fact, you typically begin to feel like you'll look stupid if
you question the motives of the person you're talking to. After
all, they're giving you something you should be grateful for,
and which thousands of others would be happy to take, with no
questions asked. They CHOSE you, remember?

Right. Well, what would you do in a situation like this? How
would you know whether or not to trust them.

In my experience, if you have to ask the question "Can I trust
this person?", you can't. That's your instinctual radar telling
you you're in danger. It's your "fight or flight" reflex bewing
triggered. And the person on the other end of the phone is doing
everything they can to keep that from happening, or to make that
response feel unnatural or wrong.

So the question remains: WHAT SCAMS ARE OUT THERE, AND HOW DO I
IDENTIFY ONE WHEN I COME ACROSS IT?


The Old Bait And Switch Routine...
------------------------------
The story I've outlined so far is the oldest trick in the book.
It's called the "Bait and Switch" routine, common with con
artists since the beginning of time.

It works like this: You are offered something great because you
are special or have been chosen. Once you've begun to accept
the reality that's been presented to you (created for you), the
terms begin to shift subtly, so that something is required FROM
you in order to facilitate your benefactor giving you what is
promised.

It's usually not a huge hurtle, and can be easily overcome with
the universal problem-solver, money. Namely, yours.

If done with the right timing, or done gradually, the person
doesn't realise they're being grifted until it's too late. And
then it's, well, TOO LATE.

Unfortunately, most marketing works on a similar principal,
which makes it very difficult for a novice to decide whether
this is a legitimate offer or not.

Yes, most con artists employ the same techniques as marketers.
Why do you think people hate sales persons so much? Because the
genuine honest sales person is almost indistinguishable from a
con artist to an untrained person.

So, here's your training. This is your crash course in learning
to identify scam artists, charlatans, and fraudulent offers or
schemes.

Below are the most common signs that what you are being offered
really IS too good to be true.


TOP TEN INDICATORS AN OFFER MAY BE A SCAM!
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- You receive the offer by phone. Especially when it's an
internet-based business that you run, or the persons who
have contacted you run. Phone contact is a method of
creating a personal relationship, feeding you information
you want to hear, while you are COMPLETELY UNABLE TO KEEP
A RECORD OF WHAT HAS BEEN SAID OR OFFERED TO YOU. Scam
artists do NOT want to give you anything in writing, or at
least, nothing that says what THEY are supposed to do.

- The person attempts to gain your trust by claiming to be
affiliated or joint-ventured with someone else you trust,
or with whom you've already had dealings. This may or may
not be true, and in either case should be weighed very
carefully.

Even if it's true, sometimes the persons they are joint-
ventured with do not realise what their true motives or
methods really are. In innumerable cases, these people have
been left holding the bag, or with sullied reputations
that they did not deserve, simply because they, too, were
inadvertently victimised in the process.

- You have been CHOSEN for anything, to to receive
something for which you have not paid, or that you
haven't requested.

- The contact HELPS you do your research, in order to prove
to you that they are a valid business. They may quote
terms to you such as Due Diligence, encouraging you to
follow along with them as they show you just how legitimate
they are. This is an attempt to trick you.

By aiding you in your search, they are building a sense
of trust with you. At the same time, they are controlling
exactly where you go to do your research, as well as
exactly what data you are exposed to, and even how to
interpret that data. This creates an ILLUSION that you
are in control, and have shown "due dilligence", when,
in fact, they have not allowed you to do any research,
or for that matter, even think for yourself. They've
spoon-fed you what they want you to see.

It's like a magician who magically finds the exact card
you chose, and makes it appear in the most unlikely
fashion. As a spectator, you cannot see how it was
possible for him to have controlled events in such a
manner, and so it appears to be something mystical. In
reality, you NEVER had a choice about which card you
took. The magician knew before he ever met you, exactly
what card he wanted you to have, and he MADE you take
it. He also made you think it was your choice, and
completely up to you.

- Questions regarding your debt load, or how much money
you can get access to, or how much room is left on your
credit cards. What they are really asking is "How much
money can you send me on the spur of the moment?"

This will dictate how much they ask you for. It will
always be an amount just barely more than you think you
can afford, but which is attainable if you scrape and
scrounge for it. They are looking for maximum yield in
the minimum amount of time.

