Warnings Archives

I’ve Tried That Reviews TypeatHome.com

Published On: April 29, 2016

Can you really make $45, $75 and $175 for completing typing assignments? That’s what the site TypeatHome.com claims you can do when you sign up and pay one or more of their kits.

What is Type at Home all about?

The storyline starts out as follows: TypeatHome, or TAH, obtains typing work from “daily profit companies” such as Home Depot, AT&T, Netflix, etc. It then passes on those typing jobs to its trained typists, who work either on a full-time or part-time basis to complete their assignments.

Part-time and full-time typists earn $45 and $75 per completed assignment, respectively. Business owner typists make $175 per completed assignment.

Before you can get started on these high-paying assignments, you’ll first need to purchase your appropriate training kit. The prices of these kits are $29.99, $59.99 and $89.99.

Once you pay for your kit, you gain access to a series of training videos that help you prepare for your new career as a stay-at-home typist. You are also given a detailed, 1-2 hour long assessment at the end of your training.

After you pass your assessment, you are provided with a list of typing jobs.

A video on the TAH sales page lists the following steps to becoming a professional typist:

Register for a position with TAH (in 5 minutes).
Complete a basic training course (in 30 minutes).
Complete your first assignment and email it to us for payment.
Success!

Sounds simple…but is this work-at-home opportunity real? Here’s why I don’t think you should trust TAH’s claims:

1. The website is filled with typos and stolen content.

You’d think that a typing company would take care to ensure its copy is free of spelling errors. However, in the introductory TAH video, I found this glaring typo:

Likewise, if you watch this video’s footage, there is a point where a bleed-through copyright notice comes through from Getty images. This tells me that TAH is blatantly stealing stock photo content.

2. The ‘assignments’ are fake.

TAH discusses what kinds of assignments you’ll be completing as a work-at-home typist. Your assignments are noted as follows:

TAH

So far, everything sounds believable. However, TAH then showcases one example article that it claims paid out $75 to its typist. The article is a HubPages post.

tah1

To begin with, HubPages is a revenue-share content aggregator that does not pay upfront for content. I should know because I wrote for this site for several years.

However, let’s assume that the actual company that paid the $75 was LocateFurniture.com, not HubPages. If you search on LocateFurniture.com, you’ll come across an ad-heavy website that has just two pages of content and very little useful information. I highly doubt that this site ever paid a typist even $20 for content. More than likely, this site was hastily created by TAH to stand in as an example of a well-paying client company.

3. The customer complaints tell a different story.

If you look up online reviews of TAH, you’ll come across many of its unhappy customers. These customers note how they paid the up-front fee to TAH and expected to receive actual job listings from the company. Instead, what they received was either non-access to the members’ area or typing assignments that paid little to no money.

Listed below are just two examples of dissatisfied TAH customers:

4. You shouldn’t have to pay for a job.

Legitimate employers and clients don’t have you paying money to secure work. If you have to pay money to obtain a job, there’s a good chance that job doesn’t exist or is a scam.

What’s the reality behind TAH?

Type at home “job opportunities,” of which TAH is a part, entice you with offers of big money for little work that you can do right from home. Once you pay the membership fee, you receive access to poorly compiled training materials that are designed to keep you busy so you delay getting a refund.

After you “graduate,” the program provides you with the highly anticipated job leads…except that the leads aren’t really for actual jobs. Instead, you receive a list of companies and businesses that you need to solicit for typing work. Unsurprisingly, those companies have no idea that they’ve been featured on a third-party list for typing jobs.

Type at home scammers evade legal issues by stating that they are making you aware of job opportunities, not actual jobs. In the case of TAH, Troy Gri (the site’s creator) of Prana Systems, LLC defends his scheming ways by stating that typists hired with TAH are actually sub-contractors. As such, they receive their assignments through Troy.

However, for its supposed 17-year history, there is not a single authentic account of any TAH sub-contractor getting paid. Instead, you see a long list of customer complaints about the lack of real typing assignments, and/or non-payment of requested refunds.

The Bottom Line

Whenever a work-at-home company asks you to pay money up-front and in exchange for a job, your suspicions should be instantly raised. In the case of TAH, not only does the company not deliver what it advertises, but it engages in outright plagiarism of online content. You are best advised to stay away from this online scam.

MyFlexJob: Work-at-Home Opportunity or Scam?

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Published On: April 11, 2016

You may have encountered Sandy Sauve if you’ve clicked on various work-at-home opportunity ads, including this one:

When you click on the ad, you are taken to the following screen and embedded video. Here, you meet Sandy Sauve, who tells you that she earns a full-time income working from home. This opportunity “does not cost anything to get started with, there’s no up-rate costs later, you don’t have buy things, and you don’t have to sell anything.”

Welcome to My Flex Job

When you input your name and email, you are taken to a second video page, where Sandy describes the work-from-home opportunity as requiring no person-to-person selling, out-of-pocket costs, cross-sells, up-sells, etc.

What exactly are you doing? According to Sandy, there are big companies like Netflix, ProActiv, etc. that have people sign up for their sales and trial offers. These sign-ups must later be email and age-verified. Your job will be to validate ages and emails and enter this information into a worksheet. You’ll be doing this for a company called MyFlexJob.

On a YouTube video published by MyFlexJob, your job title is ‘Trial Offer Processor.’

So far, so good.

Red flag #1: Fake company photo

Sandy highly encourages you to go to the My Flex Job website and sign up. When I did that, I encountered the following page:

I was a bit disheartened to see that My Flex Job had inserted a stock photo for its company’s physical site and just pasted the My Flex Job logo on this photo. When any work-at-home company does something like this, it’s an immediate red flag for me that not everything is as it seems.

After I filled out the online job application, I was taken to a second video to complete my certification. And that’s also where I encountered another red flag.

Red Flag #2: You pay for software

The certification video on the MyFlexJob website explains that, as part of your certification, you’ll be required to purchase MyPCBackUp, a software program that will store the sensitive information you acquire while entering customer data into those aforementioned worksheets. MyPCBackUp costs $25 for a 3-month subscription.

But wait a minute- Sandy Sauve said that there would be no out-of-pocket costs to sign up with this company.

MyFlexJob goes on to say that you’ll be credited $25 in your account once you complete the certification.

That all sounds great…until you complete your certification and verify that you’ve purchased the software.

Red Flag #3: You must earn your $25 ‘credit.’

Once you are in the MyFlexJob website, you learn that, in order to cash out your $25 software credit, you must have an account value of $50 or more.

Furthermore, all your earnings are paid in ‘points,’ not actual money, with 100 points being equivalent to $1. You must first convert your points to dollars, and only then can you cash out.

It could be argued that the company does this to not only save money, but to ensure that its workers and not just signing up for free software. So, playing devil’s advocate, let’s look at what kind of work is required to earn enough money/points for a $50 payment.

Red Flag #4: You’re the one filling out trial offers!

When you first go to the MyFlexJob assignments area, you encounter the following instructions about how you get paid and what you actually do to earn that money:

From the language used, it sounds like you will be the person/customer who is completing company trial offers. Not other customers.

As you scroll down the assignments area, you encounter trial offers where the ‘data entry worksheets’ are none other than short forms where you need to fill in your own personal information like your full name, email, phone number, etc. These trial offers are with companies like Netflix, Groupon, Disney, etc.

