Spotting make money online scams

You have to watch out for scams across many different industries, but especially the online money making industry.

This tutorial will help you figure out how to spot the scams.

Intuition

If you have a strong feeling that an online money making product is a scam just by looking at it or reading a few sentences about it then it probably is. Listen to your gut reaction, it's usually correct.

Research

If you have no particular intuition about a certain online money making product then the next best thing is to do some research.

Google it

Take the name of the product, put it into google (or any other search engine), and see what people are saying. If there are at least five different pages saying it's a scam then it probably is.

WhoIs

WhoIs is a protocol for finding out information about domain names such as who registered the name. Do a WhoIS search on the domain name where the product is sold by going to www.whois.net and putting in the domain name.

The domain name could be registered to an individual or a company. If it's a company, find out more about it through a search engine. If some pages with complaints about the company come up, it's a bad sign.

Specific sites

There are specific sites that contain complaints about scammers and tricksters as well as sites that simply contain feedback on companies and products (both good and bad). Visit these sites, do a search for the product or the company that sells it and see what comes up.

BBB logo

Sometimes a good indicator that a company is honest and will not scam you is if they have the BBB logo on their website. BBB stands for Better Business Bureau and it is an organization that tries to ensure honest business practice. As their website puts it their vision is "An ethical marketplace where buyers and sellers can trust each other." Go to BBB website

If a company has the BBB logo on their website it does not mean for sure that they are honest and will not scam you. You can investigate further by clicking on the BBB logo on a company's website when you see it. You will get the BBB's page for that company where you will be able to see their rating, business contact & profile, customer complaints, and more. This is much better than simply going to a company's website, seeing the BBB logo and thinking all is good.

You can actually file a complaint at the BBB as well.

How they sell it

Watch how they sell the product. Look out for these warning signs:

Sales tactics too aggressive
Usually, the more aggressive the sales tactic the less you need the product and the more likely it is a scam. Do they try to sell you one thing and then promote another and then another and then another all as part of some great package? Do they email or call you every day? Do they tell you that if you don't buy their product you will be missing out on some incredible opportunity of a lifetime? Watch out for things like this.
Logical fallacies
A logical fallacy is basically an error in logic. Example: a company claims that their product must be good since thousands of people are buying it. But just because something is popular, it does not necessarily mean it's good or true. Some companies will try to use tricks like this.

Money back guarantee

Alot of make money online products have a money back guarantee. If you are not sure if a product is a scam, you can try it out and see how it goes. Buy the product, start working with it immediately (and keep working continuously), keep track of how long it's been since you bought it.

Wait until a few days before the money back guarantee expires and see how you feel about the product then. If you're not seeing any results/still think it's a scam/not living up to its promises then return it for a full refund.