- Offers involving a "one-time" investment. this goes hand
in hand with the previous point. This is a quickly
obtainable sum that you will send them as soon as
possible in order to begin your "complimentary" program,
whatever that may be.

Remember, you order pizza on a whim. That's because it's
a small investment, and you already know what you're
going to get. That's not the case when you're approached
with a business venture, offer or deal.

- Any contracts involved are worded to protect or aid the
person or company who has contacted you. The contract
states that you are obligated to give them money, or
enables them to have access to your finances in some way.
This is typically pre-authorised payments or credit card
charges, and often the exact amount or frequency of such
transactions does not appear in the document. IF YOU SIGN
SUCH A DOCUMENT, YOU HAVE GIVEN THEM THE LEGAL RIGHT TO
TAKE YOUR MONEY IN LARGE, UNCONTROLLED QUANTITIES. YOU
HAVE AUTHORISED THEM TO STEAL FROM YOU, BECAUSE THEY ARE
NO LONGER STEALING. THEY ARE DEFRAUDING.

- Being passed from person to person is a typical sign you
are being grifted. by having multiple contacts, you are
encouraged to believe you are dealing with a legitimate,
large-scale company, and simultaneously kept off-balance
through a process of misdirection. Magicians do this all
the time. While you're watching one hand, you're not
thinking about what the other hand is doing. In this
case, the other hand is fishing around in your pocket.

- You are made to feel like you are being uncooperative,
ungrateful or stupid if you question their authority or
motivations. These people will usually try to make you
feel at ease by making off-hand comments about how you
don't want to trust some stranger with your business or
money, yet in the next breath, that's exactly what
they're asking you to do with THEM.

- They will make purchases on your behalf. This gives
them far too much control over your business, and gives
them carte blanche to do whatever they want with your
money. They could conceivably go out and buy a 5-dollar
piece of software from eBay and charge you two thousand
dollars for it. Don't laugh. It's happened before to
other people who just like you. Some even buy the
software FROM themselves, and the paper trail will look
legitimate. This makes it virtually impossible to
prosecute them or get your money back.

If you think about it logically, when you buy software,
or ANY product, you need to register your own warrantee.
Nobody else can or should do that for you. Therefore,
anyone who offers to buy software on your behalf is
potentially looking to take your money and run.

- You are pressured to act as quickly as possible. The
offer is only available today, or for 48 hours, or to
those who show they are willing to move on it. Many
others are interested and willing to take YOUR SPOT,
but they want you to have it because, once again, you
HAVE been personally chosen.

Let's put it this way. According to the FTC (Federal
Trade Commission), anyone who wants more than $500
from you, and wants you to commit without researching
thoroughly or taking your time to make an informed,
rational decision, is trying to screw you. They may
not be an actual fraud, but they ARE unscrupulous,
even if what they're offering is a legitimate product
or service. Do you really want to get involved with a
person or company that utilises immoral sales tactics
to force you to commit to a decision to give them
money? Do you really feel comfortable entering into a
working relationship with them?

- The mere MENTION of a WIRE TRANSFER. Wire transfers
are very VERY permanent. They are also the absolute
preferred method of receiving money for most persons
engaging in fraud. That's because there are no safety
measures involved in a transaction done by wire
transfer, which protect the sender. Only the one who
receives the money has any safety precautions working
in their favor.

You will absolutely NEVER get your money back after
you have wired it somewhere. The money has been sent,
and since there's no real receipt for goods or
services rendered, the money could have been sent for
anything. It is assumed that your reasons are your own,
and that you had every intention of donating your hard-
earned money out of sheer generousity, and the overall
betterment of mankind.

- The company's website is very scant, and doesn't have
any means by which to purchase whatever it is they are
selling. If they cannot perform transactions on their
site, yet they are offering you something they want a
lot of money for, and which could be reasonably
transacted online, it's likely because they don't want
any record of precisely what's taking place. They want
no receipts, agreements, or implications regarding their
own liability or responsibilities.


Well, ok. That's 13 indicators, but they're all important, so
let's not leave any of them out, shall we?

This list is by NO MEANS complete, and we strongly urge you
to use the resources at the end of this newsletter in order
to make yourself more familiar with the current trend in
online or telephone fraud.

