🚀 go-pugleaf

products you buy more cheaply from the supermarket.  Thus,  in

the end,  you are your best customer in these programs,  and

you'll be losing more money than making it.  Of course

   your up-lines are going to try to convince you to stay,

because they're the ones who have only to gain by you staying on.





Mind you,  that's what happens for the "average" MLM worker.  I

have  heard stories of how others have been able to make as much

as $50,000 per year off of an MLM like AMWAY.  But those people

have quit their day jobs,  setup a regular office,  placed ads in

newspapers and magazines, etc.  They've gone all-out.  If you

think that an MLM is an easy way to make lots of money,  forget

it.  It's hard work,  just like starting any other business which

sells products.  If you've got an extraordinary product which

sells itself,  then you'll have yourself some earnings for a

while,  until that product becomes trite.  But if you just have a

bunch of high priced garbage,  then you'll find it very

difficult trying to sell them. There are also some

not-so-legitimate MLM's out there.  I think I heard that there

are about 2,000 new MLM's popping up every year.  But there

   are also perhaps 1999 old ones dying every year as well.  Be

warned of the following situation,  which is a REAL scam:

Someone approaches you about a great new MLM.  They say that

there is NO selling whatsoever in it!  They explain it to you.

You pay a monthly due of $10.  You find 10 other people to

"manage" under yourself,  each of them paying $10 monthly dues.

You encourage your down-lines to go out and do the same.

   You will make 20% commission on each of your down-line's

monthly dues. So if you have 10 down-lines, each paying $10/mo,

then you're making $10/mo. (subtracting out the $10 that you have

to pay in).  You will  also make a commission on each of their

down-line's monthly dues.  And so on... Eventually,  this pyramid

spreads out,  and you begin to see lots of money,  supposedly.

It seems like such an amazing deal that nobody would pass it up.

But the problems that occur are:  1) This is

   illegal in the U.S.  It's basically the same scam that was

revealed in "A",  above ("Make Money Fast" scam).  2)

Theoretically, the base of the pyramid becomes so broad that

there would be no more people remaining in the world to become

their down-lines,  so the largest part of the pyramid is paying

$10/mo and not getting anything in return.  Eventually,  the

   base of the pyramid falls out,  and so does the "new" base,

etc.  The  pyramid collapses,  and in the end,  the only ones

that have made any money are at the top. The rest of the people

have lost a considerable amount of money.  3) You have to sign up

at least 5 people or more to just break-even.  To be making much

more money, you need to have many others directly under you.

Most of the $10 dues goes to the guy in charge of the scam

directly,  without trickling upwards.  The rest of the people are

promised money,  but seldom receive any.  It's basically like

someone coming to you and saying,  "Give me $10/mo."



Annotated Bibliography of Internet Scam Information

===================================================



The following is a list of scam-related information available on

the net via WWW, gopher, FTP, email, etc.  Currently,  it's a

small list, but will grow in the future:



* The U.S. Postal Service's web site on consumer fraud:

  http://www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect/consmenu.htm

  This web site came as a pleasant surprise.  It contains a

wealth of  information on such topics as mail fraud,  MLM/Pyramid

schemes, work-at-home scams, etc.  It contains links to other web

sites that have more information.  It's definitely a MUST for

further reading. They backed-up everything I said in this report,

hitting most of  the major points that I did.



* The National Fraud Information Center:

  http://www.seamless.com/talf/ftc/ftc.html

  This web site provides information on many specific scams or

categories  of scams.  If you think that someone's selling you a

scam,  first  check here.  For example,  if you're thinking about

joining a  truck driving school,  they have an article about it

which explains what you should watch out for.





Closing Remarks

===============



Finally,  if you KNOW that someone is posting a scam,  send an

email message to their system administrator to get their accounts

deleted.  They have no business being on the net,  and it's your

right,  as a citizen of "the net",  to get rid of them.  For

example,  if the guy's address is "user21@bovine.moo.com", then

you should send a message to "root@bovine.moo.com" and

"postmaster@bovine.moo.com",  as well as "root@moo.com" and

"postmaster@moo.com".  This way, you are ensured that

your email message will go through.  "root" is a special username

on most systems meaning, "system administrator".  And

"postmaster" is the person who is in charge of netnews postings.



If you see a scam posted to a newsgroup,  simply write a

follow-up letter to the article,  and insert the sentence, "This

is a SCAM!"  That's all you have to do.  It takes no more than 20

seconds of your time.  WARNING!!  If you do something like this,

you must prepare yourself for retaliation! If you have any

personal information available on the net,  remove it.

If your ".plan" or ".signature" file reveals information about

your real identity,  where you live,  your phone #, etc.,  then

you might want to remove it temporarily.  You wouldn't want a

crazy scam-artist to  get a hold of your home address or phone #.





I hope this file has helped... If you want to ask me any specific



questions,  I'm here.  Fire away!



Ciao for now,

 - Steve Weigand

   (weigand@marlin.ssnet.com)



END OF FILE