You might be thinking, what’s the harm in signing up for a free trial offer of product X or service Y? Granted, the trial might be free, but if you forget to cancel your subscription by a given date, you’ll be charged. In fact, the FTC has a few things to say about ‘free’ trial offers and their inherent risks.

Also, many free trial offers require that you pay for shipping and/or product returns.

For each offer you successfully complete, you are credited with a given amount of points from MyFlexJob. In fact (and to avoid legal issues), the company even explains this condition on its terms page:

So, your actual data entry involves inputting your own personal data into forms provided by the marketing automation software of third party businesses. No doubt about it, MyFlexJob is probably making a handsome commission from your signing up for these trial offers.

Red Flag #5: Paid affiliates and actors

On its terms page, MyFlexJob lists the following disclosure:

FTC DISCLOSURE:

Some testimonials for MyFlexJob.com may be provided by paid affiliates or professional actors.

Why would a company that offers work-at-home jobs not have any of its actual workers provide testimonials?

Red Flag #6: Unnecessary software

Remember how you were instructed to purchase MyPCBackUp software as your condition of ‘certification?’ Well, you have absolutely no need of this software in order to complete free trial offers with MyFlexJob. So, why would this company have you purchase useless software? Well, they are paid up to $120 per lead (read: YOU) they get to install the MyPCBackup software.

Hopefully, if you’ve already purchased this software, you can write the company and get a refund.

The Bottom Line

While My Flex Job is not an outright scam, it has too many red flags and elusive terminology for me to wholeheartedly recommend it as a legitimate work-at-home opportunity.

At best, you’ll complete trial offers on this site that will allow you to reach your $50 threshold and cash out your earnings. At worst, you’ll sign up for offers that will either cost money up-front or result in you forgetting about them, at which point you’ll end up paying even more money for products/services you never wanted in the first place.

There are simpler and easier methods for making a few extra bucks that don’t involve paying for software you don’t need and products/services you never wanted.

Should You Trust Davison Inventions with Your Big Idea?

Written By:Halina Zakowicz

Published On: March 30, 2016

If you have ever had an idea for an invention, you’ve probably had an online encounter or three with Davison Inventions. This company has operated under several different names since 1989, including the following:

Davison Inventing Method
Davison & Associates Inc.
Davison Design and Development, Inc.
Manufacturer’s Support Services, Inc.
Davison International
Davison Innovations

What is Davison Inventions?

Davison is an inventor services company that advertises that it will help develop and market your invention idea to manufacturing companies for eventual distribution of the actualized product to stores. Davison provides a number of invention services, including patent research, patent filing, product development/design, manufacturer research, commercial/retailer match, and royalty negotiation.

Here is an example email I recently received from Davison:

If you go to the company’s website, you’ll find the following information displayed:

Davison

For an aspiring inventor who is struggling to get her product to market, Davison sounds like a good idea. The company offers to help with the invention patenting process, find manufacturers to create the product, and even negotiate with area stores to stock and sell the finalized product. Davison even features several videos highlighting inventors who turned their ideas into store products.

So, why would you not trust this company to help you realize your big idea?

The problem with Davison Inventions

Unfortunately, the company has been criticized numerous times by burnt inventors, who state that they paid thousands of dollars to work with Davison and saw nothing come of their collaboration. Online complaints include the following:

To be fair, Davison has faithfully replied to and addressed many of these online complaints. However, there are many upon many such complaints, and far more than would be normal for a standard invention help service. Searching online, one finds many scam and review sites listing complaints about Davison.

Back in 2006, the complaints reached a crisis level and the FTC became involved. The FTC case against Davison, as well as its resolution, is posted here.

My personal experience with Davison

A while back, I submitted a product idea of my own to Davison. The product in question was what I called a “Human-Powered TV.” This product converted energy generated by an exercising human into voltage that could be used to power a device such as a TV.

Davison emailed me immediately after I made my submission. Keep in mind that I had not yet paid any money to the company at this point in time.

I found it heartening that Davison had addressed its involvement with the FTC and had provided at least an acknowledgment of its many critics.

I replied to their email and emphasized my concern about paying thousands of dollars for services that might result in me getting no closer to a realized product than when I’d first begun putting my idea to paper. I also asked why Davison had hundreds of online complaints about its services.

Within a day, I received a rebuttal email that addressed some of my concerns. Here is an excerpt:

While this is a great rebuttal to some of my concerns, it doesn’t completely answer why there are so many complaints about Davison even on third party review sites. Shouldn’t such review sites be populated with all kinds of reviews- negative, neutral and positive?

I eventually had a phone call with one of Davison’s agents; however, at this point in time, I decided to ask other key questions. For starters, I asked which specific companies would be approached about my invention idea.

My Davison agent, to his credit, provided me with actual names of existing manufacturing companies. He did not say if these companies had been approached about my specific invention, however.

We then discussed whether Davison had ever blatantly refused to develop any invention idea. This topic came up because one of the criticisms about this company is that it will claim any and every invention idea has potential and is worthy of being marketed. I also asked how my invention had been deemed worthy of being developed.

Davison’s agent was more vague about answering this particular question, stating that it would be up to the manufacturers to decide.

The agent then gave me a ballpark figure for moving forward with my invention. I would need to pay $600 to initiate a patent search on my idea. Prototyping would run another $5K-$8K. There was also a “marketing package” that would require development and cost $1K-$2K.

I replied that I would “need to think about it” and the conversation ended there. I received a few more emails and voicemails from the Davison agent, but after a month had passed, they ended.

Why did I not pursue a collaboration with Davison?

Sloppy research

Davison presented me with a good pep talk for filing an invention patent and building a prototype. Everything sounded great until I happened to do an online search for human-powered devices, including TVs. Without too much effort, I quickly discovered that human-powered electronic devices had not only already been introduced, but even sold.

Had Davison chosen to do even five minutes on pre-research on my behalf, we would’ve known that my invention idea was a bust.

So, had I agreed to pay for a patent search, I would’ve already been out $600, and for information that was freely available through Google.

Numerous complaints

Although every company has its share of negative reviews, the many complaints against Davison are worrisome. Likewise, there are no review sites or former Davison clients providing positive reviews about this company.

There is also the FTC filed lawsuit to consider, wherein Davison was named as one of 11 companies involved in an invention scam.

High cost of commitment

Davison asks for several thousand dollars up-front for services that may or may not result in a marketable product- or even a product at all. Meanwhile, there are far cheaper ways to build your prototype, including using an area hackerspace. You might also fund your invention idea by using crowdsourcing sites like Kickstarter or submitting your idea to a business pitch contest.

Summary

While it’s challenging to call Davison Inventions an outright scam, there is enough evidence and negative customer feedback that you are well advised to be wary when dealing with this company. If you do plan to work with Davison, don’t invest any capital that you need for essentials like food, utilities or your mortgage. Finally, keep in mind that seeing any invention pay off is a gamble no matter who is handling the marketing and negotiations.

Our Review of Work At Home EDU/WAH EDU

Written By:Halina Zakowicz

Published On: March 28, 2016

Work at Home EDU, or WAH EDU, starts out innocently enough, promising to teach you how to succeed in your “online business” through a “complete educational program.”

As you scroll down the WAH EDU sales page, you learn that you’ll be provided with 100 HD videos that teach you the “basics of an internet business.” You also get “general videos” about the internet marketing mindset, “basic videos” about linking strategy, and an introduction to the “fundamentals of an online business.”

