4 ms·

I'm glad the guy decided to tell his story. Most people are ashamed to admit that they fell victim to a hustler. They don't want to be seen as stupid, or get ri

by columbo 13y ago

I'm glad the guy decided to tell his story. Most people are ashamed to admit that they fell victim to a hustler. They don't want to be seen as stupid, or get ridiculed by others. About the same time (ten years ago) I went in for a job interview that turned out to be a hustle. They promised they were looking for programmers (really generic, like they didn't know what they were asking for). When I showed up at the door I was sent into a conference room where a guy was giving a presentation on a new buy-in-application that was "guaranteed" to make money. Everything about the room made it uncomfortable to say no; there was one door with a guy standing in front of it smiling, they would hand out papers and not ask but pleasantly direct you to fill out your information. I knew it was a scam, when I got up to leave in the middle of the presentation the guys running the show called me out; shaking their head in dismay and making comments as I left. Sort of a shaming ritual for me on my way out. There were maybe thirty other people in the room, one guy left when I did but the rest stayed, out of that group I'm sure a few probably bought into it just because they were unemployed, down on their luck and willing to try anything.

gojomo 13y ago
What do you mean by "buy-in-application"? (I'm guessing something where you had to pay up-front for the rights to market or customize something that might never make you enough money to pay the up-front fees... but more details to confirm the outlines of the scam would be helpful.)
- columbo 13y ago
  Thinking back to what I remember I _think_ it was like a content management system / pyramid scheme, similar to stuff like Avon. So you pay a monthly fee for this application then you need to find customers to use it, then you get a percentage back of the customers who are using it. This would explain why they were looking for technical people. So for $50 a month I'll give you drupal, then you sell it to clients, then I give you a percentage of each sale you make. There was something else about that that made it like a pyramid scheme though... like you had to get more people to sign up with them to try and sell it. I unfortunately don't remember all the details. Maybe I should have sat through the whole presentation! :)
saraid216 13y ago
What was the buy-in, may I ask? Did they ask you to "invest" in the company or something?
austenallred 13y ago
I ran into the same sort of scam back in the day. I was trying to get by as a content writer, and a guy called me up and said, "Look at my site, I think it needs some new content." He wasn't sure what he needed, and it was definitely poorly written, so I figured I could help out. He told me he wanted to meet me at his office at a local community college. Community colleges regularly have offices available for small start-ups, so no red flags had been raised yet. I showed up and there was apparently a conference going on. The guy said, "I just thought this was the best way for you to see what we do." Fair enough, I grabbed my nametag, sat down, and started taking notes. I was pretty down on my luck and cash at the time, so I wasn't really in a place to be asking too many questions; I would literally take any client I could get. The presentation was among the strangest things I've ever seen; a guy talking about how he got in at the ground floor and throwing $20 bills into the audience, showing pictures of his mansion and Lamborghini, full of lines like "fire your boss!" and implying that anyone who isn't rich has been duped and isn't as smart as those in the crowd obviously were. I can't remember what the company was, but it was something about a lawyer on demand; you pay in $40/month, and anytime you need an attorney you have one - like insurance but with lawyers. To be able to sign up you had to pay $250, then you got x% of everyone that signed up under you, x/2% of anyone that signed up under them, and some sort of commission for getting your friends and family to pay the $40/month: The classic multi-level marketing garbage where 99% of the presentation is about making money and 1% is about the product. There were people who had obviously been placed in the front row talking about how much money they had made, how they were here just a month ago and already had reached level X, and they would methodically nod their heads whenever the money-throwing guy talked. It was really slimy, and by this point I was just ready to get out of there. The guy brought over an application and said, "Alright, so for you to be a content writer legally we need you to be a part of this program, so you put up the $250 up front and then I'll pay it back once we've gotten our project going." He refused to spot the "membership fee" up front for me, so I left, though he even stood in front of my car to try not to get me to leave. I had almost forgotten about that.
- eggdude 13y ago
  Sounds like the company was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LegalShield http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LegalShield I remember going to one of those meetings as well.
yaliceme 13y ago
Couldn't agree more. My mom almost got taken in by a classic Craigslist scam, which did a lot to make me appreciate how easy it can be for even smart people to fall prey (she's an IT professional, has an advanced degree, and is quite smart in general). Basically, she'd listed some furniture for sale. A guy contacted her with praise for the item and said he was a purchaser for a regional furniture reseller -- he finds nice used furniture for them and gets a cut of what they pay to the original owner (e.g. my mom). The two of them agreed on a price (including his commission), then he mailed her a check from "his company" and asked her to wire him his cut. At the point I found out about this (it came up in passing completely by accident), she'd deposited the check and was planning to wire the money the next day. I told her it was a classic scam and to please not wire the money. She didn't believe me; she'd successfully sold furniture on craigslist before, the guy's e-mails sounded legit, and the bank seemed to have accepted the check just fine. I told her it takes a few days for the check to fail. She still thought it was fine, but for my sake, agreed to at least wait a few days. Sure enough, the check bounced. My mom described how masterfully the scammer worked upon her feelings in the meantime, asking where the money was, sounding hurt and angry that she was withholding his "cut" on purpose and trying to cheat him, saying he'd trusted her with the check because she seemed nice. Even with my dire warnings, she felt bad about waiting for the check to clear, but luckily she did.
- DanBC 13y ago
  > I told her it takes a few days for the check to fail. In the UK a cheque is never safe. The money could have been in your account for months, but if the bank discovers the cheque was forged they'll claw back the money.

