This is an ultra long post. I decided not to split it up because I believe that even if it helps save someone, somewhere, somehow from being scammed, the hours I spent writing it and the time you spend reading it through will be worth it.

The Star recently highlighted the banning of 6 websites believed to be scam websites. Many people were fooled into "investing" up to millions of dollars in the false hope that they would reap huge returns.

I've been "fortunate" in that I've only been fooled into buying a handful of crappy products over the years. Those would qualify as small time fraudsters, but there was that one time when I was scammed. About 5 years ago, I was in danger of losing my full time job when I saw an online ad promising work-at-home assignments which included typing, administrative and online research. Participation in the program required an entry fee of $50. This was for "administrative costs". The signs that it was a scam were all there :

• Promise you money, jobs or prizes
• Ask for donations
• Propose lucrative business deals
• Ask you to provide sensitive personal information
• Ask you to follow a link to a website and log on to an account.

*list is an excerpt from http://www.hoax-slayer.com/common-internet-scams.html

I went in knowing the risks, but I was facing the prospect of a lay-off and I was grasping at straws. I took the chance and deposited $50 into a paypal account. What did I get in return? A long email that was so badly formatted, even the punctuation marks were missing. At the end of the email, was a list of websites where I would find (supposedly) legitimate online job opportunities.

Online money making scams have evolved from such simple deceit to complex, well-planned and (professionally operated) scams. Many of the scams today aren't content with just suckering people to part with ten bucks. They're about multi-level siphoning - usually under the guise of a multi-level marketing investment scheme - getting the unwitting participation of their victims to deceive others.

I've come to the conclusion that there is a combination of factors that causes a person to fall victim to online money making scams :

Need/Want/Greed

Everyone has needs. Some are able to differentiate between their needs and wants. Those that consistently fail to differentiate between these two generally fall into the third category - greed.

Needs are simple necessities of life : food, water, shelter, emotional support. There used to be a time when these were easily attainable. All you had to do was get a fairly stable job and be frugal. Life doesn't always go a planned though and inflation is a big reason why even these simple needs are getting increasingly difficult to attain. Increased competition in the workplace is another reason. There's no such thing as a job for life anymore.

Wants are what you "think you need" - a Starbucks coffee instead of a regular cuppa, an imported Gucci handbag instead of a locally manufactured brand, etc. When you keep stepping into the zone of wants and you can't seem to get enough of the "good things in life" then you easily cross over into the dark side - the greed zone.

Greed takes over when people always want "more of the best" and it becomes an all consuming desire. They want the easy way and what better way to make money than on the internet! You'll find that all online money making scammers fall into this category.

Online scammers are experts in the human psyche and they know how to take advantage of your weakness. It doesn't matter to them if you're a hardworking Dad or Mom trying to survive a job loss, or you just can't seem to stop keeping up with the Joneses or you're just plain greedy. It doesn't even matter to them if you're illeterate and naive. They know you wan't something - money - and they know how to use your weakness to their advantage.

Emotion

Every good sales person knows that emotions are a vital key to making a sale. You don't shove a product in your customer's face. You've got to get on the side of the prospective client, gain your prospect's confidence, show them that you understand their situation and that you care about them.

It's the same with online money making scammers. They are skilled in the art of manipulation. They do this best with words. Their websites and copy are crafted skillfully to trigger the response that they want from you. Blend all these under the pseudo anonimity that the Internet offers, and you have a potent online money making scam.

Consider the following ads I copied at random (there are thousands of ads like these)

Now, let's get this clear right from the start. I'm NOT saying that every ad that sounds like these are scams. But an ad like this is the perfect bait for people in every category I mentioned :

• The need category - The worried Dad or single Mom who've just lost their job or struggling to put food on the table
• The want category - They just want more out or life. Nothing wrong with this. It's only when you can't tell the difference between wants and needs.
• The greed category - They may or may not have a job or regular income, but they just can't resist the opportunity to make money out or nothing

Proof

The best way to convince a prospect is to show proof that the system is genuine and that people are already making money.

These websites will show you income statements, bank statements, paypal statements etc. with nothing less than four figure deposits every day. What people don't realize is that anyone with an image editing software can produce doctored images.

Take a look at the 2 images below. It's part of a real check I received recently from Text-Link-Ads. I will tell you that one is the real thing and one is doctored.

Can you tell the difference? I can put ANY amount I want that I want on a doctored image. This fake job took me not more than 5 minutes. Imagine how easy it would be to create a list of bank deposits on a plain white background!

Now think about it. If you were selling a product, and you were talking to a customer. Would you talk about the bad stuff or are you going to focus on the positive aspects of the product? Folks who promote online money making scams basically fall into 4 groups.

1. The first are probably the originators or those in cahoots with the scammers.
2. The second are the ones who realize that they've been suckered and decide to go along with the flow anyway - after all there's money to be made.
3. The third are those who have unwittingly been sucked in and want to recoup their losses by trying to get others to sign up.
4. The last group are the naive, innocent ones who are oblivious to the existence of scammers. They are the ones who suffer the most.

Many online money making scams are big budget operations. They know that it costs money to make (in this case steal) money. So you may see them advertising big time on websites and search engine.

