There are very few people these days who are online and don't know about crypto currencies, In fact it's fast becoming the best revenue stream for most people.
If you have ever looked into making a living out of online earnings then you will no doubt have come across revenue shares, HYIPS, affiliate programs and the like, but with more and more people understanding how most of these opportunities actually work, there are less people each month joining them and that’s just great, However, it has opened up a new pathway for these scammers to exploit again.
Crypto currency earning opportunities are popping up every single day in one form or another and it really is a minefield for those of us who are especially new to the online world of earning opportunities, and I am seeing countless people each and every day, enrolling into platforms which are clearly not intended to last very long, OR are actually set up by companies that have already scammed people.
So I thought I would put this out there for those of you who are either New to the industry or are just in need of a refresher.
1 Remember to do your personal due diligence
The most important thing to remember is this.... Do your own due diligence and NEVER rely on others. What you will find is that the majority of people promoting ANY new business will be either the leaders with huge resources to recruit or the people who do not do any due diligence.
The leaders, who plough thousands into recruiting generally, but not always, don't really care what business they join because they know that they can recuperate their initial seed money from commission earnings from new team members, this eliminates their risk of losing any money. It’s unfortunate but it is the way that many marketers work, whether the business is real and legitimate or a complete scam, people will follow them because they are well known.
One of the ways to help reduce YOUR risk is by first checking out the person you are looking to join. A simple Google search is always the first direction I head in, I have some experience in online marketing already so I know NOT to rely solely on what I find on Google, Many people will support the person and many people will be against the person, so you have to look carefully.
If all I find are individuals who are unhappy with the person I am looking to join, then I take that all with a pinch of salt, because let’s face it, no one can please everyone, so there will always be people who do not agree with the person you’re looking to join, or may have been a member of their team but did not do very well through no fault of the leader. So I specifically look out for review websites who can offer proof of what they are saying and I keep my eyes peeled for websites that can prove that the person in question has been involved (in a corporate sense) with any failed or scam businesses.
Then I take to social media and I search for them on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube and I look to see if the individual actually takes the time to provide value help and support to the people who follow them, This is a big indicator of how this person operates, If there is lots of posts about how much they earn and how well they are doing but little actual help, value and support then this too is a big indicator that you should not get involved with this individual leader or promoter.
2 Do your company due diligence
This is one that most people seem to forget about but is likely to be the most important, reason being is that if you find the leader to be someone of no integrity, you may still want to join the business under someone else and so checking the business out is imperative.
This is something that I have been teaching people to do through my own YouTube videos, walking them through the process of finding out exactly what they are getting themselves into in order to try and prevent as many people as possible from being scammed and losing money. I have seen thousands of people lose collectively 10's of thousands of dollars to online scams and so I try to educate people in order to limit this.
Now I must say that there is NO 100% fail proof system to finding out if the company is a scam or not and this is because people are getting more clever. generally a simple internet search can reveal names that are linked to scams and therefore its easier to find our those who wish to defraud us but people are getting more savvy to how to evade detection, by using false names and false addresses etc., BUT if you look properly then generally most people will make some mistake somewhere and it’s just a case of being vigilant and patient until you find it.
The first thing you should do is go to the company website and look for an about us or contact us page, this will generally show some contact information, Here in the UK it is a requirement that we list our company registered office address on our websites but this is not the case in every country, which can make it more difficult.
So once you check the about us and contact page you may have an address for the company, this should then be searched for in Google to see what information comes back. Please note and be aware that companies can and often do use a Virtual office.
This is an address that can legally be used as a registered company address to enable people who work from home the privacy of not having to give their home address, this can mean that when you do a search, many companies may appear to trade from the same address, this is NOT illegal and not necessarily a sign of a scam.
What I look at is the type of the business and the size of the business, for example, if it is a simple affiliate platform, then it’s quite likely that the company may not need huge premises in order to operate and so it makes sense that they rent space at a virtual office or a business complex to save costs, BUT if you’re looking at a new Crypto currency opportunity who claim to have been trading for years with hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions of dollars’ worth of trading and they are registered in a shed somewhere then I would consider this to be a huge red flag.
Here in the UK, we have a Government website called Companies House https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/, this is a central database of EVERY limited company registered in the UK and will provide the owners names and registered address, it will also (providing the business registrant has not been fraudulent) link their name to any other business that they have registered here in the UK.
It is easy for people to avoid this by not giving their real name or by changing their name by deed poll as the Company formation process does not ask for proof of ID, This makes joining online opportunities that do not provide real services or products a bigger risk.
However, if the company is registered in the U.S. Then there are more stringent processes in place to try and avoid scam businesses being set up, with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) playing a big part in your protection online.
In order to search for companies based in the U.S. you would use a tool such as this https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html
Depending on where the companies states it is registered would depend on where you look for information. I would start with a simple Google search for "company registration information +the country of choice" This is the starting for me in any investigation into any business.
Sometimes a company won’t have ANY useable information on their website, This to me is another red flag, But I will still try to find out what I can, because let’s face it, If a company is legitimate, then they will have nothing to hide and company registration information only serves to strengthen the company’s image.
