Monday, August 21, 2006

Scams - I wanted to make fast money...

Today I want to share with you how I messed up. I thought to myself "I would like to make money on the internet". But, my funds to start off with are very limited. I shopped around alot before I decided to actually purchase something.
So, here I thought I was being so careful and not buying right away. I surfed around; I read this and that. I looked into legitimate sites like Derek Gehl and Corey Rudl's Internet Marketing Center, The Rich Jerk and many more.
I was busy being careful and didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars so I waited...
One fine day I was surfing around and I came across a site which looked like a legit site which gave reviews to different marketing gurus and various online and offline marketing programs. The site looked so real!!! Here is the url if you want to look at it: http://www.alwaysreview.com/internetgurus.htm . Here's a different url with the same junk: http://www.reviewguruonline.com/. There were many pages and on each page there was a review of a different guru or program. At the bottom of the review there was this little box which said something like "Click here to see how I made my money". I was a bit suspicious about why this supposedly objective review advertised a certain program on every page, but somehow, when I read the sales letter that clicking there brought me to, and I saw that I would get an ebook for the measly price of $20 I was tempted. This guy promised to reveal all the inside secrets blah, blah, blah and I guess, the copy was good.
So, I bought it. By the way, the book was written by one Jason Ryan Isaksen. As soon as I started to read it - UH OH. The entire first chapter was devoted to telling me about his lavish lifestyle and how wonderful it is to work from his home. He described his and his wife's fancy clothes and cars but said that they stopped flaunting their money because people would come up to them for handouts. Double UH OH. From within his book he tries to recruit people into the affiliate program that he is with (without explaining too much about it). He also brings you to a site where you can get your own piece of software which becomes yours to sell. The problem is that this is "snoopware" - something you install on your computer to spy on which sites your family members visit. To make a very long story short, I don't think this guy gave me any new or interesting information except to say that content on your site if very important (duh). Then, he said if you really want his secrets you have to purchase one of his courses (I believe costing either $200 or $600 - really).
I felt conned, scammed and humiliated that I actually paid money for this book.
I wrote back to Jason and asked for a refund (I can't remember if he promised one or not, but everyone else does) very respectfully. He didn't even bother answering me.
And more than this, I found a few more "review" sites about gurus etc. which all had a different look but had THE EXACT SAME TEXT as the site I originally found. Boy, did I feel like a dummy. I was also extremely disillusioned to realize that you can't really trust anything that you read on the internet. People can show you proofs of how much money they made, pictures of their luxury houses and cars but you can't really believe any of it.
Recently, I read somewhere that the Rich Jerk encourages his students to make up fake review sites where they promote the product that they are currently selling. Yuck. Some people are willing to make their money in a totally unethical fashion.
Not for me, thank you.
I hope I can save some of you out there $20 and some heartache.
If anyone knows of any similar scams I would be happy to receive information that I can pass on to others!!!
Till next time...
Dena

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Dena! I too am a newbie when it comes to this internet marketing thing and I also came across the very two sites you mentioned. Like you, I was suspicious. Thanks for making the sacrifice and buying the book. It appears that Jason Ryan Isaksen is one of the scammers who gives everyone else a bad name. Also like you I've purchased Holly Mann's book as well as Rosalind Gardner's. I haven't read the latter one yet but it's supposed to be as good as Holly's. Good luck with all this!

Dena Gottlieb said...

Thanks Cathie.
I didn't buy the book to make the "sacrifice". I bought it cause I was dumb, dumb, dumb and not careful enough. Oh well, at least it was only $20 down the drain and not $50!!!!
Please come back and tell us how you like Rosalind Gardner's book!!!

Anonymous said...

LOL, if I got a dollar for every hyped up ebook on Internet marketing I bought, I'd have at least $20 extra now ;).

And that's not including all the "Guru" interviews and stuff (read: all promotions for their products...)