Another popular way to promote a money making scheme is to lay the bait in thousands of online forums and message boards. You just have to start a thread and gush about what an amazing scheme you've found you can be sure the fist will bite. Take a look at a sampling of the discussions that went on for one of the alleged scams on a popular money making forum (The thread may be pulled so if you do end up on a dead link, please let me know). In this link, the discussion about this scheme was placed in a category titled "High Yield Investment Program". The title itself sounds so convincing and business-like. In the confusing ding-dong of such forum discussions, people don't know who to believe. On the one hand, they want to be responsibly cautious, but then there's that little voice at the back of their minds that whispers to them "What if this is a genuine investment. You could make millions!". Who do you believe? At the end of the day, they remember these kinds of posts :

A friend of mine recently asked me about a money making scheme that he read about online. He told me that all he had to do was "invest" some money, download a little software and visit a certain number of websites a day. The reward for visiting those websites would be a percentage of their investment. The more you invest, the more your return.

So what happens? They think, "Heck, it's just an USD17 investment. If it's a scam, I can pull out. All I'll lose is just USD17 bucks". The problem here is that many online money making scams are not going to screw you right from the start. They think their victims are stupid, but not THAT stupid. So they WILL pay you your commission/dividend/earnings for the first couple of weeks. These payments have already been budgetted as part of their costs. During that time, legions of "happy" investors who have received their $0.17 cents daily return for two weeks start making hundreds of posts on forums, hoping to recruit more people into their downline. And since they've actually received payments, they're convinced that they're on to a good thing and so they increase their investment. When the payments get delayed frequently (due to technical errors) or stop (which they eventually will), these investors would already have recruited fresh victims into the latest, greatest "High Yield Investment Program". The vicious cycle continues online and offline. So what happens when the scammers are ratted out? They don't care. They've made their millions and they move on to the next scam.

You ask, "... but what about all those people who gave their testimonials and confirmed that they've made tons of money. I visited their websites. I even emailed them and they confirmed everything that they said".

There are two possible explanations for this. The first is that these people may be genuine website owners who DID give their testimonials before they found out they've been had. The second might seem a bit far-fetched to some, but I've seen enough of how the local "mobsters" in my area operate to know better.

I've already demonstrated how easy it is to doctor an image. It's just as easy to fake a testimonial and doctor someone's photo so that it looks like a genuine investor. Even if I were to randomly pick someone's photo from the Internet, 99.9% of the people won't know who it is, unless they were stupid enough to use a celebrity's photo. It's also easy to set up professional looking websites and claim that these persons own the websites.

You see, an online money making scam can be a one-man operation, but to be really effective, it's likely to going to take two or more people to run the show. It may involve many more who are taking a cut or on the payroll. An online money making scam isn't just about getting your money. It's about getting people to suck others in. So when you go to a website, see all these photos and stories of "successful" people, your mind subconsciously forms a (positive) opinion of the money making scheme. And when you BELIEVE that these are real people, making real money, you feel confident enough not only to pump your hard earned money into the scheme, you're more than willing to share your success with others. Sadly, unsuspecting folks realize too late that they've fallen into an intricately woven web of deceit after they've have invested their life's savings or worse, sold their house and belongings.

Pressure

After the victim has been primed and ready comes the easy part. Clever use of words and phrases are all that's needed to prompt the victim into forking out the money:

• "Join now! Only 23 places left."
• "Every hour, an average of 53 people join our program. Joining early guarantees you an advantage. Lock in your position in our membership grid NOW. "
• "This low, low price will never be offered again."
• "In 72 hours, our membership fee will be raised to $200. Get in at only $50 now!"
• "Due to the sudden membership sign-ups, we cannot guarantee you will be accepted into the program"

Now, if you were a Mom or Dad who just lost your job or on the brink of losing it, and you were offered this fantastic once-in-a-lifetime offer for a small investment of $100, wouldn't you take the risk? After all, you've spent more than that on lottery tickets or in Vegas before right? "No risk, no gain" you think. That's exactly what scammers want you to think. And that's why it's so easy to fall for online money making scams.

The conclusion? With scammers getting increasingly tech and marketing savvy, it's not unusual even for level-headed, professional folks falling for online scams and losing everything. Here's a couple of tips you might want to keep in mind whenever you think you're being baited :

• Know how to distinguish between your needs/wants/greed. That's the first step. Be realistic in your expectations about money. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
• Never, ever, EVER make a decision about an online money making scheme or even a product purchase when you're emotional - after getting fired, having an argument with your wife about money, getting chewed by your boss for some silly mistake etc. Think things through. If you can't be objective about making an investment in an online scheme, better to delay than to regret. The Internet is a wonderful thing. There are thousands of ways to make money online. Another opportunity is always around the corner.
• Knowing the tips and tricks of scammers is one of the best ways to protect yourself. I've mentioned a few above. Know how they operate and how they could use even your closest friends to draw you in. In fact, when someone has been sucked into an online money making scam, the first people they will try to convince to join them will be the ones closest to them.
• Always keep in mind that websites and copy are crafted by savvy marketers after many thousand hours of trial and error. They've honed their skill to perfection. Read between the lines. Always.

And finally, when in doubt, DON'T. It's always better to err on the side of caution.