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Wow cannot thank these guys enough. Every scam that is serious about making money has SEO-carpet bombed Google to death, making any serious search for the truth

by Top19 9y ago

Wow cannot thank these guys enough. Every scam that is serious about making money has SEO-carpet bombed Google to death, making any serious search for the truth impossible (unless you’re one of those people who always knows to go to the 7th page of search results). Also here’s a pro-tip. If you’re searching for something and a bunch of Youtube videos says “Is XYZ a scam??”, the answer is “absolutely yes”. Those videos pretend to be honest reviews that wind up finding out that “surprisingly, it’s not a scam and looks pretty good”, but it’s all a lie. Other scams, usually by virtue of providing a 100% incentive based compensation structure: - Selling mattresses - Real Estate sales or seminars of any kind to someone inexperienced - MLM or Pyramid Schemes - Typically anything that advocates obscene amounts of positive psychology and a scientology like version of a Christianity - Insurance sales - Selling internet services for a company like CBeyond - Any college of any-kind that makes a profit short of coding boot camps (and they’ll probably turn into a scam within a few years which is sad)

KGIII 9y ago
Wait, what? Mattresses? I am confused and, I confess, Google is not exactly helpful - like you suggested. I don't think I've ever been scammed when buying a mattress? I don't think anyone has even tried to scam me while buying a mattress. Then again, those two traits would make for a good scam.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  They aren't really a scam as such, the margins are just ridiculously high. And there is stuff like no 2 stores having the same mattress, so you can't comparison shop.
  - KGIII 9y ago
    Ah, thanks. I don't really shop or compare prices, but just get what suits my needs. I've been happy with the results and costs, so I was unsure of where the scam was.
  - joshmn 9y ago
    You only buy so many mattresses in your lifetime, and they take up a ton of space. Of course their margins are high.
- praptak 9y ago
  The author wasn't very clear on this one. It's not that mattresses in general are a scam, but the internet offers to make a fortune selling them.
- anonymous5133 9y ago
  The scam is in the "100% your money back if you find a lower price" Each mattress is a different version because they use different color thread. Everything else is exactly the same as the competition.
- wkrause 9y ago
  Mattress companies provide some of the highest payouts through affiliate marketing. As a result, there are many more bogus reviews for that product category than most high ticket items like good sound systems or cars.
leggomylibro 9y ago
>Any college of any-kind that makes a profit short of coding boot camps (and they’ll probably turn into a scam within a few years which is sad) You definitely lost me there - while there are scam schools and the cost of reputable private colleges has ballooned from expensive through unacceptable into stratospheric, higher education remains one of the best investments a person can make in themselves. Yes, vocational training like coding bootcamps or other trade schools can be a way better path for a lot of people. And yes, the sort of bootcamp that charges 5 figures to teach you the javascript framework du jour is probably not worth what it charges. But a lot of bootcamps these days are partnering with large companies to learn what sort of skills are needed and going with income-based payment, something like X% of your income above $N for Y months expiring in Z years. I wouldn't write them off.
- Top19 9y ago
  To clarify I didn’t mean private colleges like Swarthmore, Westminster, or Rice. Schools like Kaplan, ITT, Cordon Bleu. Also I have no problems with coding bootcamps. But the schools I mentioned above, whose avarice I feel like knows no limits, will eventually discover “coding bootcamps” and make them into a brutal profit extraction machine with laughable education value. But again, that in no way has happened yet.
  - rpeden 9y ago
    Kaplan did buy Dev Bootcamp a few years ago. I noticed that mentioned quite often in the articles that came out in July about Dev Bootcamp shutting down. I don't know anything about how Kaplan's ownership affected it though, either positively or negatively. Apollo Education (which owns the University of Phoenix) acquired The Iron Yard bootcamp in 2015, and it is shutting down as now as well. So in these cases at least, some of the large for-profit education providers don't seem to have found dev bootcamps (in their current form, anyway) to be very lucrative.
- lithos 9y ago
  For colleges I personally recommend "If they are going to you with advertising, they aren't good enough to be known by you or employers".
Animats 9y ago
- Binary options - much foreign exchange trading (FOREX). (Huge racket. In many cases, you're not really buying options; you're betting against the house, which is a bucket shop. The house cheats, and won't pay up if they lose. 40% of Israel's financial sector is this stuff.[1]) [1] https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-wolves-of-tel-aviv-israels-vast-amoral-binary-options-scam-exposed/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-wolves-of-tel-aviv-israels...
Trundle 9y ago
If you're including mattresses, insurance, and real estate, I can't help but to think your definition of 'scam' is 'thing I don't like'.
- raverbashing 9y ago
  That's not what he's saying Insurance and mattresses salesman did not get to that position by signing up to some online "course" where they were promised "unlimited returns" Walking up to your local mattress shop and handing your CV has a much higher chance of you getting an actual job doing that
evandijk70 9y ago
I just tried googling for: Is the stock market a scam? And the first hit is a youtube video of someone explaining that it's not a scam. If we agree that the stock market isn't a scam, that's at least a false positive for your test..
- amigoingtodie 9y ago
  You found a video review of the stock market?
  - thesmallestcat 9y ago
    Unboxing NASDAQ
- zaksoup 9y ago
  Uh... do we all agree that the stock market isn't a scam?
JoshMnem 9y ago
> short of coding boot camps (and they’ll probably turn into a scam within a few years which is sad) Some of them are pretty close, if not there already -- not always intentionally though.

