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Tag archives for scam

Vector Marketing: Scam or Not?

12
Sep
posted by Mike               filed under Business, Shopping

Vector Marketing is a brand that polarizes the populace. Vector Marketing’s recruiting and business practices have been under fire, with passionate bloggers posting harsh diatribes all over the internet and social mediasphere. I’ve worked at Vector Marketing before and I can honestly say that though these issues are things I’ve heard whispered, my experience working at Vector Marketing proved to be a wholly different experience.

It’s been said that Vector Marketing will recruit just about anyone and that their model uses their representatives to milk their close friends and relatives as the customer base. The idea is that upon seeing your high school/early college aged friend or relative struggle through a presentation as their very first job, you’ll end up pitying them and purchase some Cutco knives, if not a whole set. In my experience, this wasn’t the case at all. The key sales I made weren’t with close friends and relatives at all. The sample kit I received is used regularly by my mom to this day so the product is strong despite all the scrutiny.

Another point of the Vector Marketing model that people have taken issue with is the security deposit new representatives had to pay to get their sample set of knives used during presentations. This security deposit has since been removed but when I worked for Vector Marketing, it was still in place. This deposit came at no surprise and was made evident during the whole recruiting process. Though I did think that the cost of the deposit should have been taken out of our first paycheck at the time, the cost really was negligible and my family got an awesome set of Cutco knives at a great price.

Of course there was pressure to sell. This is a sales and marketing position and if you don’t have the drive to succeed, you aren’t going to. The district managers were paid to drive sales and inspire us to do the best we possibly could. Some people are better at this type of job than most, and in the end, Vector Marketing wasn’t for me but I can say that Vector Marketing isn’t more a scam than any other job I’ve worked at.

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One of the Largest eBay Scams Finally Comes to an End

24
Feb
posted by Mr.404               filed under Business, Technology

After a three year investigation and countless complaints, a south Florida man will spend 5 1/2 years behind bars for running one of the largest eBay scams in the history of eBay. The details of the massive operation include, hundreds of auction accounts, multiple identities and constantly changing PO Boxes.

In 2006, Jonathan Harkness bid and won a flashlight from an eBay seller. He sent $90 via money order, however, to his disappointment he never received his high tech flashlight. He was ripped off like so many other non suspecting users of eBay.

In 2007, Harkness wrote his congressman, describing the scam and alerting him that this may be part of a bigger scam. Rep. Adam Smith urged the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to investigate.

After a long three year investigation, Nilton Rossoni, 50, a Brazilian businessman with multiple aliases living in South Florida, was sentenced to 5 ½ years in federal prison for running one of the biggest eBay scams in history.

Rossoni was convicted of hauling in $717,000 from more than 5,500 eBay buyers, by creating at least 260 different eBay accounts, and using dozens of e-mail addresses with Yahoo, Google and AOL, as well as nearly 60 private postal boxes. It’s possible that Rossoni actually scammed even more users, utilizing sites other than eBay, however, the prosecution was able to gather enough evidence to get a strong conviction in this case.

This scam took place between 2003 – 2008 while he sold hundreds of different items. He maintained a strong reputation by fabricating fake buyer feedback that was positive. He also insisted on money orders or cash, and asked users not to send money via Paypal.

It’s now 2010 and people are more educated and understand Paypal helps prevent fraud. When you send cash to someone you have never met, you are taking quite a leap of faith. Be sure to always use Paypal or a similar service when sending money to someone online.

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Facebook ‘Cash Scam’ Continues to Grow Even Bigger

8
Feb
posted by Mr.404               filed under Finance, Technology

Facebook Cash Scam

Over the past few years  social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have given unprecedented access to people’s private lives. More and more personal information is revealed through photos, status updates and conversations that are all being documented online. Last week, the Serious Fraud Office of London (SFO) warned that Facebook and Twitter are being used to harvest users’ personal financial details,

“The public should be aware of the predatory nature of fraudsters and be careful about revealing personal information on social-networking sites, as this has become a primary method of harvesting information and targeting victims,” SFO said.

In a joint venture between London police and Financial Services Authority, over 10,000 people were notified that their names were on a “master list” that contained a range of personal information, that might include: names, address, phone number, place of business, income and relationship status. While this is the only reported list, it’s quite possible thousands more were already victims of this latest cash scam.

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