There's some good news and bad news sprinkled around our
annual look at the top scams of the past and coming years.
The good news is that, according to the most recently
available research, the number of identity theft and fraud
victims in the US has dropped sharply.
The bad news is that, on average, the out-of-pocket cost to
individual victims went up, and identity theft remains in the
number one slot in our top 10 scams list both in 2011 and 2012.
Click here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
Online marketing business news, social networks, economics and scams.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Your Guide to YouTube Scams and Tricks
The online video site YouTube is one of the most successful
and heavily used areas of the Internet, with over 3 billion
videos viewed every day and uploads equivalent to 240,000
feature films every week.
Sadly, that popularity also makes it a lucrative target from crime, ranging from scams and account hijackings to illegal use of the YouTube name and abusive videos and comments.
YouTube, which is owned by Internet giant Google, has lots of security checks in place and offers guidance on things like phishing and hijacks, but the sheer scale of the operation makes it virtually impossible for the organization to monitor videos and comments as they're posted.
Click here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
Sadly, that popularity also makes it a lucrative target from crime, ranging from scams and account hijackings to illegal use of the YouTube name and abusive videos and comments.
YouTube, which is owned by Internet giant Google, has lots of security checks in place and offers guidance on things like phishing and hijacks, but the sheer scale of the operation makes it virtually impossible for the organization to monitor videos and comments as they're posted.
Click here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
Friday, December 16, 2011
Don't Fall for this Strawman Scam
The notion that the US Treasury holds a secret cash stash in
your name underlies a scam known as strawman fraud.
Crooks claim not only that they can help you gain access to the account but also that you can make purchases and pay debts just by scrawling a few words across bills.
Click here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
Crooks claim not only that they can help you gain access to the account but also that you can make purchases and pay debts just by scrawling a few words across bills.
Click here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Why Penny Auctions Don't Always Deliver a Bargain
When you're looking online for electronic products at bargain
prices, you've almost certainly come across those penny
auctions ads that seem to offer unbelievable value -- like
your favorite laptop or camera for just $20 or $30.
But there's a catch. In order to buy at that price, you have to win the auction. And in order to win the auction you have to pay to bid. If you don't win, you lost the money you laid out for each bid you made.
That, says the Federal Trades Commission (FTC), makes penny auctions more like lotteries than regular auction sites.
Click here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
But there's a catch. In order to buy at that price, you have to win the auction. And in order to win the auction you have to pay to bid. If you don't win, you lost the money you laid out for each bid you made.
That, says the Federal Trades Commission (FTC), makes penny auctions more like lotteries than regular auction sites.
Click here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW TO MARKET... SO WHY DON'T YOU HAVE ALL THE CLIENTS YOU NEED?
For the
past nineteen years, I've been asking self-employed professionals to
tell me the most effective ways they know to get clients. No matter
where and when I ask this question, their answers are always the same:
"networking," "referrals," "word of mouth." These are the right answers.
The professionals I ask know this to be true.
But then I ask a follow-up question: "What are you doing right now to market yourself?" And what I hear back is surprising, given the answers to my first question. More than half the people I ask tell me their primary focus is on something OTHER than those answers. They'll tell me they are building a new website, or mailing out postcards, or running pay-per-click ads, or cold calling strangers, or launching a Facebook page, or exhibiting at an expo, or posting promos on Twitter.
The other folks, the minority, who tell me they ARE spending most of their time networking, building referrals, and actively boosting word of mouth in other ways (like public speaking), are invariably those professionals who are the most successful. They are doing what they know works, and reaping the rewards.
So what's going on here? If the professionals who are struggling to get clients already know what to do, why are they doing something else? Why aren't they using the marketing approaches that work the best? After exploring this question for quite some time, here are the causes I most often see:
So before you spend time and money on any marketing approach, check it out first. Ask yourself the following questions:
Copyright © 2011, C.J. Hayden
Read more free articles by C.J. Hayden or subscribe to the GET CLIENTS NOW! E-Letter.
But then I ask a follow-up question: "What are you doing right now to market yourself?" And what I hear back is surprising, given the answers to my first question. More than half the people I ask tell me their primary focus is on something OTHER than those answers. They'll tell me they are building a new website, or mailing out postcards, or running pay-per-click ads, or cold calling strangers, or launching a Facebook page, or exhibiting at an expo, or posting promos on Twitter.
The other folks, the minority, who tell me they ARE spending most of their time networking, building referrals, and actively boosting word of mouth in other ways (like public speaking), are invariably those professionals who are the most successful. They are doing what they know works, and reaping the rewards.
So what's going on here? If the professionals who are struggling to get clients already know what to do, why are they doing something else? Why aren't they using the marketing approaches that work the best? After exploring this question for quite some time, here are the causes I most often see:
- The most effective marketing approaches can also be the most challenging to your psyche. They expose you to the possibility of rejection, and require you to talk to strangers, reach out to acquaintances, or speak in front of a group. It's so much easier to send out a mailing, buy an ad or trade show booth, or try to attract clients online.
- Networking, building referrals, and increasing word of mouth are approaches that require consistent effort and can take time to pay off. You might find it tempting to instead try for an instant response with letters, ads, or cold calls.
- When professionals begin to market themselves, they often mimic what they see large companies do, thinking this is the path to success. But marketing a small service business is entirely different from marketing a national firm. You don't have the budget or staff to sustain an expensive advertising campaign, a social media strategy that requires many hours per week, or high-priced promotional events.
- Another type of mimicry that gets professionals in trouble is copying how they see others marketing packaged products or learning programs. But you can't sell interior design as if it were an ebook, or management consulting as if it were a home-study course. Professionals get hired based on referrals, credibility, and personal relationships, not because they get a lot of web traffic, send email blasts, and offer free bonuses.
- Many professionals are led astray about their marketing by vendors and gurus who are forwarding their own agenda. Web designers say you need a better website; postcard vendors tell you postcards will get you noticed; expo booth reps entice you with early-bird discounts, and everywhere you turn, experts are promoting social media marketing.
So before you spend time and money on any marketing approach, check it out first. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Are other professionals in your field, with businesses of your size, using this same approach to get clients? Do you have evidence that it's working for them?
- Is the person who recommended this approach to you someone whose opinion you trust, based on recommendations from others or your own relationship with him or her?
- Will the business you are likely to get from this approach pay for your investment in it AND pay you for the resulting client work?
- Is this the most effective kind of marketing you could do for the time or money involved? Is there another, better approach you may be avoiding because it brings up some fear or resistance?
- Do you actually need any new approaches to marketing right now, or do you just need to apply more persistence and consistency to what you are already doing?
Copyright © 2011, C.J. Hayden
Read more free articles by C.J. Hayden or subscribe to the GET CLIENTS NOW! E-Letter.
Friday, December 2, 2011
More Simple Steps to Block Cell Phone Spam
Although cell phone spam accounts for only about 1% of SMS
texts, that still means hundreds of thousands of unwanted and
illegal messages arrive on our cell phones every year.
But sometimes these messages can simply be blocked by one simple step -- switching off reception of messages that originate on the Internet (which is where the majority of cell phone spam comes from).
Click here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
But sometimes these messages can simply be blocked by one simple step -- switching off reception of messages that originate on the Internet (which is where the majority of cell phone spam comes from).
Click here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)