Economic Crunch Feeds Internet Marketing Scams

As our economy continues to worsen, and with thousands of workers losing their jobs on a daily basis, many are looking to the Internet as a way to use their computers to generate income and perhaps start their very own Internet business.

Sadly, the Internet gurus are taking advantage of people and leading many people to believe that making money online will generate hundreds or even thousands of dollars for them online. People searching for ways to make money online are falling prey to Internet marketing tactics which will leave them high, dry, ready to cry, and their heads spinning in all different directions.

Get-rich-quick schemes are all over the Internet, but rarely do they produce an income, and certainly these get-rich schemes do not make people wealthy over night, in a week's time, or even in a month's time. To make money online, one must do a ton of research, find the right niche, pursue that niche, and know how to generate traffic to their niche, whether that be their own website, a blog, etc. Anyone can create a blog or a website, but without generating traffic (thousands upon thousands of visitors), your website or blog will never be seen and you will never make any money online.

Unfortunately, Internet marketing scams are popping up all over the Internet at an alarming rate, and unsuspecting "newbies" (people new to the world of making money online) have no clue they are about to be taken for a wicked ride. False hope, false promises and an empty bank account are the end results you will get if you fall prey to get-rich schemes on the Internet. It just simply will not happen.

One of the worst schemes out there are the commercial television ads that lure people to their websites, promising them that they, too, can make the kind of money they see other people claiming to make on television commercials. Many people believe that if they see something on television that it must somehow be a legitimate work-at-home opportunity. We've all seen them. These are imposters, actors and actresses paid to say what they are told to say. Avoid these websites at all costs. You will find yourself scammed!

I have my own definition for these "info-commercials." Give them your "info" and they will invest your hard-earned money back into the commercials and scam some more people!

Another trap Internet marketers use is advertising something for free. You sign up and find out it is indeed "free" to join, but it will now cost you money to continue on with the process of actually getting to the core of what your original intention was, to make money online. You see, in order to make money online, there is always a catch. Just like investing in any business, it takes money to make money. This is where people fall prey to believing that just because they join something for free they will make a lot of money.

Examples of potentially bad investments:

• Getting paid to take surveys
• Getting paid to click on ads (PTC)
• Buying e-books
• Buying anything promising you to get rich overnight
• Multi-level marketing (MLM)
• Pyramid schemes
• Data entry jobs
• Stuffing envelopes
• TV info-commercials leading directly to websites
• YouTube info-commercials

Only a few examples of worthless schemes on the Internet.

In summary, there is no easy way to make money online. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, research, time, and countless hours of really knowing what you are doing and getting yourself into before you can even think about generating an income online.

Be very careful about what information you submit to websites on the Internet and know who you are giving it to. A lot of websites just want your information (e-mail address, name) to put you on mailing lists. These Internet marketers are very crafty in obtaining your e-mail address to solicit you. Worse yet, if you clink on a link in their e-mail (which is exactly what marketers entice one to do), you will find your computer infected with malware, spyware, viruses, and the likes. If that isn't bad enough, your e-mail account will be hacked and your personal information stolen and misused. It won't be long before you fall victim to identity theft.

If you do decide to invest in a company, always make sure there is contact information available. If there is no contact information, you are probably being scammed. I recently invested in a new anti-virus progam and was delighted to speak to a human being on the telephone who could answer my questions before I made my decision about purchasing their product.

Beware of companies located in a country other than your own. If you are to get paid commissions or have to contact this company, how much it is going to cost you to contact a company in Germany, Denmark, Canada, for example, if you live in the United States? What are you going to do if there is a discrepancy in your pay, a question about your account, etc.? A lot of these companies will take weeks on end to answer your e-mails, if they e-mail you back at all, and certainly telephoning them is out of the question, as it would cost you a bloody fortune!

There are legitimate ways to make money on the Internet, and there are many people who are very successful in doing so. However, remember the old saying, "If it is too good to be true, then it probably is."

Do your homework before signing up for any programs on the Internet which promise to make you tons of money in a very short period of time or promise you something that sounds too good to be true.

You never know who or what is hiding behind that link or website!