Yeah, those were the days and they are over. All I want to say is that you were NOT dumb as you mention in your response to Cathie's comment. You were just a pure and trusting human being and you still are.

People make mistakes, it's only natural. Congrats on the sale (I came here through a thread on WF. I was curious :-) ).

Have a wonderful week and I hope you make millions in the future.

Take care.

Anonymous said...

I am a full time housewife and my husband has just lost his business. We are so deep in debt we are close to drowning. I have just spend my last dollars purchasing 3 online stores from www.storesonlinepro.com Cost about RM 3500 whats that in USD? about 1000 USD. Yes that was 3 months ago. They came over to Malaysia and held a suave preview on making fortunes on the internet easily with the help of their website building software plus internet marketing know how packaged together, which also includes credit cards processor. Wether i was duped or not well am not really sure but one thing for sure is that i am still strugling to build my online store and its not as easy as they made it sound. If i need them to coach me further or let them build my store i have to pay them for these extra services and its not cheap! I am desperate and i am in the verge of breaking down...if any of you have been to Derk Gehl's workshop or purchased any of his products please share with me your honest experience and i would really aprreciate your propmt advice before i decide to swipe away my last 800 USD on my credit card in 2 hours!! I am about to attend their 4 hour jump start on "The Ultimate Internet Entrepreneur Bootcamp Workshop". Everything they promise is on his website www.asiamarketingtips.com I am still contemplating if i should take a chance on this one. 800 USD (credit card money) is alot to take a chance on something i am not sure would earn me money within a month. Derek and team sounds super convincing. I am taken with their sales pitch but a big part of me is also warning me about buying into their sales pitch. Every internet marketeers seems to sing the same tune. Please help me...i would appreciate your honest opinion on Derek Gehl's workshop and from anyone who has dealt with www.asiamarketingtips.com Thanks so much!

Dena Gottlieb said...

Listen, Arisa, I don't have experience with Derek Gehl, but Roger Zimmerman from www.pickaguru.com is a very reliable authority in my eyes and he says that Derek Gehl's book is a "must have".
I'm sorry about your bad experiences but I think that you can't go wrong with the Inernet Marketing Center. I myself have become an affiliate for them but I haven't bought the basic marketing course yet. I plan to.
Here's a way to get it cheaper: sign up as an affiliate and then when you buy it through your own link you get back $65. So the whole thing will only cost you $132 instead of $197.
I wish you the best of luck and please stop buy and tell us how it goes.
Dena

Anonymous said...

I bought Derek Gehl's 'Insider Secrets' after doing much research and yes, IT'S GOOD! And I haven't even finished the first volume! First, it's no hold barred. And second, it's an A-Z, well-structured course material that gives you a solid foundation on what works and what doesn't work on the Internet. The course literally hold your hand step-by-step, just like how your parent's would when you were a toddler learning how to walk. Remember the age old saying, "Learn to walk before you run?". Lots of get rich book out there isn't bad, it's simply a fast track manual which doesn't suit the masses. Rich Jerk's manual got lots of good ideas...then again, the idea are widely available and many get rich book are simply reparaprhase of one another. And, how do you actually implement it if one doesn't even have the basic of how an online site is setup? Don't believe, buy it and you'll agree. If you really want to have a solid foundation, learn from the best. And Derek's Insider Secrets is one of them. If you have USD200 to spend, spend it on quality education the course provides. Thereafter, think about how to get rich. Starting a business, to me, is like learning a language. You've got to learn the ABCs before you can piece together the characters and form and understand the words and sentences. I'm into my third day of receiving the Insider Secrets and I've learnt TONS OF INFORMATION....the package materials are huge and plenty. Franking speaking, serious people should just cut the generic, mass ebook crap and go for the real stuffs.

Bob said...

How many popups can your website serve before you piss someone off? I got one and closed it. Then another. And another. They kept popping up so fast, there was no way to actually read your post. I persisted, but alas, you don't have a single paragraph return, so reading your blog was a real chore.