11 Ways On How To Avoid Scams Online: Don’t Lose $15K Like My Reader Did

Yes, you read that right, I’m writing this post about 11 ways on how to avoid scams online so you don’t also lose $15,000+ like my reader did!

Could you imagine spending all that money and not making any?

Recently one of my readers shared her personal story with me on how she lost $15,000+ in 7 years of trying to make money online with this product and that product, all promising her more money in less time.

Here’s her full comment and if you click on it, it will take you to the actual post she commented this on:

 

That’s what a lot of internet marketing products make you do, spend money, and they will try their hardest to get as much out of you as possible.

If you’re not careful, you will fall into the trap of this money pit of scams on the internet.

Even if some are not scams, they will have you pay for things that are ridiculously expensive to get you to the “next level” of earnings or the “right” to sell it.

I will go into greater details below the ways on how to avoid scams online.

Before I do that, I want to go through Olga’s great advice to my readers.

 

 

OLGA’S ADVICE

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Like Olga, I’ve also been around the block a few times when it comes to spending on internet marketing products that got me nowhere, but I just didn’t lose as much money as Olga did, thank goodness.

But her advice at the end about sticking to one program and how she would “join Wealthy Affiliate“ if she was to start all over again, is real testament on how sound and awesome the Wealthy Affiliate training program is.

She also advises not to keep trying the next new thing that comes out on the market, because you will lose more time and more money when you should be keeping on course of one path – if you can find that right path.

New internet marketing products do come out literally everyday and majority of them are scams so if you find something that’s got a proven track record like Wealthy Affiliate stick with it.

When I found Wealthy Affiliate I KNEW I found the right thing.

It was further confirmed when I got into the the program for FREE and saw with my very own eyes what was available and I knew this was the real deal.

I’ve seen and have experienced too many other bad products, courses, business models and systems to know the real deal when I see it.

I’ve been a Premium member ever since I found Wealthy Affiliate and I haven’t looked back.

This is why my site here is important to me.  I want to show others the safe way to start their own path to making money online.

Visit my FREE GUIDE HERE so you can see fully how Wealthy Affiliate works, what it teaches, what business model they use, and how you can get started for free too:

 

 

11 WAYS ON HOW TO AVOID SCAMS ONLINE

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In pretty much all the products that I’ve reviewed that are scams, I always try to point out the red flags to look out.

Some are obvious but some are not as obvious so I want to build this list so that you can learn all the tell tale signs of not being scammed.

 

Here are the 11 ways on how to avoid scams online:

#1) DO LITTLE TO NO WORK

If you ask any successful blogger, internet marketer, affiliate marketer, whatever you want to call successful people who make money online, none of them will tell you they got where they are by doing little to no work.

Any product or course that touts about how little work you need to do is a sign you should stay away from.

Bad products like using “10-15 mins a day” or “if you have 30 mins a day” or even “set it and forget it”, these all are systems/products that are not good.

 

#2) MAKING MONEY IN A VERY SHORT TIME

Especially hundreds to thousands of dollars in your first few days!

Do not fall for get rich quick schemes, this is classic scam language.

Like my reader Olga, promises of more money in less time are NOT TRUE.

Making money online is not instant.  Making money online means you’re building a business and businesses take time to build, online or not.

Unless you’re being hired by a reputable company to work online, there’s no instant way of being paid the amounts of hundreds or thousands of dollars in a short amount of time.

Even trying to make $1,000/month, some take 9 months, some take 1 year, some take even more.

Never mind those products that lie about making $10,000+/month in your first few months, real successful people who make that much money take years to get there if you have a sound business model to follow.

It’s definitely possible to make lots of money online, that fact is true but it takes consistent hard work, time, and the right guidance.

 

#3) OPPORTUNITIES POSING AS JOB POSITIONS

I find this horrifying because this really takes the cake on taking advantage of people.  How to avoid these is to look for “limited availability”, they always say there’s only 15 or 50 spots in your area and that there’s only 18 or 9 left.

You know this is not real when you go back to these sites another day and you see the same number of positions left on the same pages.

They will even use the word “job” or work at home opportunities.

If it’s a real job position, you would be able to contact the company by phone, look them up on the internet to see where their head office is, and talk to someone about the opening position.