by columbo 13y ago

gojomo 13y ago

What do you mean by "buy-in-application"? (I'm guessing something where you had to pay up-front for the rights to market or customize something that might never make you enough money to pay the up-front fees... but more details to confirm the outlines of the scam would be helpful.)

columbo 13y ago
Thinking back to what I remember I _think_ it was like a content management system / pyramid scheme, similar to stuff like Avon. So you pay a monthly fee for this application then you need to find customers to use it, then you get a percentage back of the customers who are using it. This would explain why they were looking for technical people. So for $50 a month I'll give you drupal, then you sell it to clients, then I give you a percentage of each sale you make. There was something else about that that made it like a pyramid scheme though... like you had to get more people to sign up with them to try and sell it. I unfortunately don't remember all the details. Maybe I should have sat through the whole presentation! :)

saraid216 13y ago

What was the buy-in, may I ask? Did they ask you to "invest" in the company or something?

austenallred 13y ago

I ran into the same sort of scam back in the day. I was trying to get by as a content writer, and a guy called me up and said, "Look at my site, I think it needs some new content." He wasn't sure what he needed, and it was definitely poorly written, so I figured I could help out. He told me he wanted to meet me at his office at a local community college. Community colleges regularly have offices available for small start-ups, so no red flags had been raised yet. I showed up and there was apparently a conference going on. The guy said, "I just thought this was the best way for you to see what we do." Fair enough, I grabbed my nametag, sat down, and started taking notes. I was pretty down on my luck and cash at the time, so I wasn't really in a place to be asking too many questions; I would literally take any client I could get. The presentation was among the strangest things I've ever seen; a guy talking about how he got in at the ground floor and throwing $20 bills into the audience, showing pictures of his mansion and Lamborghini, full of lines like "fire your boss!" and implying that anyone who isn't rich has been duped and isn't as smart as those in the crowd obviously were. I can't remember what the company was, but it was something about a lawyer on demand; you pay in $40/month, and anytime you need an attorney you have one - like insurance but with lawyers. To be able to sign up you had to pay $250, then you got x% of everyone that signed up under you, x/2% of anyone that signed up under them, and some sort of commission for getting your friends and family to pay the $40/month: The classic multi-level marketing garbage where 99% of the presentation is about making money and 1% is about the product. There were people who had obviously been placed in the front row talking about how much money they had made, how they were here just a month ago and already had reached level X, and they would methodically nod their heads whenever the money-throwing guy talked. It was really slimy, and by this point I was just ready to get out of there. The guy brought over an application and said, "Alright, so for you to be a content writer legally we need you to be a part of this program, so you put up the $250 up front and then I'll pay it back once we've gotten our project going." He refused to spot the "membership fee" up front for me, so I left, though he even stood in front of my car to try not to get me to leave. I had almost forgotten about that.

eggdude 13y ago
Sounds like the company was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LegalShield http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LegalShield I remember going to one of those meetings as well.

yaliceme 13y ago

Couldn't agree more. My mom almost got taken in by a classic Craigslist scam, which did a lot to make me appreciate how easy it can be for even smart people to fall prey (she's an IT professional, has an advanced degree, and is quite smart in general). Basically, she'd listed some furniture for sale. A guy contacted her with praise for the item and said he was a purchaser for a regional furniture reseller -- he finds nice used furniture for them and gets a cut of what they pay to the original owner (e.g. my mom). The two of them agreed on a price (including his commission), then he mailed her a check from "his company" and asked her to wire him his cut. At the point I found out about this (it came up in passing completely by accident), she'd deposited the check and was planning to wire the money the next day. I told her it was a classic scam and to please not wire the money. She didn't believe me; she'd successfully sold furniture on craigslist before, the guy's e-mails sounded legit, and the bank seemed to have accepted the check just fine. I told her it takes a few days for the check to fail. She still thought it was fine, but for my sake, agreed to at least wait a few days. Sure enough, the check bounced. My mom described how masterfully the scammer worked upon her feelings in the meantime, asking where the money was, sounding hurt and angry that she was withholding his "cut" on purpose and trying to cheat him, saying he'd trusted her with the check because she seemed nice. Even with my dire warnings, she felt bad about waiting for the check to clear, but luckily she did.

DanBC 13y ago
> I told her it takes a few days for the check to fail. In the UK a cheque is never safe. The money could have been in your account for months, but if the bank discovers the cheque was forged they'll claw back the money.