The sales page notes that much of this information is ideally suited for those who are new to internet marketing and making money online. The sales page also mentions how the videos “cover more advanced techniques.”

At the very bottom of this form, you find a link to a checkout page. There, you are asked to pay $97 for 3 months of access to WAH EDU. Interestingly, the checkout page provides you with a 2-month satisfaction guarantee within your 3-month access subscription- however, you have just 30 days from the date of purchase to get a refund.

Why am I emphasizing how many times WAH EDU uses the terms “basic,” “general,” and so on?

Because it is my belief that WAH EDU provides you with a very generalized and dare I say, generic, education about how to make money online through Internet marketing. This education is available for free through other work-at-home and online marketing blogs and websites.

It’s also my belief that WAH EDU carefully crafts its sales page language to later market additional products to you as cross-sells and up-sells. It does this because it knows its basic information on Internet marketing will be insufficient to get you started at actually making money online.

WAH EDU: The tip of the scam iceberg

Here is the current iteration of the WAH EDU sales page, which incidentally looks a lot like the now defunct sales pages from WAH University, Online Home Careers University, and Work at Home EDU:

WAH EDU

The copy used on this page is fairly generic and simply promises to train you in the basic of Internet marketing, whatever that is. The page eventually notes that advanced concepts will include items such as social media, social bookmarking, article and video marketing, SEO, PPC, and media buying.

You also get unlimited support by phone and email, and a free subscription to a newsletter.

All this looks fine until you start to do some digging into the history of this sales page, which has been online since at least May of 2011. Using an archive tool like Wayback Machine and digging into the history of WAH EDU, I found out that there is a lot more going on with this site than first meets the eye.

1. Questionable refund policy

The WAH EDU refund policy states that it has a “rock solid” refund policy of either 60 days or 30 days.

The policy also makes this one eyebrow-raising statement:

When a refund policy tells me that customer service is going to contact me for “any additional details,” that makes me a bit suspect- especially when the initial refund page states that it has a “No Questions Asked” guarantee.

If I use the Wayback Machine to elaborate on these discrepancies, I find out that earlier WAH EDU refund policies noted that the refund would occur only if the member had used the provided materials in accordance with certain WAH EDU policies and procedures.

That doesn’t sound like a Rock Solid money-back guarantee to me.

There are also these comments to think about, provided by WAH EDU members who wanted to get a refund:

refund

2. Up-sells/cross-sells

WAH EDU’s current Terms & Conditions page gives a very vague statement about how or whether it plans to inundate you with other sales offers. The old T&C page from early 2015 shows the following script, however:

Going through online forums, past WAH EDU members ad the following to say about how much they really ended up paying for the program:

refund3

refund1

3. False news/spokespeople/testimonials

When you use the Wayback Machine to its full capacity, you can find links to pages that WAH EDU tried to rewrite and bury years ago- but never quite succeeded in doing so. These pages are filled with fake news and news videos, fake spokepeople that have their photos derived from stock image sites, and fake promises of big earnings.

For example, Michelle Robinson is touted as one of the satisfied customers of WAH EDU. Interestingly, this woman’s photo matches the photo provided for Bobbie Robinson of Work at Home Institute and Michelle Withrow of Work at Home EDU. The photo in question is derived from iStockphoto.

There is also a list of news sites that have supposedly featured this program:

However, this exact same sticker has been used on other scam work-at-home sites, including Work at Home EDU. As for the actual news, there is no way you can find it and the sticker itself has no link.

The fake promises of big earnings clearly conflict with the disclaimer areas of the site, which state the following:

Last but not least, WAH EDU has resorted to using “buy now!” sales tactics in order to hurry potential customers along in the sales process before they get a chance to consider their actual purchase:

The Bottom Line

WAH EDU is just another iteration of “work-at-home” sites such as Work at Home University, Work at Home EDU, Online Home Careers University, etc. The scammers operate out of Houston, at least according to the “support” phone number provided on the checkout page. However, that support line is merely a cover so that you call it and become inundated with cross-sell and up-sell products.

My advice is to steer clear of WAH EDU and its various other versions.

How I Figure that 7 Figure Club is a Scam

Written By:Halina Zakowicz

Published On: August 17, 2015

“You’re about to make $1,000,000 in the next 27 days. Guaranteed.”

So starts the spiel of Martin Taylor, the spokesman for the 7 Figure Club. Here’s a photo of Martin.

After we see some glowing customer testimonial videos, Martin’s spiel continues. “I want to make ten invites into millionaires within a month.”

In fact, Martin says that, if you’re not a millionaire in 27 days, he’ll pay you $10,000 out of his own pocket.

Why is Martin being so generous? He doesn’t say. How does Martin plan to pay you $10,000 of his own money? He also doesn’t say.

And just how are you guaranteed to become a millionaire?

By using Martin’s state-of-the-art binary options trading software, apparently. This software “requires zero financial knowledge, sets up in a few clicks, and operates on autopilot.” It’s also completely free to use.

Martin notes that you could “take your daughter to dance recital, stop by the grocery store, and come home to find that you’ve made $358,900.” That’s how automated this automatic software really is.

After you input your name and email, you see a second sales video. Here, Martin explains how you’ll be earning your cash.

Oh, what a tangled web 7 Figure Club weaves…

Martin explains that you’ll be making money by, in essence, riding the financial coattails of automated binary options trades. “You just register, for free, when a new guaranteed profitable trade is available and you get paid that money into your account.”

It took me some time to understand how this would work.

Somehow, if you register your account when a trade is about to be placed and- I assume- won, you get to keep the money from that binary option trade.

But wait!

Before you can proceed with your registration, Martin has some bad news: All ten spots have been filled.

Or, maybe not…

Martin then goes on about how you can still register for an account before all spots are filled. Huh?

You’ll also need to register an account with Martin’s recommended broker. Why? Because Martin’s software is “built to interface with my broker’s system,” and so “he’s the only one with compatible software to mine.” In fact, “anyone other than my broker will not be able to connect, which means they can’t make trades and collect your binary profits.”

Martin notes that his broker is ISA authorized, which increases security and better protects your investments. What is the ISA?

I searched “ISA certified brokers” on Google but was unable to find anything that defined ISA in terms of brokers. I did locate information on customs brokers, however, and how U.S. Customs and Border Protection asks them to complete importer self assessments, or ISAs. But how does this relate to trading software?

There’s a method to the madness

Once you input your name, email and phone number into the form on the second sales page, you are directed to Martin’s recommended broker. In this case, it is Bee Options.

Once on the Bee Options page, I learned that in order to activate the 7 Figure Club software, I would need to make a deposit of $600.

The fact that you must pay $600 to use the 7 Figure Club software already tells me that this freebie isn’t really free.

I also learned something else: 7 Figure Club is offered as an affiliate product on Clicksure.

When a product offers affiliates a $250 commission per sale, is it any wonder that there are at least three pages of search results sporting “positive” reviews for 7 Figure Club? Also, these reviews all contain affiliate links such as the following:

http://7figureclub.co/?clickID =2010888350&aff=enator&c=US&tid=102cabad89db56762f53f5289a6d10&aff_id=5584

What else is askew with 7 Figure Club?

