Do You Really Know Who You Are Dealing With?
One of the main downsides to the internet revolution is the lack of personal contact with third parties whom you may be dealing with. While many would argue that this has it plus points (which it does), it has also opened up the internet - and most importantly customers - to fraudulent activity. Many internet frauds have been active for months before actually being noticed, and it takes even longer to alert customers and close the sites down.
Pyramid schemes, where money from new members is used to fund investment returns for earlier members, have been one of the more common types of internet fraud. Very often these schemes are dressed up as different offerings, and it can be very difficult to see where the scam comes in.
Even though many of these schemes are finally reported to the authorities, it can takes months (if not years) to go to court and have the sites closed down - often meaning that many more customers suffer in the meantime. Tracing the legal owners of any internet business is very often a tricky operation with many sites being registered overseas, through nominees and with false information.
You need to ensure that you do your research prior to using any of the “non mainstream†companies, using forums and regulatory sites for customer feedback. If you work to one simple rule you will not go far wrong - “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!â€.
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