<-- Back to Current Category
You Think YOU'VE Been Scammed?
By: Pamela Geiss, Mon Mar 20th, 2006
Boy was I scammed! It was my first try at an Internet business.
I saw an ad that you could get your own casino. Please do not
confuse this with one that is going around new where you can
sign up to be an affiliate at a group of casinos. This one was
one where you paid them to make your casino. You chose your own
casino name. They registered it and made the casino on a theme
that went with the name you chose. I paid them a pretty penny to
do it, too. In return, I would advertise it and collect 55% of
the profits.
I spoke with them, we emailed, we did a contract. I saved every
email that they sent and I sent to them. I felt I had covered
everything, reading every word in the contract, etc. and asking
25 zillion questions. So, I went to the bank and borrowed the
money, as according to statistics, I should be able to pay it
back the first year.
Well, the first thing that happened was it took a lot longer to
get the site finished than they had said it would. But, in the
meantime I went about scouring the Net for places to advertise
so I would know where the best places were when the site was
ready. By the time they had it up, I already had had to make my
first payment on my loan; so I set about advertising with a
vengeance! I found ways that worked well and by the 3rd month,
we had made a profit and I got my first check! Not a large one,
but the exciting thing was we had made a profit!
The fourth month came and my check was larger and just about
covered my loan payment. The casino was growing all the time and
I was one excited person! The fifth month, I was due to get a
check for over $8000! Now I was REALLY excited! What happened?
It never came. Oh, there was this excuse and that excuse, but I
never got my check. Did I ever get anymore money from them? No.
Did I want to sue them? You bet! But did I sue them? No. Why?
Because they are in Costa Rica and I am in the United States.
Attorneys said their laws are different than ours, plus I had a
choice of hiring a Costa Rican attorney and hoping he was honest
and would do his job or paying someone from the States to go
over there. It was going to be very expensive and there was no
guarantee whatsoever that we would prevail. Their advice? Don't
put bad money behind bad money. Cut your losses now.
Why have I told you this? I have several reasons for sharing
this with you.
1.First of all, be EXTREMELY careful about who you do business
with. If you do business with someone in another country, be
sure to check out their laws and be sure you are covered if
things don't go the way they are supposed to. Things are better
now, but in there are still many scammers out there. 2.See if
they have testimonials. If they do, write to the people who gave
testimonials. They should be linked on the site. If they are NOT
linked and you don't see a way to contact them, be wary. They
may not be real. 3.See if the business has a contact. See if
they give you an address and phone number. If they have no
address and phone or just list a post office box, go somewhere
else. Post office boxes can easily be closed, and there goes
your money and your contact with them. 4.If you have been
scammed (and I think there are few of us who haven't been
scammed), don't think that everyone on the Internet is dishonest
and give up. The Internet is just like the rest of the world:
there are honest and dishonest people everywhere. Take what you
learned and make something good come out of it. I learned so
much about advertising online that I decided to start my own
business for marketing and advertising. In other words, make
lemonade out of the lemons you got.
It IS realistic that you can be successful online. I'm proof
positive of that. All you have to do is be determined and don't
let the "bad boys" get you down. If you get scammed, just focus
on your goals and work that much harder. We need all the honest
business people we can get!
About the author:
Pamela Geiss owns LotsaPerks, an online advertising agency.
Visit her today at http://www.lotsaperks.com and sign up for her
free newsletter.