Remember, con artists are professionals. They devote their
lives to presenting a false front in order to steal what they
want from others. There is no lower form of life on this
planet than someone who will do that, because it means they
have no morals whatsoever, nor a care for any other human
being but themselves. They are completely cold-blooded.

Even many career criminals, murderers, try to avoid hurting
innocent people. Con artists seek out the innocent, the
defenseless, and prey upon them. Never underestimate them.


When In Doubt, Investigate!
-------------------------

Nobody should ever make you feel like you are being FORCED
to act more quickly than you are comfortable with. As we
previously stated, you're not ordering a pizza, here. Where
possible, you should take the time to get to know the company
or person who is presenting you with the proposal.

How do you do that?

Well, the internet is a big, and sometimes very useful place.
Ask the representative where their company is based, and do a
search to determine whether they have been registered there or
not. BEWARE, however, that many fraudulent companies may look
good from this angle. In fact, many will help you do the search,
in order to help them look more "kosher".

How do you know when their records aren't for real, then? I
recommend checking for reports onthe internet regarding their
activities. Just do a quick search using their business name,
contact names, or whatever details they've given you, and attach
the word "fraud" or "con" to the search. Odds are, they may well
have had someone else complain about them, if they're a career
grifter who's been around for a while, and is successful.

Also, go to a public WhoIs site, and perform a "WHOIS" search on
their domain. If it's registered to someone else, or if the name
is the same but the address for the business doesn't jive, that
could be a warning sign.

Also, while you're doing this type of research, you may notice
that there have been several incarnations of their company in
the past. The address may have stayed roughly the same (in the
same ZIP code), but the actual street address is slightly
different for each one, or the company has had multiple names.
The chief officers or contacts will often remain the same,
however. Even the secretaries are often the same person. that's
because they're not secretaries, they, too, are in on the con.


Additional Resources
--------------------

The following places will aid you in researching further:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/internet/cases-netsum.pdf
Combating Internet Fraud and Deception

http://www.ripoffreport.com/view.asp?id=90567&view=printer
The RipOff.Com "Bad Business Beureau". This particular
page points to the real-life case upon which our
hypothetical situation was, in some part, modelled.

http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) site about
identity theft.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/dotcons.htm
The FTC article on "dot CON" sites.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/netbizop.htm
Fraudulent or illegal business ventures or
opportunities.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/doznalrt.htm
FTC Names Its Dirty Dozen:12 Scams Most Likely to
Arrive Via Bulk Email


Lastly, as odd as it may seem, we highly reccomend, if you
haven't already seen it, renting the recent film entitled
"Matchstick Men".

Although it is presented as fiction, it's surprisingly true
to life, and will give you an excellent idea as to some of
the cons out there, and the level of audacity that many
con artists demonstrate. Most are very bold.


In Conclusion
-------------

In conclusion, we encourage you to ALWAYS question who you
are doing business with, and ESPECIALLY when those persons
approach YOU, and not the other way around.

Not all companies out there are trying to grab your money
and run. in fact, the vast majority are just like you or me,
and are just trying to make an honest living by putting their
shingle out there.

We cannot make the distinction for you, and say that any
particular business or person is a fraud, con artist, or
what have you. Nor can we make hard and fast rules that will
apply in every case. This article can only provide a general
guideline that tends to be true in many circumstances.

Ultimately, only YOU can make the decision as to who to
trust, or who to associate your business or personal finances
with. In the end, we all stand alone, and must face our final
decisions armed with whatever knowledge and preparations we
can.


Coming Soon!
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In an upcoming issue, we will talk to you about "phishing",
which is when a con artist tries to trick you into giving
them your account informaiton, or access to your PayPal
accounts, Ebay, and so forth.

We will also discuss the pitfalls of falling for false
advertising schemes, which make grand promises for low
prices, but fail to impact your business in any positive,
lucrative fashion.

Until then, you can find this information, and other related
articles, on our homepage.

Until our next issue,
Chris McKay, Editor.

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newsletter, please send them to editor@ultrasales.org

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Related Tags: identity theft, marketing, mlm, network marketing, free advertising, online marketing, fraud, identity fraud, phishing, business marketing, free marketing, email fraud, internet fraud, cons, theft protection, email attack, con artists, mlm marketing

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