In My Not So Humble Opinion

Archive for February, 2009

I’ve compiled the following information because someone you know and care about may be solicited by someone involved in a “Cash Gifting” scheme. There is a huge surge of these groups right now, who are taking advantage of people during the recession. A search for “Cash Gifting” on Google shows 207 paid listings for these scams. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The “Cash Gifting” groups are soliciting under a bunch of different names, but the theme is the same. You join, pay a cash “gift” to the person who recruits you, and then you recruit people who give cash “gifts” to you. Their premise is that it is legal to give a gift to anyone, and they’ll tell you that it is exempt from taxes. Some of these groups claim that a charity is being supported, or that this is a charitable activity. Cash Gifting, under any name, is an illegal Ponzi pyramid scheme. Participation could mean at the least that you lose the money “gifted” and at the most, you could be arrested for participating this illegal activity, which is a felony. You can also be sued by everyone you get to sign up under you.

Don’t let biblical quotes and the false representation of being a charity fool you into believing you can gain monetary success through an Cash Gifting program.

The Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission suggest that anyone who is approached to join a gifting scheme should:

• Consider that a legitimate gift has no strings attached
• Avoid being misled into thinking a gifting club is legitimate because the members say they consider their payments a gift and expect nothing in return. This is an attempt to make an illegal transaction look legal.
• Be wary of success stories or testimonials of tremendous payoffs. Very few members of illegal gifting clubs or pyramid schemes ever receive any money.
• Take your time. Don’t buckle under to a high-pressure sales pitch that requires you to join immediately or risk losing out on the opportunity.
• Remember that pyramid schemes are illegal. Avoid plans that offer commissions based solely on recruiting new members.
• Don’t be swayed by assurances that the scheme has been “approved” or that charities will benefit from the gifting club. Before risking your money, your reputation, and your peace of mind, review the plan with an accountant or an independent attorney who is experienced in consumer law.

 

They also promote themselves as a legitimate business opportunity, where there will be:

• No Selling
• No Explaining
• No Chasing Family or Friends
• No Convincing
• No Products people don’t want or need

Other groups claim you can get a “Mortgage Free” home by saying:

• you can obtain a custom built home, with very little money as down payment.
• you do not have to pay any further out of pocket expense to own a home.
• you will obtain your home in far less time than with a conventional mortgage.
• you can earn large monthly incomes forever, and they can even be “willed.”

These people are flooding the internet with a bunch of false information. They have nice websites, and they publish press releases. They claim to be endorsed by Oprah. They send chain letters, and do telemarketing. They claim you can get (fill in any dollar amount here) from people all over the world. They say you can turn $5 into $75,000 in 3 weeks. They say that the more you “gift,” the more you’ll receive. Some of them include a product or download, or lifetime membership as a way to try to cover up the illegal “gifting” activity. Don’t believe what they tell you.

There are also “download” and “lifetime membership” groups that are cash gifting scams that claim (quoting one such website):

• You will answer no emails!
• You will never need to build a website to earn money
• You will earn money without paying membership fees or recurring membership fees!
• There will be no silly over saturated affiliate programs you will need to promote!
• You will obviously sell . . . absolutely nothing!
• You won’t ever talk to prospects. Okay, you will answer to your referrals, but you do not EVER need to physically do it or via phone. This is limited to comments and talking “through the pen”!
• You will NEVER call anyone!
• You will obviously NOT gamble, and with my help . . . not even with Google Adwords!
• You will receive money without paying subscription fees and NO Monthly Subscription!
• You need NO high start up costs!
• In fact when you join, that will be the ONLY money you will be spending!

These scams masquerade under a bunch of different names, and the scammers dress up their scams in different ways. If they promise you Free Money, run in the opposite direction. The names change all the time, so just because it’s not on the list below doesn’t mean that it’s a legal group, activity or opportunity.