7 Figure Club features several customer testimonials, including the following:

Upon closer inspection, it appears that the happy customers are actually actors who sell their testimonials on Fiverr at the rate of $5/testimonial.

There are also these “security measures” that the site provides:

There are no links associated with these security seals, which makes them essentially ornamental. The same can be said of the following news announcements- if you can’t click on the trademarks and find the associated story, then the announcement might as well be imaginary.

The website shows the following countdown of spots left available:

This counter eventually goes to just one spot left available. However, if you refresh your page, you again have “9 spots left” on the counter.

Summary

The 7 Figure Club proposes that it will make you a millionaire in under a month, but provides no strategy on how that will happen, just actor-based testimonials. You are also told that you will be paid $10,000 from Martin Taylor’s personal funds if he fails to make you a millionaire- yet again there is no strategy provided or even how you would receive those funds. Furthermore, you are on the hook for $600 of your own money if you try the software out. This is nothing but a plain old binary options scam, and the only winners here are the affiliates and brokers, not you.

I’ve Tried That Investigates: Partner with Paul

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Last Updated:April 30, 2015

We’ve receive a couple of requests to review Partner with Paul and find out exactly what happens when you partner up with Paul. It shouldn’t surprise you when I say the results are less than thrilling.

The Claims

The following quotes have been pulled directly from Paul’s website.

What I’m offering is a realistic plan that can help you make an extra $500 to $5,000 a month, right now, and then we’ll go from there depending on what you want to do.
…
What I’m hoping though is that once you get a little taste of making money online you’ll want to take things to the next level, and maybe even work from home full-time.
…
If you do I’ll personally work with you one-on-one, coach you, and share with you the custom tools I use to make 5- and even 6-figures a MONTH from just a single online business.

But don’t worry, making money online is easy when you know how …

You DON’T need to be an Internet expert or “computer geek”

You DON’T need to have any prior marketing or business experience

You DON’T need a lot of free time – even a few hours a week is enough to start

You DON’T need to mess with the hassles of a “real” business – this is EASY

Even if you get “weeded out”, you’ll still make $500+ a month

P.S. My friend Mike made $862.50 in his first month, $1298.32 in his second month, and is on track to make about $1,500 a month from here on out working just 3-4 hours a week. This has literally changed his life, and he’s really excited about making even more money online.

Disclaimer: This is not a “get rich quick” scheme. You will have to work to make money. While the average person can easily make $500 to $5,000 a month online, making any amount of money requires specialized knowledge and the appropriate effort.

Let’s review our scam checklist, shall we?

Anonymous online figure claiming to make millions of dollars online… check.
Screenshots that “prove” these earnings… check.
Claims that ANYONE can make an upper-class income in their spare time… check.
Absolutely no mention of what you’ll be doing to make money… check.
A countdown timer claiming entrance to the program is going to expire… check.

Once again we have a website from an anonymous figure claiming he makes more money than you do online and you’re a sucker for waiting this long to not send him money.

The Truth

Remember that company that was widely popular in the late 90’s that sold pills that may or may not have caused you to lose weight and either get hepatitis or die? Yes, Herbalife. Well, now for only $39.95 you too can receive a useless pack of marketing materials that show you how to become a multi-level marketer and waste more time and money than you can afford.

Click here to learn more about online scams and how to protect yourself.

The Proof

I got an email from him (Paul) and it he seems to be upfront and honest.

Seems to be yes!
BUT if he were TRULY ‘upfront and honest’ he would tell you right off the bat that this is HERBALIFE!!

Herbalife may be a good company, but it has definitely suffered from typical MLM associated problems, at least as far as IMAGE is concerned!
That’s why most MLM’s won’t even tell you their name until they feel they have your complete attention.

I got involved though, as far as getting the ‘work at home starter kit’ because, he offered to pay for the shipping. AND, he promised I’d be earning money within TWO WEEKS of receiving the ‘the work at home starter kit’.

Apparently he did pay for shipping.
I got the $9.95 shipping cost refunded to my PAYPAL account.

I see no way in hell that one can make a DIME with that ‘work at home starter kit’ though!
He also offers some free memberships in online opps that are supposed to make money for you.
Since you won’t make any money doing surveys or working an online dollar store either, you will have to pay to ship that ‘work at home starter kit’ BACK to where it came from – and where it BELONGS!

That’s the whole of the story basically but for details:

The $9.95 ‘work at home starter kit’ is no more than an advertisement package:
A 12 page booklet with one CD and one DVD in the inner folds.
The ENTIRE DVD is a presentation on the value of a home based business v. working for someone else.
(Does anyone already looking to do a home business really need this kind of reminder?
Seems like a waste of a DVD to me!)

The CD is an audio collection of success statements of those who got involved with OBS (online business systems – but really HERBALIFE).

The 12 page booklet partially describes this ‘opportunity’ in every way, except to tell you that it’s HERBALIFE!
And, you won’t find the word HERBALIFE mentioned in the DVD, CD, or booklet!
AMAZIN’!!

This 12 page booklet and CD/DVD will ‘cost’ you $39.95 if you don’t return it in a ‘resaleable condition’.

But I fail to see where a 12 page document (hardly even a booklet) and two discs are worth $39.95 in the first place!
I also fail to see where this is a ANY kind of ‘work at home starter kit’ either.
I know I can’t start work at home using this kit!

‘Paul’ said that within 2 weeks they will ask you for $39.95 but ‘you will have earned way more by that time’.
I guess this is supposed to refer to the programs he offers in conjunction with the ‘partner with paul’ package:
SURVEY SCOUT
FREE ONLINE DOLLAR STORE
And some other program so equally useless, I am not even going to go through the trouble of trying to re-locate the name of.

You will finally find out you are previewing HERBALIFE when your ‘coach’ gives you the call.
My coach was polite and informative and also mentioned that ‘they’ weren’t taking a hard line on the return of the $39.95 ‘package’ as to deadline or condition – just be reasonable.
That’s good.
BUT THAT PACKAGE STILL AIN’T WORTH $39.95!!!

Doing HERBALIFE requires scheduling phone calls so I would reject their offer on that basis alone – which could have saved EVERYONE involved in this both time AND money, if they had simply told me that beforehand (I will have to pay to mail this package-thing back after all!).

I believe my coach was making money with HERBALIFE but, once I heard the name HERBALIFE associated with OBS – after doing some ‘googling’, I was turned off and hoping that I would discover something different when I received my package.

FINALLY,
Mr. ‘Upfront and Honest’ says that the offer expires on ‘midnight or sooner’ of whatever day you click on to partnerwithpaul.com.

And apparently, this ‘offer’ hasn’t ‘expired’ yet!

I followed a link in a ‘Manifestation Meditation’ newsletter from Justin Blake at newsletter@jbvirtualnews.com promoting a home-business via Partnerwithpaul.com. This website showed a video of ‘Paul’ w/ a ‘fuzzed-out’ face, (red-flag #1) and blacked out last name (red-flag #2). He was promoting a home-business that he ‘developed’ and wanted to share it with those interested in having a business also. He talked about ‘trust’…ha, ha! You were asked to fill out a form and he would send you a DVD explaining his business. I rec’d a DVD/booklet w/ a letter from someone claiming to be my Personal Coach, Kristy Borrowe. I was charged $9.95 for S&H (which I agreed to & paid w/a cc). Got it yesterday. I wasted almost 1.5 hrs. of my time reading/viewing a DVD that was all about HERBALIFE and was hosted by an Herbalife distributor(s) called Emiko and Doran Andry, trying to recruit. This Andry guy was convincing at first, but I became very suspicious when he would reveal the name of the business or company & claims to have made $1million in one month during his career. I didn’t want a DVD about an MLM..that is NOT what I believed I was going to be receiving.

