Something I’ve always wondered-and after this thread popped up tonight, describing scammers calling people and telling them that their computer is infected, it made me wonder if there are any legitimate businesses which attempt to operate along similar lines as well-known scams. Or perhaps the scams are attempting to emulate legitimate businesses.
Has there ever been a Nigerian government official who needed the help of a foreigner to get his money out of the country, for example?
Multi-level marketing is legal, but damned if I can see how it’s any different than illegal pyramid schemes.
Further, in the example you state, the fact that the Nigerian businessman needs John Smith of Topeka, KS to help him funnel money out of the country seems per se illegal anyways.
I’ve seen legitimate businesses that operated – thru ignorance, probably – just like scams. I once got come-on email ads that had all the earmarks of scams – purported to be from my bank, but didn’t have the bank’s URL, made financial offers, etc. Turns out my bank had farmed out some customer solicitation to another, non-bank ad firm. After I talked rather sternly to a VP, they quit doing that.
The difference between an actual multilevel marketingbusiness and a pyramid schemepretty much boils down to whether you’re more interested in selling the product or getting other people to sell the product.
Unscrupulous stockbrokers sometimes buy up worthless stock, then hype it and convince suckers to buy it in a scheme called “pump and dump.” This is why brokers are supposed to disclose any financial interest they have in what they recommend to clients, which is what happens in a legitimate public offering.
Almost any legitimate business model can be twisted into an illegitimate scheme.
Somewhat snarky, but serious too- churches. They range from responsible entities to outright scams.
I’ve always felt that management consulting firms were similar to the olde timey “snake oil salesman”. I guess it gives full time management an out. They can always say “well I thought those MBA types from Mckinsey or Accenture knew what they were doing!”
A lot of sales-oriented services business like consulting, recruiting, real estate sales, financial services sales, and some elements of law, while not literally a “racket”, certainly do attract and reward unethical behavior.
Duct cleaning is 99% scam, using fear and bullshit advertising along with bogus come-ons like “Main Ducts Cleaned Free!” (if you pay $29.95 for each of six side ducts, etc.)
More houses need their sewage lines reamed out than their ducts cleaned, and most of the hazards of “dirty” ducts are exaggerated. But it’s all legal.
Apparently some people have followed share tips emailed to them from strangers. Which is not that much different from using tipsters ( financial advisors ) for penny shares.
Leads me to idly wonder if bucket shops still exist. Around a decade ago the last incarnation of these — wholly legal — share brokers, seemed to involve phoning people out of the blue and persuading them into buying lots of shares you wanted to push. And next week, lots more.
Maybe the Internet killed the phone scam.
How about “Radon Removal”. :rolleyes: I call Bullshit.
The building code in certain areas of Ontario requires that basements be sealed with ventilation below the floor so that radon doesn’t enter the basement, but that’s not quite the same thing.
I sure was glad I had it done. Lots less dust afterwards. Oh, and it cost $40 for the whole house.
I received a free Kindle and $100 Amazon gift card for signing up for an American Express card, which I promptly canceled. I kept waiting for a gotcha, but I guess they were just hoping I’d be an idiot with the card.
I got $100 cash from Bank of America for opening a free checking account. No catch.
It’s not to say that there aren’t dusty ducts in houses that need cleaning. It’s that the businesses that do it operate in a manner that is about one step removed from a Nigerian bank transfer scam. Scare tactics, misrepresentation of the problem, bait-and-switch pricing, and often upsells (useless extra services that cost a fortune).
This is missing the point of the OP. Not every “free offer” is necessarily a scam.
Most credit-card and bank account offers are attempts to get the taker to switch cards/banks/services and stay long enough for it to be profitable for the provider. While they’re waiting for these year-long payoffs, the number of people who come on board and generate extra profit in the form of interest and fees greatly outweighs those who take the prize and move on.
I suspect those who have gamed one credit-card bonus after another for a while, as mentioned in the other thread about this, will get a nasty surprise some day when a picky prospective employer, landlord or mortgage company doesn’t agree with the game.
Kinda, but a free $100 with no catch seems kind of scammy. Credit cards are one thing, because you may well end up paying a bunch of money in interest and fees, but a free checking account with no minimum balance is a very good deal. The bank person was surprised to see the offer I brought in that I had received in the mail, but read all the fine print and saw that it was legit.
I agree, but it’s just working the odds - for every $1000 they give out under this scheme, $2-300 will just walk away with no return, $3-400 will give return over some long period (years) and the rest will reap substantial returns from people who aren’t as smart or as lucky as they think they will be.
IME, the class of people who are perpetually playing games with their finances and credit are (1) extremely clever and cautious or (2) suckers always looking for the best of it and (3) both ridin’ for a fall that’s not worth the trivial returns even if they stay lucky.
Just getting a good, low-interest, low/zero fees credit card will “pay” a lot more over time, and with far less risk of getting bent over a barrel. Ditto for choosing a bank that really suits your needs and financial level over one that’s dangling sucker-bait. If they could get customers with their sterling service and policies, they wouldn’t need to use come-ons, and they wouldn’t be Bank of America.
But cautious, stable and safe doesn’t appeal to the smarties or the suckers. Even assuming you’re the Hawking-Einstein of personal finances, don’t you have better things to do than watch your accounts (minimum balances, payment deadlines, etc.) like an investment banker to keep from getting tripped up?
That’s radon mitigation, which is a perfectly reasonable thing to do if you’ve got it in your area. But you can’t remove radon that’s already there; it’s a product of radioactive decay in the Earth’s crust.
Radon is a gas that builds up along the lowest levels of air in a house, be it a floor slab or a basement floor. “Removal” is a matter of venting, just like a dog fart, and any service claming to do so is probably a scam.
However, radon mitigation through sealing the slab, basement walls and floor, etc. is a completely different and valuable (if you have radon problems) service. It might present itself as “radon removal” in some advertising.
Radon is an increased hazard in modern, tightly sealed homes. In older, leakier structures, it didn’t build up to any degree. Being an extremely heavy gas, it stays near the floor and is a hazard to babies, toddlers, small children and drunks. And everyone else, to a slightly lesser degree. It’s most common in areas with a pronounced granitic underlay - typically foothill and higher elevation locations.
Payday advances are as close to loansharking as one can get without anyone getting beaten up.