Some names, terms, and websites often used by groups like this include:

1-Up
90 days with Dell
A Gift Network
Abundance
Abundant Living System
ALS
Avalanche of Payments
Cash1234DotCom.com
CashGifting4Every1.com
Cash Giving Mentor
Cash Gift Proof
CashGiftGenerator.com
CashGiftTrainer.com
Cash Leveraging Made Simple
cashinwithchris.com
Charity Begins at Home
CommonSenseCashStation.net
Constitutional Rights Kindness Free association
Decide Freedom Now
Dedicated Marketers
Destiny
Elite Activities
Elite Activity
Elite Resurrected
Environmental Constr Solutions Inc.
Epic Wealth Systems
Eventis
EZ1Up
EZY Cash Gifts
FailProofCash.com
FastSimpleCashFlow.com
FGH Marketing
Freedom Club
Freedom 3000
freedomfighter3000.com
Freshmen Nice people Sophomore
fromrobbedtoriches.com
Get My Free Money
Gift Gifter I gave
Give Freely
Give Helping others Activity
Giving and Sharing Gifts
Golden Rule Associates Panel
goodyboyce.webs.com
Home Business Start up Funds
I have gifted Giving Family
ICF World Homes
Investment Club
Invited by Fellow man Community
Jacob’s Ladder
key-to-cash.com
Liberty League International
LivetoProsper.biz
LivingRoomGoldMine.com
Mission Cash Complete
Mortgage Free Homes
My Incentive Website
NetESPRESSO
NewCashGiftingSystem.com
Operation 20k
Participation Register your gift Giving
Pay it Forward
PIF
PopnLife
Power of People Network
Prosperity Man’s Channel
RealPassiveCash.com
Receive Junior Participant
Retirement Club
Right to give Senior I have received
Rockstar Marketing
Season of Sharing
Sharing Caring Invitation
Summit
The Abundant Pay it Forward Gift Program
The Cash Leveraging System
The Friendship Investment Club
The Last Program
The Online Cash System
The Power of Leadership
The Spirit of Giving
The World’s first Interdenominational Belief System on the Internet!
thiswillbehuge.com
Toni’s Resources
True Wealth Today
Upgrade My Cash
You can retire soon
YourFatPockets.com

Note: I compiled the above information from data collected from http://scam.com/, the BBB, FTC, and other online resources. If you have legal, incontrovertible proof that one of the above groups is not involved in illegal activity, please comment to this post, and I will remove them from the list.

Update:
Since posting this earlier today, I’ve beeen contacted by a dozen people who want me to sign up with their scam. Can’t these people read?

I have a website, blog, facebook account, and I’m on Twitter. Yay! I am somebody!

I like this guy. His sense of humor is weird enough for this blog, and makes me chuckle every time I check to see what he is up to. If you enjoy this post, read all his letters at: jackassletters.com

does this letter writing stuff really work? Seems to me it wouldn’t be very effective. If I were a despot or part of a malicious illegitimate regime, and I was torturing people and denying them basic human rights, then the last thing I’d really care about was opening my mail! I’d probably just force other people to do that for me! (As an evil dictator why should I risk paper cuts?)

I’m not sure if I get the point of the whole letter writing thing. If I write someone bad should I expect my letter will be considered and wait for a reply? Are the letters ever answered?

Sincerely,

Reply Received:

Thanks for your letter of inquery about the effectiveness of Amnesty International’s campaigning. Sometimes we get the results we want, sometimes not, but we believe that government officials do care about their image and may respond to organized pressure. I’m sending you a bunch of print-outs from our website, in case you don’t have a computer. You can see some of the many ways, big and small, that we can protect people’s human rights.

Sometimes people get answers to their letters, but mostly not. Our objective is showing authorities that concerned men and women from countries all over the world are watching their actions, and urging them to abide by their own laws and uphold the basic rights of their citizens.

[signed Beth Ross?]

Author’s Commentary:

Inquery? For a second I was doubting my editor, but that’s really what was written.

I feel bad about this one. Some innocent guy is probably languishing in some dank hellhole of a prison cell because I distracted Betsy Ross from actually making a difference. Or perhaps he’s still in prison because I didn’t use my letter writing powers for good. Either way, some guy is still a prisoner because of me!

I’ve thought about writing world dictators to see how many would reply, but if I’m not already on a government watch list this would do it for sure. Besides, what am I going to do with AIG CEO Ed Liddy’s autograph?

Beth? Besty? was kind enough to print and send me all 30 pages of Amnesty International’s successes.

Official Website: Amnesty International USA.

Check out jackassletters.com to see how the other half lives!

Christopher L. Jorgensen

Note from me: If you don’t go to that site right now and waste the rest of your day amusing yourself at the expense of others, you aren’t the person I though you were, and I am going to begin to wonder whether I ever really knew you at all!