If I had known that, I NEVER, EVER would have followed-through. This absolutely constitutes deceitful, and unlawful business practices on the behalf of everyone involved in this transaction: Justin Blake, Paul (whatever his last name is), Kristy Borrowe, the Herbalife Corporation and its distributors, Doran and Emiko Andry.

For any of these individuals to admits to being innocent of this knowledge is flat-out WRONG. If you have to stoop this low to get people to ‘buy into’ the business, your trust & your MLM goes out the door. Shame on you!

York2007
Daly city, California
U.S.A.

There it is.

Don’t partner with Paul.

How Does Partner with Paul Compare?

I’ve Tried That has been reviewing products since 2007. In that time, there’s one program that stands above the rest. It’s free to get started, has no ridiculous hidden charges, and will help you build a sustainable income from home.

Let’s see how Partner With Paul compares…

Roy Tribble of Scam Watchdog: The #1 Most UNtrusted Binary Options Review Site

Written By:Halina Zakowicz

Published On: April 1, 2015

Question: What’s the easiest way you can make your latest binary options get-rich-quick scheme seem legit, especially when there are websites like RealScam exposing it for the scam that it is?

Answer: You generate the persona of a trusted retiree who now tests binary options trading platforms and can tell the scams from the legitimate ones. Furthermore, this “expert” is so outraged by other online scammers that he calls them out by name and attempts to debunk their “scams.”

Case in point: “Roy Tribble” of Scam Watchdog. Here’s Roy decrying how affiliate marketers (you know, scammers) push their wares on unsuspecting online consumers and use nefarious means to capture emails. By the way, please note the photo placed next to the name of Roy Tribble- you’ll see this same photo later on in my review.

This character claims that he is testing binary options trading platforms and setting aside the ones that pay out at least 51% of the time. Furthermore, this financial expert not only reviews the platforms for you, he also integrates the “winners” with his own free trading software, so that the chances of you making money on your binary options are even better.

Roy claims that he is making no money whatsoever from promoting the decent binary options platforms. He also wags his finger at sites like One More Cup of Coffee for posting affiliate links and trying to capture reader emails. However, if you click on one of the binary options platforms that Roy recommends (where the text says ‘Click here to sign up’), such as the Artificial Intelligence App, you’ll see something intriguing about that link:

The entire link, when clicked, appears as follows:

http://aiapp.co/?transaction_ id= 102d4d2404177637faffba77ff8963 &offer_id=138&affiliate_id=1&affiliate_sub=490227940 &affiliate_sub2=cubd1& affiliate_sub3=&affiliate_sub4=&affiliate_sub5=

Gee, this looks like an affiliate link to me!

On the above page, Roy claims that he is making good money using the AI App. I’ve Tried That recently published an AI App review and found it to be a complete scam full of fake testimonials and an imaginary Dr. John Clark, PhD.

Here’s another link that Roy posted to his other recommendation, Binary Matrix Pro: http://www.binarymatrixpro.com/?clickID=490653260&affname=cubd1&S1=

Yet another affiliate link. Just like with AI App, I’ve Tried That also published a Binary Matrix Pro review and found it to be a scam.

As for not capturing emails, Roy’s site eventually asks you to sign up for his newsletter through several different means, including this pop-up.

What really drives Scam Watchdog?

If you listen to Roy’s Welcome Message to New Visitors, you’ll hear a supposedly 62-year old retiree tell you how he created his amazing binary options software after talking to a binary options expert. Of course, Roy “can’t name who he is yet” but “I may do that in the future.” This trading expert told Roy a big secret about binary options trading that then led Roy to create his own super signal software.

That’s the flowery introduction to Scam Watchdog. But what really drives the site is this: Roy reviews and recommends binary options trading platforms to his readers. The recommended trading platforms are all affiliate linked to Roy. He also recommends that his readers accumulate and open a minimum of 20 (or even 40) of his “Master List” of recommended platforms.

After his readers have opened up all these platforms, Roy promises to give them his free Super Signals software to link to those 20 or even 40 platforms. Supposedly, this free software will improve the readers’ odds of making the correct call on a binary option, resulting in them “winning” their yes/no calls more than 51% of the time.

Naturally, no binary options platform is going to operate without a cash infusion. Typical binary options platforms require at least a $250 minimum investment. Thus, a person who opens and funds even 20 of Roy’s recommended platforms needs to invest at least 20 x $250 = $5,000.

What Roy never states is that, when people open and fund those recommended trading platforms listed on his Master List, good ol’ Roy gets a big fat commission from every new account. Many binary options platforms pay as much as a 50% commission per subscriber. Thus, even if a person provides his trading software for free, he still earns money.

Then there is the matter of the recommended trading platforms. One such platform that Roy recommends is CTOption. This platform pays out only 50% of your initially placed sum if your option expires in the money (i.e., you make the correct call on an option). If your option expires out of the money (i.e., you make an incorrect call on an option), you lose your entire payout or 100%. So, on average, your calls will result in a net loss for you.

Of course, Roy’s software is intended to improve your odds of having your options expire in the money. However, he doesn’t talk much about the software or how much it improves your odds. Roy mostly talks about the other binary options platforms you need to download and fund.

Who is Roy really?

Even if you’re willing to take the risk and use the binary options trading platforms that Roy recommends, consider the following troubling indicators about the individual who goes by the name of Roy Tribble. Here is a picture of the guy you are supposedly getting trading advice from:

Roy looks fairly trustworthy, at least according to his photo (which also appears on his LinkedIn and Google+ accounts). However, a simple Google image search reveals the following truth about Roy:

It looks like Roy is available for the low resolution price of $50.

Another troubling indicator with Roy is, when you go to his Google+ account, the following URL is displayed:

https:// plus.google.com/u/0/+drbillhweld/posts

Scam Watchdog also uses the URL of billhweld.blogspot.com after you click on any of its internal links.

Who is this Dr. Bill H. Weld? Luckily, the WayBack Machine provides a possible answer. If you use WaybackMachine and go to June 25, 2014, you find the following information displayed on the billhweld.blogspot.com website:

Who is Justin Tribble?

If you search on his name via Google, you will eventually find several websites and YouTube videos that link Justin to a “Nano Domestic Quell” hoax involving a man named Dr. Bill H. Weld. The story behind Nano Domestic Quell is that the U.S. government is conspiring to infect all citizens with a deadly flu virus that can be triggered at a moment’s notice through cell phone towers.

On the Scam Watchdog website, there is a page where Roy Tribble explains the entire conspiracy that his “nephew,” Justin Tribble, had become involved in. Roy emphatically denies that Dr. Bill H. Weld is not a real person or a hoax. There’s just one problem with Roy’s denial- there is a YouTube video in which Justin is documented as confessing to the Bill H. Weld hoax. How is this explained away?

On Roy’s page, it’s noted that the U.S. government forced Justin to confess that the Dr. Bill H. Weld flu virus conspiracy was a hoax:

So, to recap, I had “admitted” the “hoax”.

