If you search for ways to make money online or start a business, it’s possible to get scammed at some point. There are many types of websites and marketers, so you will find people that are not honest and just want to get your money without delivering the promised product. In this post, you can read seven ways to avoid scams online.
1. Video Sales Page Without Content
If you visit a sales page that has only one video and limited or no information below, you need to be cautious with your next actions. These sales pages tend to promote products with no value or no products at all. They request payment, but you don’t know what to receive in advance.
You can confirm if you visit a legit site or no by checking for more information. Once you spot a second scam alert, you should stay away from it. There are millions of products on the internet, so you don’t have to risk one that does not look legit.
Usually, the video will be very simplistic. One person says different things that can’t prove if they are true or not. Then, you can see a simple presentation relevant to the words of the speaker. The owners of these products tend to use nicknames because they don’t want to exploit themselves, and the videos are created from freelancers for a few dollars.
The length of the video can vary. There are scams that use short videos that do not last over a few minutes, while others can take up to one hour. So, the length is not a sign of a scam.
2. No Contact Details
Websites that sell products must include contact details. Professional internet marketers want to communicate with their audience. If the visitors of a website have some questions, they would like to answer them because they want to make more sales.
On the other hand, the lack of contact details means that something is wrong. The seller tries to block the communication. It rare cases, they can be amateurs or beginners marketers that feel exposed by sharing contact details. Both scenarios are not good for the buyers of a product. If the lack of these details is combined with big claims, it is a big scam alert.
3. No Support
Support is relevant when you have already bought a product or have a free trial. There are many online products that let you get started for a few dollars and then ask for hundreds or thousands of dollars in upsells.
Before you make such a big investment, you must be sure that everything works well. So, testing the support is a good way to move forward or stay away from it. You can ask them questions, complain about something, or ask for advice.
From their response, you can understand everything. First, you need to check the response time. If they don’t reply in 48 hours, you can’t expect professional marketers behind the product. They just don’t care enough to help their customers.
Another thing to consider is the reply. If they are rude or blame you for any problems, you must be cautious with your next steps. It is better to lose a few dollars than risking to lose thousands more.
4. 60 Day Money Back Guarantee
Most online products and marketplaces help you to get your money back if you don’t like their product. However, the 60-day money-back guarantees are very common in marketplaces with weird digital products. Usually, this guarantee is just one of the many scam alerts. They tend to lack customer support, contact details, and then there is a 60-day guarantee.
These products have a presentation full of claims without enough information. They spend a few minutes presenting the guarantee to make people feel safe and buy the product.
I want to mention here that a money-back guarantee is not a free trial. You actually pay the price, and many things can go wrong if you ask for a refund. Next, legit companies don’t tend to mention their refund policies because they focus on the benefits of their products. However, you can check their policies by yourself.
5. Upsells
Many products include upsells, so they are not a problem by default. The problem is when you buy a product, and they promote you an upsell directly. In many scams, you can see multiple upsells before you even take a look at the product that you have just bought.
There are many scam business models that try to get you inside at a low price because their strategy is to keep promoting you more products. They know that people don’t want to lose their initial investment, so they find an opportunity to get their money. Pyramid schemes are one example of these business models that can cost thousands of dollars at the last levels.
Lastly, you may find one-click upsells. They are simple links with a call to action that complete a purchase directly. These upsells are misleading because people don’t expect to pay something with these clicks. The scammers keep the payment details from the first purchase, so they don’t have to request confirmation again.
6. Unrealistic Claims
They are claims that do not make sense. You can find them in every niche. If you want to lose weight, they promise you to achieve that in a very short time or without any effort.
In the internet marketing niche, there are many get-rich-quick schemes on the internet. They promise you instant earnings or business models that work with 10 minutes of work per day.
When something sounds too good to be true, it is a scam alert. It takes hard work to make money both offline and online. We can achieve anything we want if we put the effort and have patience. However, it is not possible to skip the hard work or the time that is needed to achieve your goals.
7. Fake Testimonials And Images
One of the most common issues on online scams is that they present fake proof of results. They use fake testimonials, fake screenshots, and fake images. It’s quite easy to find images of any type on the internet. You can make a simple search on Google for any topic you want and get thousands of results.
So, there are videos that present worthless products and show you 3-4 fake testimonials and screenshots. The users cannot check if these images are real.
The easiest way to figure out if these testimonials and proofs are real is by doing your own research. You can read some reviews of the product and search on Google any names that are mentioned in these videos. If you can’t find any information about those people, the names are fake most of the time.
Common Online Scams:
1. Phony Marketing
There are many programs and gurus that promise different results with their products. The problem with this category of scams is that they don’t include enough obvious scam alerts. They try to look legit.
Once you buy the product, you don’t get what you expect. However, they use manipulative strategies to keep you around. They may send you irrelevant products or samples of what you bought. Their goal is to get more money from you.
The sellers are not experts and can’t give you the information you want. They have created a funnel and just try to send traffic on it. The only way to figure out this type of scam is by reading a few reviews before starting with an unknown program.
2. Get Rich Quick Schemes
The internet has a lot of get-rich-quick schemes. They claim that you can earn a lot of money in a very short time without hard work from your part. They tend to mention a secret or a system that you can’t find elsewhere.
Usually, they have worthless products, and the owners focus only on the claims and not the product. However, there are products that have some value and promoted with huge claims to make more sales. In most cases, their owners don’t accept that this is an unethical strategy and teach it to other people as well.
Most marketplaces for digital products have many get-rich-quick on their listings. These products include many of the scam alerts that are mentioned above like lack of contact details, video presentations, fake testimonials, and unrealistic claims. These days, there are products in many niches that make huge claims. For example, weight loss products that promise to lose an extraordinary amount of weight in a few days.
You can easily stay away from get-rich-quick schemes by spotting the unrealistic claims. However, many people want results without doing the work, so they prefer to believe the scammers.
3. Pyramid Schemes
They are network marketing companies without a product. They sell the opportunity of making money through their system. All the pyramid schemes have the same structure. You get inside at a low starting price and have membership levels that can cost thousands of dollars.
The presentations of most pyramid schemes are similar to the presentation of get-rich-quick schemes. They make unrealistic claims and use testimonials that don’t prove their results. However, they tend to mention a community, a mentor, and huge commissions that you can earn in the future.
You are a customer and a marketer at the same time. They use pushy marketing strategies to convince their members to upgrade. Then, your earnings depend on your ability to convince other people to join this business opportunity. Pyramid schemes are quite different than affiliate programs and training products that you can find on the internet.
4. No Product At All
The last scams are the ones that sell a product or service that can’t deliver. The difference from the first category is that they don’t deliver anything in exchange for your money.
If you fall for a scam like this one, you will just wait to receive your product but no one will contact you. In most cases, they don’t reply back to any messages or don’t have any contact details at all. You can figure out these scams by searching for information on the internet. If you type the name of the company or the site on Google and don’t get any positive information, it’s better to stay away from it.
Conclusion
Legit websites tend to have a free trial that is completely different than a money-back guarantee. If there is not a free trial, check for scam alerts like the ones that are mentioned above. Before you buy a training program or a product that would help your business, you should do your own research.