Internet Greed

1195320614_moneyWe are so gullible and greedy.  So many people are being taken advantage of on the Internet it is pathetic.

Minutes ago, I received a forwarded email (the new chain letter) telling me to forward it to as many people as possible.  In return I will receive $245 for every person that forwards this email to another person, etc.  The best part is within 2 weeks, Microsoft is going to send me a check for the entire amount!  WOW! The email goes on to explain that the original author of the email collected a whopping $24,800 for forwarding this email. The author tells everyone that “2 pages were devoted to this in USA Todayon Tuesday”. Come on people. Are you that greedy and gullible?

I receive “forwarded emails” from time to time with a few recipients listed (less than 6). This email had over 20 persons listed as recipients per forward which equalled approximately 80 people receiving this one email.

Now for the truth. I went to USA Today and searched for this “eureka” of free money and did not find anything that supports it. I called my friend who forwarded it to me and asked if they took the time to verify the information. “Verify? Why take a chance? I just forwarded it.” He went on to express his need for the money. 

“if it seems too good to be true, it typically is”

The Internet, that started as a legitimate vehicle for learning, business, and sharing information worldwide has turned into a pile of dung and scams. Try this experiment:

Go to Google and search these terms:  “make money”, “living honestly”, “finding employment”.  Here are the results:

  • “make money” yielded 203,000,000 results
  • “living honestly” yielded 21,600,000 results
  • “finding employment” yielded 41,800,000. results

Why do you think “make money” yielded 7-10 times the results of the other search terms?

We all know there is no such thing as “free money”.  The only way I know of to get totally “free money” is by purchasing a $2 lottery ticket and being lucky enough to have the winning number.  Of course most of the people I know that play the lottery are in the hole so deep they can’t see the top. I spend approximately $40 a week on the lottery.  I would have to win over $10,000 to break even on what I’ve spent on the lottery over the past 5 years. Yep – that’s free money for you.money-4a

Money is received from only a few sources:

  • You earn it
  • You inherit it
  • You sale something and keep the profit
  • You find it
  • It is given to you

If you are looking for ways to improve your bank balance, I can help.  I promise these will work.

  • Save money – spend less
  • Sale stuff you don’t need
  • Work harder and earn more
  • Don’t play the lottery

For every honest way to make money on the Internet, there are at least 40 that will waste your time and take your money. The vast majority of these are designed to “suck you in” with your own greed. In actuality, someone is making money on the Internet – its the person that was able to catch a fish like you to participate in their program. I’ve seen sane friends of mine invest huge sums of money in online stores, reseller hosting, resume sites, and other online ventures that produced nothing. I will say that some eBayers make profits and do well online. eBay would be one exception.

Go to eBay and search for “established Internet businesses”.  If you will take the time to read through a couple of listings, you will find an offer to buy a website that “estimates” you will make $XX per sale per day, per week, per month, and per year. Each “estimate” is larger than the one before. It appears to be easy money that will enable you to quit your full-time job, work online for an hour a day and make huge sums of money. What a deal – for only $95!

About 6 months ago a very close friend of mine called me and asked if I would like to join them and take advantage of a money-making proposition. After some discussion I found it was a pyramid or multi-level marketing program.  I would need to invest approximately $2200 and then recruit 4 other people who invested $2200 and so on.  My “payouts” would come from the people I signed up. While some of these folks are making more than their initial investment, it’s still something I don’t want to be part of. I politely told him that I preferred to keep friends as friends and my business as business. I wonder if they are paying taxes on the money they are receiving?

In summary, greed is a powerful thing. It will make normal, every day people take every penny of savings out of the bank and invest it in something the promises double your money back or even triple. This would be the best time to remember that old saying “if it seems too good to be true, it typically is.”

 

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Posted by Admin on Feb 1st, 2010 and filed under Financial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site

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