However, just a year prior, that same Justin Tribble was the perpetrator of an actual hoax, which he did admit to on ABC news. This earlier hoax involved Justin tweeting that a well-known pastor (Joel Osteen) was going to resign from his ministry. The minister graciously chose to turn the other cheek (i.e., not sue Justin) regarding this prank.

The ABC news segment showed Justin’s Nevada driver’s license at one point. On that screen shot, the license shows the name of Justin Roy Tribble.

So, according to these data, it appears that Roy is Justin. And if Roy is Justin, and Justin has pulled off at least one officially documented prank, then how believable is the entire Scam Watchdog site anyway?

The Bottom Line with Scam Watchdog

Would you entrust your investment decisions to someone who generates online hoaxes and posts stock photos of himself? I know I wouldn’t. Likewise, would you use software that is created by someone who can’t even name his secret source/expert and who provides no evidence of how this software looks or functions?

If you want to start engaging in binary options trading, there are plenty of registered platforms out there that have been examined by the SEC. Otherwise, you stand to lose your invested funds very easily.

Copying and Pasting Will Never Make Money for You

Written By:Dean Robinson

Last Updated:March 25, 2015

Quick Summary

Rating: 0 out of 10. 0 out of 10. 0 out of 10.

Pros: None. Nada. Nope. No pros.

Cons: It’s a modern day envelope stuffing scheme. “Pay money to learn how to build this exact website to get people to pay money to learn how to build this exact website!” etc. etc.

Our Recommendation: This isn’t a way to build a business online. Instead, learn how to create a REAL internet marketing business that can build you a sustainable stream of income in the long run. Click here to check out our top recommendation on how to do this. It’s free to get started and won’t have you stuffing envelopes.

Full Review

Some people dream of being able to make money at the press of a button, to be able to have cash pouring into their bank accounts whilst they sip margaritas on a foreign shore.

Let’s be clear, the first bit about making money easily isn’t true and never will be. There will always be hard work and effort required to earn money, whether that be in a brick and mortar business or working from home online.

The second part can be true, but only after you have done the hard work!

Copy Paste Cash at copypastecash.com sells the first part of this dream and they sell it very well. Their sales page is slick and pulls on all the right heart strings to get you thinking that actually, this system, this amazingly simple sounding system could be the one to change my life.

One time. Lifetime! It’s your time!

And it only costs a one off fee of $30 bucks.

How it works

The premise is simple, you copy some predefined adverts supplied to you by Copy Paste Cash and post them on classified advert websites such as Cragslist or Backpage and you earn a commission for each person that registers and pays.

Super easy!

Too easy!

The Problem with Easy

There are definitely some major flaws with this system.

First off, this system has been around a little while now which means that it has been used by thousands of people already. As you will be using the same adverts as the other members of this system, it quickly becomes problematic as you are all spamming, yes spamming the same adverts.

What this means is that the sites you are submitting the adverts too quickly realise what is happening as they are seeing hundreds of the same adverts posted every day.

As such, the adverts will be “ghosted” by the classified site. Ghosting is a way in which the classified companies deal with spam. Instead of blocking the advert and alerting the spammer that there is a problem, it pretends that the advert has gone through ok, but in reality it hasn’t.

Imagine if you will that you have spent hours copying and pasting these adverts, day in day out, and that all that hard work is wasted because they aren’t going anywhere as the adverts have been marked as spam.

That’s a lot of wasted time, and time is money.

Not only that but if you had used your own account to post these, then it is likely you are now marked as a spammer.

A further issue with Copy Paste Cash is that the click through rate and subsequent signups are terrible. I have seen evidence of a user with over 1 million total clicks, and a conversion of around 1600. This is a conversion rate of way less than 1%!

In some situations, I would have thought that perhaps the marketer in question was doing something wrong, that he had made an error somewhere. However, he is using the same adverts provided by the makers of the system. Really then, the only error is an error in judgement at purchasing the system in the first place.

Due to the nature of this system there is no residual income, there is no auto pilot, you have to manually add the adverts, and with that sort of conversion rate you are literally earning pennies per hour.

You can say good bye to the margaritas!

The Training

The system does provide basic training beyond copying and pasting, in internet marketing. The training only becomes available gradually as you earn points for doing actions like posting adverts. It forces you to do the work to get the information which was part of the product you bought.

The training isn’t in itself bad, it is just that the information is very much entry level with nothing to take you further and is already available on the internet freely, or with better support and guidance via other paid for services.

Recycling Rubbish

The worst thing about this system in my mind is that by using it you are perpetuating it, because you are not promoting products or services or even information, you are promoting the system itself.

Think about it, the system only promotes the system. Nothing good ever came of that. This is just a modern day envelope stuffing scheme.

The Bottom Line

Copy Paste Cash is a borderline scam, it offers very little in value and its whole system is flawed to the point of failure, requiring a massive amount of time and energy to be input for very few rewards.

Is this system worth $29.5? Absolutely not! Avoid this one unless you like wasting time and money and perpetuating spam.

Do Not Buy the Online Cash Success Kit.

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Last Updated:March 25, 2015

Quick Summary

Rating: 0. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Pros: See: rating.

Cons: It’s a negative opt-in scam. You give your credit card information over to pay for “shipping and handling” and you’re roped into hundreds of dollars of charges that you didn’t sign up for. I don’t think any more cons are required.

Our Recommendation: You can learn how to build a business online, for free, without having to give up your credit card information just to sign up. In fact, if you click here and check out our top recommendation, you’ll see exactly that.

Full Review

We have yet another new “Google” scam making the rounds on the Internet today; however, this time the main targets appear to be Facebook users. If you’ve landed on this page through a search engine, you’re probably wondering if this program is legitimate. It isn’t and the “free” trial could cost you hundreds of dollars. If you’re trying to get your money back from these guys, keep reading.

The Online Cash Success Kit Scam

The scam isn’t with the product itself, but rather the various monthly memberships you are immediately signed up for upon joining under a free trial. The fine print on the website claims that if you do not cancel your free trial within 7 days, you will be charged a monthly membership fee for various programs. Despite the 7-day warning, we’ve read numerous reports from victims stating that their trial money was taken, and then the following day around $80 in unauthorized charges was pulled from their bank accounts.

You do not want these people to have access to your personal and banking information.

Actual Customer Testimonials

I paid the $3.00 to find out what the earnings were all about. They use Googgles name as a lure to sucker you in. It has nothing to do with Google. In 1 day my credit card was charged $79.86. I called today, Monday, and the girl said she would cancel my membership. I insisted on receiving a refund, but, that is not their policy. I told her to send me the merchandise then because I wasn’t going to just let them have the money. I was transferred to a supervisor where I made a much bigger stink telling him I would file fraud charges with the bank and anyone else I could. He then told me he would see that I got my refund. We’ll see! Too bad our Gov can’t stop these scam artists.

We signed up for what we thought was a legitimate Google company. We still don’t know for sure who is running this company. The terms and conditions said we wouldn’t be charged for 7 days. This is what printed out after we signed up. We were charged $79.00 in 2 days. The terms said $47.50 on the 15th day after we signed up. Their customer service claimed this wasn’t their terms and conditions. How could they make that claim when the name was exactly the same and printed out on the screens we signed up on? Either someone didn’t proofread their terms or they are cheating the public using Google’s name to do so.

