Netidiot.com

3/14/2005

Feds More Proactive Against Phishers In 2004

Filed under: Internet Schemes and Scams — site admin @ 12:56 pm

I was reading an article of eWeek Magazine in which they said that the US Federal government was taking action against phishers (try to get people to give them their credit card information, while posing as a bank, or eBay, etc. by sending an email posing as that company).

In general, people feel foolish when they fall for such scams - half of them may not ever get reported. Some simple tips will help you from EVER becoming a victim of a spammer who wants your identity and information:

1) Do not ever respond to a company’s request to give them private information using the Internet - especially a bank. Call them on the phone - no matter WHO it is… DO NOT TRUST THAT WEB ADDRESS LINK IS REALLY GOING TO THAT COMPANY. If you have been trusting these, think twice about it from now on.

2) If you are dealing with a company that doesn’t have a phone number - stop dealing with them. Only deal with companies that have phones that they answer, and addresses you can actually visit.

2/2/2005

New Company: Incentive Distribution Warehouse

Filed under: Internet Schemes and Scams — site admin @ 9:53 am

Just when I was getting bored with the company names of RetailReportCard, Freeslide, and ProductTestPanel, our friends at 3830 Forest Drive (who just happened to list their 5 Lake Carolina Way Suite 260 Columbia, SC 29229 address in the same email, this time, for unsubscribing… I KNEW IT.. they’re related addresses! I just knew it! :) ), have a new company started up - the “Incentive Distribution Warehouse“. That’s a pretty cool name! And the first email I received from them was for a free Leatherman knife - a $30 value… I guess I may not get the plasma TV for awhile from ProductTestPanel, so maybe the Leatherman will hold me over until the TV, and the Canon Rebel digital camera gets here. I can’t wait! I’m psyched!

1/22/2005

Internet Users Are Using Search Engines To Investigate Schemes

Filed under: About The Author — site admin @ 7:56 pm

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).

1/21/2005

Vertical Skip Marketing - A Followup

Filed under: Internet Schemes and Scams — site admin @ 7:37 pm

I just got an email from the “Vertical Skip Marketing Team”

From: Vertical Skip Marketing Team
To: [Author of this Website]
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 2:30 PM
Subject: Give Me a (Tax) Break - [Author of this Website's FIRSTNAME..sweet]

Hello [FIRSTNAME AGAIN....wow, they remembered me! I'm flattered],
As if we havent given you enough reasons to become a part of the Vertical Skip Marketing System, heres another one — TAXES!

Here are some of the tax advantages for actively building your business with the Vertical Skip Marketing System.

Personal expenses can become wholly or partially deductible: even your home or apartment, car, computer, meals, education, and entertainment.

Amounts you pay for your Vertical Skip Marketing System Membership and the cost to purchase qualified leads or other advertising are 100% deductible. In fact, purchasing leads proves you are actively trying to build your business - a key factor the IRS looks at in determining deductibility.

You can put family members on the payroll and pay them wages. This lets you shift income to relatives in lower tax brackets. The result: you reduce your family’s overall tax bill.

Travel and vacations can qualify in whole or in part as deductible business expenses. For example, attending a business meeting in Los Angeles can be written off, even if you make a nondeductible side trip to Palm Springs.

By taking advantage of these deductions, you can actually earn less than you did working for someone else and still come out ahead after taxes.

Take it from me, when you see your first tax return as a business owner, you’ll know becoming a Member of the Vertical Skip Marketing System was the best tax-saving move you ever made.

Click on the link below now to review the information, set up an appointment with me and then upgrade to Team Member, and start saving taxes today!

P.S. I am sure you dont want to be the last person to hear about Vertical Skip Marketing a few years from now!

I replied back and said, “No thanks, I’ll put my money into my own Vertical Skip Marketing scheme and deduct the expenses, before I ever sign up with yours.” (Of course I won’t ever start one of these schemes! )

See how they try to WORK people? They want your money… They’re telling you by joining them, you’re essentially running a home business where your expenses are tax deductible - the more you spend to BUY leads (notice the word above…. BUY), the more you can deduct.

The lady that sent me that email probably did not get my email address for free. The poor gal had to pay for it. I guess I should have said, “Oh, don’t forget to deduct your loss on this bad lead.” naw… that’s mean!

Anyways, save your money - these schemes are just too expensive and you end up having to spend a lot of money and work hard scamming people into the same system you get yourself stuck in. I would bet a majority of people pay the money for a few leads and give up… Who’s ahead? The top people of the Vertical Skip Marketing group - those who paid the most money to get to the top (or even the middle) so they wouldn’t have to work so hard and pay as much money over the years, as someone with not as much money to blow on their position.

If you’re in one of these schemes, and haven’t spent more than a thousand dollars or so, get out now while you still can! Don’t let them keep playing on your fears of “If you don’t keep buying leads/position, you’ll miss out on a great opportunity!” I would rather say that if you don’t stop now, you’ll miss out on an opportunity to save your family fortune.

1/13/2005

Veritical Skip Marketing Schemes

Filed under: Internet Schemes and Scams — site admin @ 2:42 am

Okay, I just ran into something called “Vertical Skip Marketing”. As I listened to their speal about it and how a former International executive of a major company joined them, along with some others, (I’m giving no names here), I did some searching in Google about it. I found one guy out there saying that its about a scheme in which you initially pay $39 or $99, and as they pitch it to you, they play on your fears… the fear of loss, or the fear of “what if I don’t do this, and this could be the ship that came in?!”. The whole idea of Vertical Skip Marketing revolves around this. They say its a new concept, but its not. I’ve seen this exact sort of marketing going on, to recruit people into these MLM’s, by asking for more and more money from their initial recruits in order for them to get higher placement and ranking in the pyramid.

Save yourself some money, and avoid these types of schemes - unless you’re the type who likes to scare people into thinking, “oh no, I better spend this $99 today or else I’ll lose my chance to make $1 million”….. The people who left their jobs to join this scheme already had millions of dollars and probably have no quams about taking advantage of the little guy. Don’t be a NetIdiot - beware of these types of programs.
Study up on the stock market instead - your chances to make money in stocks are alot better.

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