Info or Infomercial

Info or Infomercial was Originally Posted on February 15, 2004 by lavarock

You see them on TV and you THINK they are regular shows. They are COMMERCIALS (thus the “mercial” part of the name). Half hour or hour advertisements. The “INFO” may be dubious at best.

They tout that they can make you money, let you build wealth, buy houses at a fraction of overybody else, find government deal, get free money, it just goes on and on.

I love the ones where the guy says he is a millionaire and wants to help you acheive the same. If that is the case, that he is a millionare, why does he need money from me?

Many infomercials are made to look like a tv show or newscast, for a reason… to keep you from realizing they are a commercial. Another clue is that the show is repeated over and over.

An exception to this was a show I saw on the satellite years ago. It was about gold prospecting and made the claim that they could help me find gold. I watched with a careful eye. The next week the show was different. I was perplexed. Perhaps they had 2 commercials… then the next week a new program appeared. I kept looking for the scam. A year later I realized, there was no scam. Each show was different. Each show had new information about where to find gold; in the streams, highbanking, in caves, metaldetecting… all they asked was $$62.50 to get started. I did other research and it looked on the up and up. I bought with a credit card and made sure to watch the calendar. You have a 2 month limit to dispute a charge on a credit card. The Gold Prospectors Association was on the up and up and I am still a member.

You get an email telling you that there is this money and you (picked at random) will receive millions for helping them liberate it from whatever fate has kept the sender from getting at it. All you must do is give them your checking account number so they can transfer the money to your account. That is the last you will see of any money in your account! That scam has been around in various forms for what, 10 years?

The bank asks you to help them catch a thief working in the bank. Why they would ask a citizen rather than an undercover policeman, who knows? Stealing from a bank is a FEDERAL crime so the FBI would send in their own people, not someone who has an account there.

Years ago there was a drug offered to help people shed weight. Redux and Phenphen. You could not drive past an intersection without seeing a sign about making a local call to buy it. Red flags went off in my head. Why was this so aggressively marketed by mom and pop type people? Because the company was hoping to get people to help them sell it and get the heck out of Dodge before it caught up with them. How big is the lawsuit against this drug now?

If a company is so big and the product so great, why do they PAY people to promote it like that? Why do they resort to fax spam?

A popular fax scam is a travel deal from the east coast to the Bahamas. People are still getting faxes with unbelievable deals for a cruise and a few nights in the Bahamas. The artwork shows a ship the size of the Queen mary. It may in fact BE a picture of the Queen mary. Your trip will NOT be on a ship like that! You hotel will probably be substandard and/or down right creepy. Don’t believe me? Try a web search for “Ramada Resorts”…

You get a phone call or email or mailing saying that you have “won” something. You fill out a card in a store and “surprise”, you win. Most everyone wins by the way. So you are a “winner”. If thyat is the case, why do you have to pay taxes or booking fees or any other money? You pay the government in April for any winnings, not the company or some other organization offering you a “prize”.

So you see a moneymaking opportunity being offered at a hotel ballroom. Leave your wallet at home! Sign nothing! What are these things? It could be candy machines, pay phones, calling cards, etc. The companies tell you about all this money you will make.

So let’s talk about payphones. They tell you about all these people using payphones and all the money you will make! WAIT! I see rows of payphones at airports all unused. I see places where the phones are removed and the kiosk remains. Why? Because most people are using cell phones. What does that tell you? The only people making money are the ones selling you the pay phones. So you see a guy on a payphone. probably someone who cannot afford a cell. Do you think that if he is paying for a call that is not unlimited, thast he will sit on that pay phone for hours, racking up money for you? Doubtful.

Vending machines! They have the machines and the best routes. If that is the case, why do they need me? All they have to do is hire someone at minimum wage to service their own machines on their own routes.

Why would these business opportunites be passed out to us, if they are so great? They would not!

I am not saying that people who get taken in by scams are stupid. Anyone can get scammed.

Just remember, Buyer Beware!