How to Get Your Money Back

Call this number: 1-888-591-2190. You may have a long wait, but it’s one of the few numbers out there that work. You need to make it very clear that you want to cancel every single monthly charge and that you want a refund on the money that they have taken out of your bank account.

I’ve read multiple reports that they have flat out refused to give refunds. If they refuse, demand to speak with a supervisor. Let them know you will be filing a chargeback through your credit card or banking company and you will be reporting everything to the FTC. Usually this is enough to get your money back.

You now need to do three things:

File a fraudulent charge claim with your credit card or bank if they refuse to give you a refund. Explain to them your situation and the refused refund and let them know this company is notorious for taking money. Insist they perform a chargeback. They have the tools and information available to fight for your money.
File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. It is their job to monitor and go after these types of scams. Visit: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/contact.shtm
File a complaint with your state Attorney General. Contact details here: http://www.naag.org/attorneys_general.php

JustThink Media Contact Information

These guys are operating more scams than we could count. They range from teeth whitening, to Acai Berry, to Google money scams.

Just Think Media
Corporate Head Office
Suite 204, 85 Cranford Way
Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA T8H 0H9
Phone: 780.416.0211
Fax: 780.416.0218
Careers@justthinkmedia.com
Corporate@justthinkmedia.com
Legal@justthinkmedia.com
Customer Service
1-888-591-2190
customerservice@justthinkmedia.com
Owner: Jesse Willams

If you’re fighting for a refund, I wish you luck. Be sure to outline any details in the comments below. It would be great to have verified methods of getting your money back from these guys.

EPS Prosperity Hotline – Hotline to Prosperity or Ruin?

Written By:Dean Robinson

Last Updated:March 25, 2015

Quick Summary

Rating: 0 out of 10 for legitimacy. 10 out of 10 for junk mail.

Pros: None. Absolutely none. Unless you count losing money as a pro. Then there’s that one. But for us normal folk, there are no pros here.

Cons: This isn’t a way to build a business. Hell, we’re not even sure it’s legal or how the company is still operating. You’re basically paying for an exact replica of the site to get people to buy the exact replica of a site from you and so on and so forth.

Full Review

Sometimes I look at a website to review and I think to myself “My review should be one word long: Avoid!”.

That was my exact thought when I came across EPS Prosperity Hotline.com. This site screams scam.

First off, they are promising you $25 per email that you process, which sounds really good, I mean who wouldn’t want to earn $25 bucks for replying to an email?

Their earnings statements are interesting to say the least as although they state it isn’t a get rich quick scheme, they do an awful lot of pushing that you can make thousands per day.

It works the way that you are provided with 3 pre written adverts, though I am sure you can write your own if you prefer, and advised to post them to Craigslist.

Anyone who responds to this ad will need to be sent promotional information and if they join you get the $25.

The fee is a one-time $25 with an optional $10 to get a “website just like this one”.

Are there any flaws to this system?

There are plenty of flaws. To begin with let’s take a look at the actual product you are promoting, drum roll please; you are promoting the same site you just signed up to!

That’s right; there are no products, no services, nothing. Your main aim is to get people to do the same thing that you are doing.

This is just a modern day version of the envelope stuffing scams that were running rampant years ago. You are making money by promoting the idea of making money.

The only ways in which this differs from a standard pyramid scheme is that there is an extremely short “downline” (just you) and that the site owners are not part of the downline.

I am tempted to coin a new phrase and call this a “ziggurat scheme”.

You may be wondering how the parent company is making money off of this as the $25 dollars goes to you not them.

The only thing I can ascertain is that they make money from the “website” which in fact is just their website with an affiliate link.

It’s actually quite a clever way of making money off of people. Get people to sign up – in fact you cannot even sign up directly, you have to go through a person’s link to do so – and then get them to do the work in spreading the word about the system.

All they need to do is set up the site to automate the affiliate link and let’s say most people buy the “website” offer at $10 bucks, that’s easy cash.

And then there is the Craiglist flaw. OK, so you don’t need to use Craiglist and there are other possibilities listed for you, but that’s the main one they push.

Unfortunately, but really not a surprise, Craiglist has already started blocking the 3 default adverts you are supplied with, meaning you will need to use other ways and methods to spread the word or different adverts.

If you have little to no marketing acumen you may struggle to get a return due to this.

It would be no surprise to me if other classified advert places and the like are banning anything to do with this site.

There are other issues I have with this scheme: there is no refund policy at all and their sales page lists fake badges to Honest Jobs Online (who are they? I can’t trace them) and security sites.

The Bottom Line

Everything about this site screams scam! Somebody I know put me on to this site and as soon as I saw it I told them to avoid it like the plague!

That being said, I wouldn’t be giving an honest review if I didn’t tell you that you can probably make money from this.

You may be wondering why I am calling it a scam and yet saying it is profitable? Well, for me it comes down to what you are selling and the ethics behind it.

You are selling thin air and promises. If there isn’t anything tangible, be it physical, digital or a service, then it is a scam.

I also find it highly unethical for the same reasons; you are recruiting people in order to make money from their recruitment, and putting them into a situation where they in turn need to recruit people to make money.

I can’t tell you what to do, but my advice is to steer clear of this one.

Is Virtual Juror a Legitimate Job?

Written By:Joe

Last Updated:March 25, 2015

Quick Summary

Rating: 1 out of 5 gavels.

Pros: Might save you a few hours of research.

Cons: The price point to buy a list of URLs is way too high. We’re all for convenience, but come’on.

Our Recommendation: Making money as an online juror sounds interesting, but really, it’s jury duty online. Long hours, poor pay, boring cases. If you want to learn how to build a real, sustainable stream of income from home, click here to check out our top recommendation. It’s free to get started as well and you won’t ever have to pay for a chance at jury duty.

Full Review

This one is new to me, though the concept has been around for some time. It seems to be picking up some steam, though, so I thought we should take a closer look.

What Is a Virtual Juror?

Several sites are advertising a “virtual juror” job, which allegedly pays up to $10 hour. The sites include virtualjuror.com, ejury.com, onlinejury.com, and a couple of others.

These sites claim that attorneys will pay you to review cases, or parts of their cases, so that they can sort of “test drive” their case on people that might be like people that will be on real juries. You review the case under consideration and then answer questions about it in an online format. The site that gave you the case pays you via PayPal.

The Truth

Like many online opportunities, this one has a grain of truth to it. There is at least one site that appears to have a legitimate business model: ejury.com. It costs you nothing to sign up, the terms and conditions are easy to find and clearly stated, and it is as clear as possible about what exactly you will be doing. Even more important, it is clear about your income potential:

“For each verdict rendered, eJurors are paid $5 – $10 depending on the length of the case. The amount to be paid will be shown at the top of each case. You certainly won’t get rich serving as an eJuror, but just one case a week would probably pay for your Internet access.”

The problem with the concept and with ejury.com is that your chances of getting a case are very slim. Few number of cases divided by a large number in the jury pool means don’t count on this to pay your cable bill.

The Dark Side

You knew there was a dark side, didn’t you? This post is credited to alert reader, Erik, who read about ejury.com and went to do some research about the virtual juror concept.

What did he find? A Web site that charges you $97 for access to a list of companies that are paying for such work. This site is virtualjuror.com, and I recommend you stay away. What do you get for your $97?

