Netidiot.com

Since some of my earlier postings here, there has been this spam e-mail sent out that is trying to encourage the reader to invest in an OTC stock. Ever since I took a course affiliated with Michael Parness, and read his book titled “Trend Trading to Win”, I have learned that many OTC stocks available are managed by people who are only looking to make a buck. They may even have ties to the mob. So an investment in one of these stocks is not a quality investment, unless you’re extremely sure about the company its for (i.e. you live next door to it, or have purchased its products and deal with them regularly).

So my advice is to ignore those stupid stock tips. These people are just trying to make a fast dollar off the unsuspecting public. Don’t open up one of those emails, then go into your Ameritrade account and start trading them. They may say that the stock is at a current price of 50 cents, and there’s a target price of $1 or more - this information isn’t coming from Forbes Magazine folks. Alot of these stock tips look like they were written by someone who barely knew English. Beware of these tips - they are nothing more than scams.

Just as the title says, there has been a definite increase of visitors to Netidiot.com, because people are investigating various business schemes on the Internet and looking them up. For all of you who are doing this, I am so proud of you all! I work for an IT department as their guru on all kinds of technology, and I often try to explain to my network users how important search engines are when trying to figure out if something they get in email is a hoax or an honest to goodness deal.

For example, one of my bosses this week got an email he was concerned about. It talked about a virus going around and how to fix it. It was something forwarded to him and one hundred other friends/acquaintances of the guy he got it from. Typically, when something is forwarded around like that, its a hoax. Sure enough, a search on the Internet revealed websites that had the same email, word for word, listed with an explaination that it was a hoax with instructions to mess up Windows 2000 (delete needed files… registry keys, etc.)

My wife, just before we got married, got an email once from one of them kind Nigerians who wanted to deposit some money into her bank account. It would have been nice if they could have bank rolled our wedding, especialy since she and I paid for everything! Over the phone, she told me about the email and I had her forward it to me, as I worked late at the office. I did a search on the first sentence of the email, and Viola! - I had found a letter that was almost exactly the same, with just a few name changes, on a website talking about Nigerian scam email.

Anyway, if you actively seek answers on the Internet about scams and schemes, give yourself a good pat on the back. Intelligence isn’t always measured in what you know readily, but in knowing where to find the information you need! I got really smart, after working for a library for 6 years. haha….. sigh… those were the days (18 years ago).

This site was inspired by all the posts about internet scams and schemes, one of which I may have fallen prey to - “the FREE items for signing up with various companies, offers”. I have had friends and family fall prey to even worse predicaments, such as the Nigerian scams.

The Internet is not a safe place to be. If you are a regular user of message boards or chat forums, you have to be on your guard against people who are trying to get your personal information to use your identity for their own evil purposes.

Please be careful out there on the Internet, and don’t trust anyone who is trying to get your personal information or solicits you to sell something using e-mail. You are better off purchasing something from the website of a company that also advertises on TV or prints a mail-order catalog, rather than a site that is only advertising by e-mail. As a general rule, I don’t do business with a company that I have never contacted before, who either calls me by phone or sends me an email - I would rather have them send their information via snail mail, so I can read it over and toss it out.

Here’s a sample phone call made to me from a company trying to sell “investing services”:

Caller: Hello, may I please speak with Jason… so and so?

Me: Who are you?

Caller: Is this Jason? We’re with such and such firm. How are you today?

Me: I am not at liberty to discuss with you how I am doing. Do I know you?

Caller: [shocked] You can’t discuss how you are doing?

Me: No. I do not know you. Did I call you? I think I’m going to have to end this call.

Caller: Wait - if you have just 2 minutes, I would like to discuss with you our investing services.

Me: This call is now ending….[click]

I hung up.

You don’t OWE these people who call you any information.. your name, how you are doing, what kind of computer you’re using… 9 times out of ten, these people are out to get your money - save yourself hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars and do not give these “wolves” the time of day!