There are numerous Pay-To-Click Surfing/Advertising Programs that are being heavily promoted on the Internet. Some claim to be registered Offshore, and therefore not subject to the SEC Rules and Regulations, the FBI, or State Attorneys General Offices. If they are selling their program to U.S. Citizens, they are subject to the SEC, FBI and State Attorneys General Offices. Other programs are offering a return of 25%-50% above and beyond your initial advertising ad packs cost for surfing a set number of websites at 15 second intervals. Unless they have outside revenue streams that are verifiable for them to pay these rebates, they cannot sustain themselves as a viable business enterprise. See our information on ASD by clicking on our Alerts & Hot Topics link for a better understanding of these types of pay-to-click surfing/advertising programs.

Another illegal program that had made the rounds several years ago is now back, and that is the gifting programs. It makes no difference what you call them (a private club, 2-Up, charitable giving), they are illegal in every country in the world. Due to the eroding economy, people needing additional sources of income, reduced return on their investments, etc., gifting programs appear to be the magic pill that will cure your financial problems. They are especially being targeted in church groups and to the Christian Community. They claim to be a nonprofit gifting club, but they are not legal. As these clubs are exposed, all participants stand the real chance of being criminally prosecuted. Not too long ago, Women Helping Women was busted for being an illegal gifting program. Many of the women in that program were charged criminally and convicted of running an illegal pyramid gifting club. The Federal Trade Commission consumer warning "Gifting Club Gotcha", which includes the following quite important statement by the Feds: "Avoid being misled into thinking a gifting club is legitimate because the ads say that members consider their payments a gift and expect nothing in return. This is an attempt to make an illegal transaction look legal." For more information on Gifting Clubs/Programs see our expose on Gifting in our Alerts & Hot Topics section of our website.

Another area making the rounds again are investment programs that claim because they are offshore they are not subject to the U.S. SEC regulations and rules. As long as they do not solicit U.S. Citizens, and have a disclaimer on their website U.S. Citizens cannot participate, they are legal. BUT, if they actively solicit U.S. Citizens, or fail to have a notice on their website that states U.S. Citizens cannot participate, they are subject to the U.S. SEC regulations and rules. You can learn more about this in our Alerts & Hot Topics link on our website.

As of right now, there are at least 10, possibly more, that are known to exist of these programs. They vary in the amount of the fee charged for members, and the amount of the payout promised by the program. The formula for all these programs is this: For a low administrative fee ($30-$50), you will receive a huge payout ($50,000-$80,000). This administrative fee is not refundable if the program does not meet the required number of members qualifying. The premise is you will be allowing a trust to purchase a pension plan(s), usually they allow you to purchase more than one, in your name. They in turn will obtain a loan against the total amount of the policy that will allow them to pay you this huge return for you letting them use your name. Most tell you that they cannot reveal the name of the trust, insurance company or lending institution involved in the transaction as they want to remain below the radar of the regulatory agencies. They usually have one contact person, but this person can only be contacted via a free E-mail address; and no phone numbers, address or other means of contact are provided. Of course they assure you this is all legal, and they have plenty of people “vouching” for them being legitimate; but of course none have been known to have paid anyone. This is the basic outline of how these work, but each has their own little variation. When you actually do the math on these programs, it is very clear what they claim they will do cannot be done. Of course those who are “vouching” for the programs will say you don’t know the rest of the information, and thus anyone claiming the numbers don’t work can’t be telling the truth because they don’t have this “missing link.” Only the trust has this “magical missing link.” The fact is no-one knows the “missing link,” because there isn’t one. Based on our preliminary research, we believe none of them are legitimate, and are operating illegally. Some of the programs are now being investigated by various government regulatory agencies in several countries.

One of the biggest E-mail scams in the past few years, has been the Nigerian 419 E-mail scams. They derive their name from the penal section of Nigeria’s laws that prohibits this type of activity. For a brief period they seemed to have taken a hiatus; but they are now back with a vengeance. These E-mails take on 3 basic identities: TERMINAL ILLNESS; TRAGIC DEATH; and YOU’VE WON THE LOTTERY.

Another scam that is making a come-back is directed at those selling something on E-bay or any other auction site. They contact you telling you they will buy your article you have for sale. They then send you a check for more money than you were asking for the item you were selling. They tell you to refund them the difference, or tell you to wire it to their shipper for his handling fee for receiving the article and then shipping it to your buyer. Only problem is the check is fake. Of course you are to “wire” them the excess funds via Western Union. You take the check to the bank, and they clear it the next day to your account. You think the check is good, you wire the excess, and then weeks later you find out the check is fraudulent or comes back NSF. Technically you can be charged with a crime. You must report it immediately to your bank, local law enforcement agency, and file an online complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (http://www.ic3.gov/). Of course any money you have wired to the person designated, is long gone. You not only lose the money you wired, but you must make good on the bogus check to the bank. The only saving grace is that most of the time you have not sent them the article they “supposedly” bought. Still you have exposed yourself to being an accomplice in a fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and to potential identity theft. This is why you MUST file reports immediately to protect yourself, and watch your credit card statements to make sure unauthorized charges have not been made to your account.