Several Red Flags for Spotting a Phony or Scam

The world is full of phonies and scammers these days. They use various mediums such as phone solicitation, spam email, magazine and newspapers ads, TV infomercials, and plain old snail mail. They are constantly searching for their next victim. Like P.T. Barnum once said, "there's a sucker born every minute", so there's a plenteous pool.

To all of those potential victims, I offer some tips for spotting phonies and scams. There are several red flags you need to watch out for. Any of the following is almost always a dead giveaway that you have encountered a potential phony or scammer:

1) Someone claims to possess "secret" information. In today's world there are very few true secrets left. The news media is all over just about everything that goes on. Any information that someone tries to keep secret quickly gets exposed and reported to the world. Also, ask yourself, "why isn't the mainstream media interested in that 'secret'?"

2) A person repeatedly states that his/her extraordinary claims are "absolutely true", "not a joke", "completely accurate", or something else along those lines. If their claims are genuine, then those claims should stand on their own merit. Constant repetition of statements meant to reinforce the validity of their claims would not be necessary.

3) Someone's claim is not realistic and doesn't make sense. Remember what they say about things being too good to be true? Someone once showed me an ad in which a "home developer" was looking for people to build homes for and only wanted $500 up front. Curiously, he said he preferred those with bad credit over those with good credit. Obviously, he knew that people with bad credit are often the most desperate and gullible. He was eventually prosecuted for running away with more than $ 1 million in stolen "down payments."

4) Someone is spouting conspiracy theories. First, take a look at those people who believe in conspiracy theories. They are the same ones who believe pro wrestling is real. Do you want to be grouped with them? Second, as is the case with so-called secrets, any real conspiracies would be exposed by the media in a very short time. Major conspiracies such as those that some people are constantly alleging could never be kept secret for very long. At a minimum, the media would be interested in following up on that person's conspiracy claim, if it indeed it had some semblance of validity.

5) A person uses religion to try to convince you that they can be trusted. Their sales pitch consists of the repetitious use of words and phrases like "praise the Lord", "hallelujah", "God bless you", "glory to God", etc. If you ever encounter someone like this, hold on to your wallet and run the other way as fast as you can. True Christians would never use their religion as an advantage to try to increase their sales.

6) Someone claims that his/her get-rich-quick scheme, weight-loss program, etc. is "easy." Anything worthwhile in life requires effort and is never really easy. Besides, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it and people wouldn't be struggling to make a living and/or lose weight, for example.

7) A person makes wild-eyed claims that his/her product (that you have never heard of before) is "amazing" or "revolutionary." If it were actually "amazing" or "revolutionary", someone other that person and his/her minions would also be making that claim about the product.

8) Someone wants to sell you their "system" for making money that will make you rich. The obvious problem here is that if their system is so good, why are they wasting time telling you about it and trying to sell it to you? Why aren't they using that great system to make money for themselves? The truth is that their system for making money consists solely of selling suckers their system for making money!

Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, and trivia buff from Hopewell, VA. He also serves as a political columnist for American Daily and operates his own website - http://www.commenterry.com - on which he posts commentaries on various subjects such as politics, technology, religion, health and well-being, personal finance, and sports. His commentaries offer a unique point of view that is not often found in mainstream media.

---

Become More Self-Confident

Signs of Self-ConfidenceLet's explore the meaning of self-confidence by taking... Read More

Being an Emotional Victim

None of us like to think of ourselves as victims.... Read More

Are You Invisible?

Ellen was brought up to be invisible. She was taught... Read More

Miscommunication - Root Cause of Problems?

People of two opposing ideas can stir up arguments and... Read More

Words That Inspire - PEACE

WORDS THAT INSPIREA monthly quick shot to motivate you, in... Read More

What Do You Really Want ?

Being a coach is such a rewarding profession. The enormous... Read More

The Power of a Scope

We all know the power of a scope if you... Read More

4 Quick, Easy Ways to Say No to People Who Take You for Granted

No matter how wonderful you are sometimes other people will... Read More

Stay Connected To WHY You Are Doing Things

"The more I want to get something done, the less... Read More

Our Perception Determines Our Experience

Not long ago, I traveled back east to Ohio and... Read More

Curse of Competence: How Being Good gets in the way of Becoming Great

Just before the storms hit last winter, my father-in-law and... Read More

Making Communication Effective: 4 Language Filters

Language is a challenging way to communicate. It allows us... Read More

The Problem with Blame? If You Fix the Blame, You Ignore the Problem

Have you ever found yourself in a hurry to leave... Read More

Say Adios to the Fear of Rejection!

Do you ever get an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach... Read More

The Executive Coaching Contract

Having found a coach you feel comfortable and excited about... Read More

You Can Get There From Here

But first you've got to raise your standards.I know at... Read More

Grow Through It

It's past bedtime for most working men. It's not unbearably... Read More

New Developments Make Christian Life Coaching ?The? Career Choice for Work-At-Home Professionals

I have watched for a couple years now, as my... Read More

Difficult Challenges? -- What If?

Sometimes life can seem like one long series of unsolvable... Read More

5 Keys to Powerful Communication

As a coach that specializes in marriage, couples and family... Read More

Aim For Your Star

"Aim for your star, no matter how far, you must... Read More

Are You Worth Investing In?

Do you realise that if you're green you're growing and... Read More

You Have A Choice

I'm a relationship coach and, unlike most, I deal with... Read More

Profitable Idea Generation in 4 Steps Using Improv

A large percentage of business are stuck, tied to narrow... Read More

People Pleasing and How to Stop!

"People pleasing can leave you feeling empty and taken advantage... Read More

Coaching for Results

He's a very successful sales manger who craves results. He... Read More

Kabbalah Coach: Love the One Youre With

IntroductionEvery one of us came to the planet to figure... Read More

Cause and Effect! Choose a Path

Three steps to your Personal Transformation:Awareness and PerceptionLaw of Cause... Read More

Executive Coaching

The higher you climb the ladder in this organization, the... Read More

The Magic of Hearing

I'm working on a coach training certification, and one of... Read More

Are YOU a Dreamer?

This morning I watched a news article about a young... Read More

Growing On G.R.O.W ? A More Specific Coaching Model For Busy Managers

The effective coaching of employees by their line managers is... Read More

Email Etiquette 1

I thought it might be worth visiting some email etiquette... Read More