by Top19 9y ago

KGIII 9y ago

Wait, what? Mattresses? I am confused and, I confess, Google is not exactly helpful - like you suggested. I don't think I've ever been scammed when buying a mattress? I don't think anyone has even tried to scam me while buying a mattress. Then again, those two traits would make for a good scam.

maxerickson 9y ago
They aren't really a scam as such, the margins are just ridiculously high. And there is stuff like no 2 stores having the same mattress, so you can't comparison shop.
- KGIII 9y ago
  Ah, thanks. I don't really shop or compare prices, but just get what suits my needs. I've been happy with the results and costs, so I was unsure of where the scam was.
- joshmn 9y ago
  You only buy so many mattresses in your lifetime, and they take up a ton of space. Of course their margins are high.
praptak 9y ago
The author wasn't very clear on this one. It's not that mattresses in general are a scam, but the internet offers to make a fortune selling them.
anonymous5133 9y ago
The scam is in the "100% your money back if you find a lower price" Each mattress is a different version because they use different color thread. Everything else is exactly the same as the competition.
wkrause 9y ago
Mattress companies provide some of the highest payouts through affiliate marketing. As a result, there are many more bogus reviews for that product category than most high ticket items like good sound systems or cars.

leggomylibro 9y ago

>Any college of any-kind that makes a profit short of coding boot camps (and they’ll probably turn into a scam within a few years which is sad) You definitely lost me there - while there are scam schools and the cost of reputable private colleges has ballooned from expensive through unacceptable into stratospheric, higher education remains one of the best investments a person can make in themselves. Yes, vocational training like coding bootcamps or other trade schools can be a way better path for a lot of people. And yes, the sort of bootcamp that charges 5 figures to teach you the javascript framework du jour is probably not worth what it charges. But a lot of bootcamps these days are partnering with large companies to learn what sort of skills are needed and going with income-based payment, something like X% of your income above $N for Y months expiring in Z years. I wouldn't write them off.

Top19 9y ago
To clarify I didn’t mean private colleges like Swarthmore, Westminster, or Rice. Schools like Kaplan, ITT, Cordon Bleu. Also I have no problems with coding bootcamps. But the schools I mentioned above, whose avarice I feel like knows no limits, will eventually discover “coding bootcamps” and make them into a brutal profit extraction machine with laughable education value. But again, that in no way has happened yet.
- rpeden 9y ago
  Kaplan did buy Dev Bootcamp a few years ago. I noticed that mentioned quite often in the articles that came out in July about Dev Bootcamp shutting down. I don't know anything about how Kaplan's ownership affected it though, either positively or negatively. Apollo Education (which owns the University of Phoenix) acquired The Iron Yard bootcamp in 2015, and it is shutting down as now as well. So in these cases at least, some of the large for-profit education providers don't seem to have found dev bootcamps (in their current form, anyway) to be very lucrative.
lithos 9y ago
For colleges I personally recommend "If they are going to you with advertising, they aren't good enough to be known by you or employers".

Animats 9y ago

- Binary options - much foreign exchange trading (FOREX). (Huge racket. In many cases, you're not really buying options; you're betting against the house, which is a bucket shop. The house cheats, and won't pay up if they lose. 40% of Israel's financial sector is this stuff.[1]) [1] https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-wolves-of-tel-aviv-israels-vast-amoral-binary-options-scam-exposed/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-wolves-of-tel-aviv-israels...

Trundle 9y ago

If you're including mattresses, insurance, and real estate, I can't help but to think your definition of 'scam' is 'thing I don't like'.

raverbashing 9y ago
That's not what he's saying Insurance and mattresses salesman did not get to that position by signing up to some online "course" where they were promised "unlimited returns" Walking up to your local mattress shop and handing your CV has a much higher chance of you getting an actual job doing that

evandijk70 9y ago

I just tried googling for: Is the stock market a scam? And the first hit is a youtube video of someone explaining that it's not a scam. If we agree that the stock market isn't a scam, that's at least a false positive for your test..

amigoingtodie 9y ago
You found a video review of the stock market?
- thesmallestcat 9y ago
  Unboxing NASDAQ
zaksoup 9y ago
Uh... do we all agree that the stock market isn't a scam?

JoshMnem 9y ago

> short of coding boot camps (and they’ll probably turn into a scam within a few years which is sad) Some of them are pretty close, if not there already -- not always intentionally though.