Within 48 hours [business days only] of Paypals confirmation to Virtual Juror of your payment, you will receive special links that will take you where you will start the application process. Again, there is nothing else to pay for. Should you provide excellent service we believe you will be chosen time and again to review many cases. [Emphasis mine]

No Terms and Conditions and a clearly stated “no refunds” policy. You see, the list of links is an electronic product so they can’t offer refunds.

I won’t be paying the $97 to find out, but I would bet that ejury.com is on the list. In fact, here’s a challenge to you, VirtualJuror.com Internet sharketer dude: pay me $97, show me your list, and if ejury.com isn’t on it, I’ll publish an “I Was Wrong” post. (Oh, and since a blog post is an electronic product, the $97 is non-refundable.)

Stay Away from VirtualJuror.com

So yeah, Erik was right. He said he knows that any site that wants you to pay for a job isn’t legitimate. Virtualjuror.com is not offering you a job. It’s trying to sell you information that is not worth much and freely available elsewhere.

I don’t think virtualjuror.com is setting out to deceive anyone. In fact, it even states in fine print at the bottom of the page:

The websites we send you too have no fees and can be found by anyone, but we save you the hours of research and provide these specials links to you for a one time administration fee.

I have no problem with that: there is value in compiling information and presenting it in a convenient format for people. But $97 is too much for a list of companies that offer such small income potential.

Don’t Get Scammed by These Crafty Work-at-Home Assembly Jobs

Written By:Halina Zakowicz

Last Updated:March 25, 2015

Quick Summary

Rating: 0 out of 10 cans of glitter.

Pros: You might end up with a bunch of cool arts and crafts supplies.

Cons: Most companies are offering to pay you to fulfill work-at-home assembly jobs and then they REQUIRE you buy your materials through them. So, you’ve bought the materials, you’ve done the work, you mail it back and you expect to get paid. Right? WRONG. These companies tend to reject work no matter how closely it matches the sample finished product they send. It’s a deceitful way of selling you craft supplies you don’t need.

Our Recommendation: Avoid work at home assembly jobs. We’ve yet to find one that was worth the hassle. The insane standards they set are nearly impossible to meet and you’ll likely lose out on a bunch of money and even more valuable time. If you want to learn how to build a real, sustainable business from home, click here to check out our top recommendation. It’s free to get started as well and you won’t have to glue anything together.

Full Review

Are you a crafty person who likes making jewelry, magnets, stuffed animals, etc? Have you ever thought about capitalizing on your craft-making skills and making money from your crafts?

Apparently, there are a number on online sites that have done just that. Most of these sites work on the premise that you pay an up-front fee for training to get started with a given craft project. Then, you order and pay for the basic craft materials that will be used to construct your craft item. Once your craft item is finished, you sell it back to the company and receive payment for your finished product.

Work at home craft assembly companies

I found the following example work at home craft assembly sites that offer craft items to making at home and then sell back to the company through so-called “buyback” programs:

DisciplesCross.com: This site offers a training video directly from Pastor John Raymond of New Horizon Christian Fellowship in Slidell, Louisiana for $69.95. The training video also includes a starter kit that makes 25 crosses. Once you’ve watched that video, you can order additional cross-making kits for $25 and up. Each cross that conforms to this program’s quality standards is reimbursed $2.25. “God bless & happy cross making!” (a direct quote from the site)

MagicalGiftDollhouses.com: Also known as New England Crafters, this company offers mostly jewelry making kits. You pay $49.95, plus $9.95 for shipping, per kit. Each kit includes instructions and supplies for making the craft item. When you are finished with your project, you send your items back to the company and are reimbursed for each approved piece. The company then sends you additional craft supplies which you assemble and send back for reimbursement.

TinyDetails.com: With this site, you pay a $55.00 refundable deposit to obtain a starter kit for whichever dollhouse item you choose to make. There are 14 different miniature items currently available. Items that are made to the correct instructional specifications are reimbursed $50-$200.

Sounds simple and easy, right?

Except that it’s not. Each craft assembly site makes sure to state, in one form or another, that the assembled craft pieces must first be approved before they are paid for by the materials issuing company. And those craft items will not be approved unless instructions are followed to the letter. But what if the provided instructions are made unclear to the assembler or the provided materials are so cheap and flimsy that a quality product cannot be made? Here are some testimonials from various work-at-home craft assemblers who tried to make a little side income through work at home craft assembly jobs:

DisciplesCross.com: This company had several negative reviews and unhappy customers were quite vocal with their complaints.

Mary Alice (Houston, TX): “I ordered the Disciple’s Cross Kit several years ago and made the Crosses, and also ordered 1 pre-made Cross already made by them. You know how I know this company is a scam? When I submitted my 10 crosses to be inspected, I sent the ‘perfect’ Disciple Cross they made for inspection, and guess what- they rejected all of them (even the one they made) and said “you have potential”. You can never ever make ‘their’ crosses good enough…do not waste your money.”

Jeff Martis (Central IL): “A friend of mine signed up for this program…His package showed up, and everything was there that was supposed to be there, but the quality of the wire you were supplied was a very inferior grade and tended to break all the time…after two or three days we made 25 crosses while watching [the instructional video]. I did quality control and checked every cross to ensure it met standards. We determined that 3 were sub standard so we reassembled them again, and sent off all of the crosses into the buyback program. 10 days later we got a package back with 23 crosses that had been determined to be “not of the quality needed in order to qualify for the buy back program”.

Graham (Boone USA): “While you are BUYING supplies, they are quick to reply. After telling them I had 400 crosses ready to send to them I got a reply telling me there was a 2 month long wait for turnaround. After that they stopped replying to me, period. The ONLY communications I’ve had from them in a year now are their offers to SELL ME CROSSES!

Nobody will buy the crosses! Not local churches. Not local Christian bookstores. No stores, convenience stores, fund raisers, flea markets – nobody will buy my crosses INCLUDING Pastor John!”

MagicalGiftDollhouses.com: Reviews of New England Crafters/MagicalGiftDollhouses were mixed. While customers did not come outright and call this company a scam, many did state that its craft projects were time-consuming and difficult to do. The company has a high rejection rate and sends back many craft projects marked as unacceptable. Even successful crafters, such as New England Crafters owner Cheska Arnone herself, might make only $12/hour constructing this company’s difficult crafts.

TinyDetails.com: RipoffReport lists at least 22 complaints about TinyDetails, most of which focus on the following issues:

The materials the company sends are shoddy and misaligned, so one can never make the high quality products that are demanded.
Repeated calls, voice mails and emails are left unanswered.
The company rejects its own “perfect” sample craft items after customers send them back and claim those items as their own work.

Work at home craft assembly summary

While not every work at home craft assembly job is a scam, even legitimate craft assembly companies are getting some heat for their slow turnaround times and high product rejection rates. Assembly workers frequently mention that the training videos are either incomplete or falsely illustrate the quickness and ease with which the selected project can be finished. And of course, all craft assembly companies require an up-front training fee, a common sign of an online work at home scam.

Work at home craft assembly jobs are also prone to a second tier of scams: Unscrupulous companies sell lists of purported “genuine” craft assembly sites for a fee to hapless customers. These lists provide names of craft assembly sites that are either out of business or which thrive on subscriber fees more than product buy backs from crafters. Kinya provided a review of one such list site, Assembly-Jobs.com, for readers.