(Please be aware, as I have said above, NOT all companies that have little to no information will be scams, This guide is general and regardless to what information you find or don't find, you will still have to use your own initiative and gut feelings before making any decisions).
Another way to find information about a company you wish to join is to check out their Company social media profiles, There may well be information on them that will lead you to answers so this is another method I use to find what I am looking for.
3 Patience is key
Many people will promote a new company and tell you that "you should join early to benefit the most" to me this is something that mass promoters say in order to build their lists quickly and earn more commissions sooner, so that they can cash out their commissions and get their seed money back as soon as possible, although when I personally promote a business, I may tell people that they should invest what they can when they can in order to start earning, I will never tell people that they should pay in right away in order to benefit, If it is a real passive income generator then the earnings will be there for them whenever they choose to become a paid member and I am always wary of people who suggest that you should invest right away.
Taking your time to do your due diligence is NEVER a bad thing, even if you see other people earning money while you’re still doing your background search, Never be tempted to jump in head first without having the patience to do your due diligence before you make any financial decisions.
4 Investigate the product/service
In the past few years, countless people have been stung by "Revenue share" platforms, you know, the kind of business that offers "Traffic", "Views to your website" etc., Now it is proven that these type of business have no real long term prospects, the traffic is generally very poor (although you may be lucky to find genuine people looking for your opportunity).
Most people who see your link will not pay any attention to it because they are only there to earn their revenue share and so the business model generally does not last very long. This has seen many hundreds of thousands of people lose money when the company can't afford to pay anymore. Advertising on its own is not a revenue stream that companies can generate enough profits to pay people alone, They would need to have other forms of income which most do not.
With the age of crypto currency, you may well have seen the launch of many crypto/ Alt coins and people promoting them. This is not necessarily a bad thing, let’s face it, Bitcoin started out the same way and at the start was worth a fraction of a cent, but is now worth over $2000, However, please remember to use your intelligence and understand that Bitcoin was the first to develop its coin and the Bitcoin blockchain platform, whereas all other coins (with the exception of Etherium and the Etherium Blockchain) have been based to work on the platform created by the first coin.
Both the Bitcoin Blockchain and the Etherium Blockchain are both different beasts but as the first of their kind they have grown in an extreme fashion.
Now getting back to my point, Investigating the product or service, When a new coin comes on the market, lots of people jump on it without understanding its potential, this in itself will increase the value of the coin over a short period but then when the hype dies down, the value drops and becomes pretty worthless, Seeing people jump on new coins when they come out makes me feel bad that people are not researching the product properly and this causes many people to lose money, in some cases money they cannot afford to lose, but it happens all the same.
When your researching a product or service to invest in, you need to not only spend an inordinate amount of time learning about what benefits there are (if any) what problem the product or service solves (if there is one) and if there is a real need for the product or service, Many people build websites that copy others just because they think that people are blinded by the hype and will join them, giving them their hard earned cash which they can then steal and vanish without a trace. This post is intended to prevent people from falling for the scams or being caught out due to lack of information or knowledge on how to protect themselves.
As an example there is a recent coin that has been promoted online, created by a company who has already failed in the revenue share industry, scammed and stolen from 150K people and has now created their own coin which they are promoting has a value currently of $0.02c.
The problem is, and what most of the people promoting this coin don't realize, is that the coin is not on an exchange ANYWHERE, it’s not even been fully developed and yet people are paying money to buy these coins with the hope that it will increase in value. The company CEO posts updates on how the coin has increased in value and how, that within the next 12 months the coin will be worth $10. But think about this.....
Is there really any way to be able to predict a currency that far into the future? NO, it’s hard to predict the currency value within the next hour never mind 12 months, which is why there are few traders who really make money trading, AND if it was possible to predict a currency value, then we would all be Bitcoin millionaires, which we are clearly not.
This is another red flag as far as I'm concerned, A company who value their own product, when the value should come from the market, to me is being fraudulent, the coins in the aforementioned platform have no value and they can’t have a value because they are not created and not on an exchange, therefore this product does not serve a purpose and will certainly not turn you into a crypto currency millionaire.
I know this post has gone on for some time and I would rather people up vote this post for its value rather than down vote because you have got bored reading so i am going got leave it there.
I have shared with you the general steps I take to prevent myself and my following/ team from being scammed online and losing money.
I hope that this has been of value to you and I hope as my first post on this platform, it is welcomed.
Daniel Elliott
earnlikeapro LTD
Disclaimer and credits:
All of this content is original and is subject to copyright (c)2017 Daniel Elliott (earnlikeapro LTD)
Copying or plagiarizing of this content is prohibited.
Image Credits (please not that I am not affiliated in any way with any of these sites and have used their images only):
https://www.quora.com/Is-it-possible-to-become-a-bitcoin-millionaire
http://www.morganandwestfield.com/blog/preparing-due-diligence
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/launch-of-the-new-companies-house-public-beta-service
http://blog.askaref.com/professors/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cultivating-patience-personal-growth-sean-thomas
https://www.insightinvestigationsinc.com/
http://www.anath.org/refugees-wolves-in-sheep-clothing/
Great article!