 

#4) FREE $500

Any product that offers you $500 just to watch their video or sign up or a guarantee that you’ll make money is another sign of a scam.

They always have a way to get out of paying you and you will never see that $500.

Sometimes they will even say if you don’t get make any money in your first 30 days, they will give you this $500 but you have to have followed everything step by step.

And guess what those steps are?  Buying more products!  By the time you finish their steps, you would have given them hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Worse yet, they still won’t give you the $500 because you won’t be able to contact them.  If you do get contact, it will be AFTER the 30 day or 60 day guarantee period.

Never fall for this lure.

 

#5) FALSE TESTIMONIES

Be careful of testimonies on these products because they are usually using stock images from the internet or buy them off image stock sites.

Some even hire actors from fiverr.com to do their testimonial videos.

If the testimonials sound too good to be true, they usually are.

On the chrome browser, you can just use the Google images search and upload one of the images they use to see if they are fake.

I do this all the time when I review products and I usually find tons of stock images being used on these scam products.

 

#6) FALSE OWNERS

This is similar to #5, I would double check the images and see where they come from or google that name to see if other sites verify they are the true owner.

If they are real owners, you would be able to find others saying they are real owners and find out more about them.

 

#7) NO OWNER CONTACT OR SUPPORT

If owners don’t provide support for their products or programs, then what does that say about them?

These may not even be scam products, these could be legit products but if you can’t get owner support then the products are sub-par so you should also stay away from these.

If you have to pay extra to get access to owners and not part of the product price or membership, this too is not good.

Again, may not be a scam product, but not a very good one if the owners can’t be found for support.

 

#8) UPSELLS

When a product upsells you right after buying the product, that’s another sign to stay away.

But how would you know if you haven’t bought the product yet right?  Well, this type of product is usually really cheap under $20.

Don’t get me wrong, there are other products out there that cost up to $100 and still upsell you like crazy once inside and once they get your credit card number.

 

#9) NO FREE TRIAL & MUST PROVIDE CREDIT CARD

When you can’t even try something out first before you buy, it’s a product not of high quality.  It may be a scam, it may be not, but not the best.

If there is a free trial and they ask for credit card, I would still be careful before joining and do some more research.

I say this because either they don’t have confidence in their product and think they to just charge you first, or they are out to scam you and charge you when you’re not looking.

Be careful about handy over your credit card info.

 

#10) SCARCITY SALES TACTICS

The scam products for sure uses this tactic as “limited spaces available” but non-scam low quality products use this as well as a time sensitive sales pressure for you to buy before the price goes up in so many hours.

High quality products don’t use these kinds of sales tactics.

They don’t need to.

 

#11) YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE REALLY BUYING

The scam and low quality products usually don’t even tell you what you’re buying.

I can go through spending my time reading long sales pages or watching long sales video and still don’t know what the product is or what you’re going to do or learn exactly.

They never tell you what their “system” really is and the only thing they tell you is how much money you will make, in, of course, a very short time.

On the other hand, real reputable companies and programs educate you on what you’ll get if you buy or join them, they give you information about their products and what you’ll be doing.

They show you what system you’ll be learning or what products you get to make you learn what.  You know, details and things you should know before you buy.

If you don’t know what you’ll be buying, DON’T BUY.

 

 

MY FINAL THOUGHTS

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If a product has any of these signs, especially if it has two or more of these signs, then you need to probably either do more research at the least or stay away.

I have really seen so many scam and low quality products in my time that I can tell you all this is true.

I’ve been exposing these types of products for awhile now and they will keep coming out with more because people coming online to make money is only increasing.

This is also why the online market is so lucrative and these scam artists are everywhere.

Save yourself and get on the right path now!

 

MY RECOMMENDATION

As I recommended earlier, if you want to go on the right path and build an online business that is for the long term I have the answer for you in my Free guide that will explain everything you need to know about making money online the right way.

Nobody is born knowing this stuff, so you getting a comprehensive training program will lead you in the right direction for the best chance of success!

If you are willing to learn, put in good consistent hard work, and give it time, you will be building something that can really give you a job replacing income plus even more.

 

GET MY GUIDE NOW:

 

If you have any questions or thoughts on the 11 ways on how to spot a scam online or my free guide, please do not hesitate to leave me a comment below!  I always reply to my awesome readers. 🙂

 

Let’s make money online!