“A fool and his money are soon parted” - with an invitation for you

The internet is a bit like the Wild West. Very little law and order - and too many killings by unscrupulous rogues.

I have noted three infallible signs of a likely rip-off. 1. The phrase: “My good friend”. 2. A ludicrous promise only a half-wit would believe. 3. Illiteracy. These are usually accompanied by the word free – which invariably leads pretty soon to a request for money

A good example comes from Mr. Melvin Gonzalez who wisely distances himself from the long reach of the law enforcement agencies by having an address in Ecuador, home of brilliant business breakthroughs.

He says “My good friend Paul Lynch as (sic) just created an AMAZING FREE Training that shows you how he can turn just $5 into HUNDREDS within 60 minutes!”

This leads to a squeeze page with a video explaining how Mr. Lynch wants to “give back to ordinary people” ... and a promise of 1,000s of testimonials (there are 32 in fact).

What is brilliant is that he sounds really genuine. And what is genuinely AMAZING is how Melvin and Paul came to be such good friends, as Paul – from his accent - lives somewhere in the North of England, whereas good ole Mel is safely ensconced just over the border from Peru.

I googled Paul Lynch and found a site called http://www.just2help.co.uk full of misspelt stuff. The list of events they publicise is probably a good guide to where not to go in the next few months as it features the kind of people regularly flamed on The Salty Droid (a site that exposes internet scamsters).

This dodgy stuff works because of three things: 1. People believe what they want to believe 2. The world is full of ill-educated, desperate folk 3. The techniques these people use are as a rule extremely good; you can learn a lot from them.

If you would like to know more about this subject, go to http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/drayton-bird/a-sad-story-that-cost-me-money-and-is-far-too-common.html#more-4757

Oh, and as we’re on the subject of stuff for free, here’s something that may interest you - if you’re not sick to death of hearing about it.

Once a month I run a webinar for my EADIM students. I shall be doing a short one tomorrow on creative for inserts.

The usual webinars are not free, but there’s no charge tomorrow as it’s a bit of a test to make sure everyone knows how to use the technology.

I'm going to record it and replay next Monday at 2pm. Would you like to see it? If you're interested, click here. And don't worry. I won't sell you anything. I find people buy if they want to, and don't if they don't.