When you figure there are at least 55,000k people per week searching out a way to create income online, there’s little wonder there’s also a scammer around every corner ready to "HYPE" you into believing that the internet is an INSTANT CASH machine, your PRIVATE ATM.
Take, for instance, segments of this ad copy a spammer sent me:
Pay-8-Forward
You can Turn as little as $8 into $32,000+ FAST!!
You can buy your Financial Freedom for $20
I will pay YOU to be RICH!
The KEY is Simple. Use the PIF – Pay It Forward plan to GIVE
it Away FREE to 4 People who are Excited to Make BIG $$$ MONEY $$$!!!
This sounds almost like the illegal Aussie 2 up I was in- I Give Away Money where I joined for free and then paid other people’s way into the program. It wasn’t too long after I joined, sucker paid two other people in, that the owner, Dave Gray, shut it down (it had hit the FTC radar). When it came back, it was OBA/ Online Business Alliance and a bit more on the legit side selling an ebook, digital products and ad space instead of just passing money around from member to member.
Back to Pay-8-Forward. So you pay your $8.00, which turns out to be $20 and think, ‘hey, if it’s a scam, I only lost $20.00". As with most of these type affiliate programs, there are usually more and more programs you’re encouraged to join to ‘increase your odds’ of becoming as RICH as you thought you would. It’s not exactly bait and switch, more ‘suck you in and then keeping sucking for as much as you are willing to spend’.
As noted in the "Terms" (which hardly anyone reads anyway, besides the fact that it states there is a continued $8.00 monthly fee… )
18. Tax. You, the member, are responsible for any and all taxes payable in you resident domicile or jurisdiction, for any income you receive either from Pay8Forward.com or any program promoted via the Pay8Forward.com program.
Most people would read that and think it makes perfect sense, I am responsible for the taxes on earned income. WHAT people gloss over is the the part "any program promoted via the Pay8Forward.com program. " It’s obvious that a host of other affiliate program offerings are just ahead and more than likely they all funnel back to the owner since he is probably the one in control of the autoresponder emails from admin that are going to start pouring in after you sign up.
When you are looking at these type programs, look for a couple of things.
1. No Phone number? RUN
2. Can only pay through Alert Pay – RUN
3. All talk about what you will earn by bringing others in and little to no talk about any actual "Product" or how to sell that Product- RUN-RUN-RUN
4. The cheesier the sight (people flashing money, fancy cars, pictures of sexy people on a beach, etc.. the bigger the chance you’re headed down the wrong road.
5. The Internet is NOT some miracle place where things happen any differently than they would in the real world…. for instance – How many offline businesses PAY YOU to get RICH? NONE -
Most people do not realize you can’t make being paid on memberships the primary way to earn income in any income opportunity which is the primary ‘come on and try it’ focus on the pay8forward site. Yes, There are ‘products’, evidently they are digital which probably means you have re-sell rights; however think about this… you do not OWN those products and if the site goes belly up… there go your products too.
It appears that "Sherm Mason" is the creator of Pay8forward.com and that it was only created on April 25, 2010. Sherm is also the creator of 98kcashbailout.com, another pay-it-forward affiliate program, which he created February 2009, another site called blisshappenzzz.com back in 2006 which was updated August 2009….. and a host of other sites tha he either owns or has his fingers in….. like "the secret pays’, ‘cruise to cash’, many of which use the "Law of Attraction" as hype.
Yes, it does take money to make money in a business.
Yes, many people are without a job.
Yes, there are legitimate home based businesses.
I am not saying Pay8Forward is a scam. I am not saying Sherm Mason is a scammer either. He claims to have over 10 years of internet marketing experience and claims to have been at the top of many programs, illegal gifting programs, other Aussie up programs ….
But please do not think a simple $8 or $20 investment is going to make you RICH FAST ! Your chances of that are probably as great as buying the winning lottery ticket. In most cases of these online ‘get rich quick’ schemes, IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE – 99.9999999% of the time, it is. Is this one the .00000001% one that is the LUCKY ONE? I’m not seeing it that way. What I see is a remake of a remake of remake of a remake of a remake.
~Jennifer Fisher
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October 11th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
You know when you are knocking some body elses idea and product
you should at least have the facts straight couple simple things
you might think about is he does have his name and telephone number
listed and another simple fact is the eight bucks is paid quarterly
not monthly and if every body promotes and sponsors four people it doesn’t take long before it doubles and triples use your imagination
1x4x8x16x32x64x128 etc.you can see where it could be possible,but you
have to each sponsor at least four people. and Alert pay is a secure banking sight and why would he run out on any body being he is trying to gain the trust of people, and what the heck its only$2.00 for the first quarter bill kreft
October 13th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Hello Bill,
Thank you for dropping. You’ve made some interesting points; however,
after reviewing the site again… I noticed there had been changes since my first visit… but STILL no phone number. Perhaps that is on the backside AFTER you join.
Whether it is now $2.00 a month or nothing a month is really not the biggest issue here… as you said.. “what the heck its only$2.00 for the first quarter” …. that’s the first quarter- Bill.
There seem to be a lot of facts that you did not go into in your comment Bill…
I’ve been down the road you are obviously on. These type programs are what I call ‘sucker’ programs. You get sucked into the cheap one first, get all excited, hyped up by the emails encouraging you to join this one, that one… next thing you know, you’ve been ‘sucked’ into a financial hole…
But, again, as you said….. “what the heck its only$2.00 for the first quarter”
Best wishes to you Bill,
~Jennifer Fisher