When the going gets tough, the crooks get creative

The unemployed are easy targets for crooks.  Now that promised millions from Middle Eastern business men and princes no longer have the desired effect, scammers have to come up with other ways to ensnare well-meaning people into their web.

If the unemployed happen to be a writers (and let’s face it, with millions of blogs out there, who isn’t a writer these days?) the scams become much more easy to execute.  Just play on someone’s writing abilities and you scam is sure to get attention.  It got mine.

The scam in question is a call for bloggers on Craigslist. 

Serious inquiries only. This is for people who are looking to put in the hard work daily to create limitless opportunistic for themselves through blogging. I need ten new bloggers respond to this post and the details will follow. Make anywhere between 25-1000 dollars your first day.

Sounds intriguing, right?  I thought so too.  So I clicked the provided link and made some enquiries.

Maria (not her real name) sent me the following explanation:

Hey Conny! If your already wayyyy into the freelance writing and blogging than you could very easily transform your current work into this blog! This would be great for you! I think its great for anyone really! It's the best move I 've made for myself since working wayy too many jobs to try and get by! I would like to work one on one with you so that you understand the process. I will send over the video that explains how everything works, but I must say some people are overwhelmed by it. There are four steps to our program. I myself, only did the first two steps which are basic and inner circle training. What scares people off initially is the fact that you have to pay a monthly fee to be a part of the XXX network. Don't be frightened by that. I didn't start off with much money myself and together the first two steps cost me about a hundred and twenty five dollars. (I was in between jobs when I invested trust me it is soooo worth a hundred dollars.) However, I made it all back the second day with two hundred dollars into my account! 

The video will explain everything but I like to break it down for people so that they can understand it better. You blog daily, get attention to your blog simply by posting everyday and making new connections. They join your team and you get straight money to the bank! Its really quite simple. You learn new tricks and tools for small businesses and tips to live like the new rich. If you would like to talk to me more about the process after you watch the video you can call me personally at XXX XXX XXXX between the hours of 9 am- 1 pm tomorrow-Friday. I know I asked my sponsor about 100 questions my first day! If you are interested in lifestyle design and you want to take the leap I suggest you do! You can work when you want and where you want and make an endless amount of money! It sounds crazy but my sponsor Christopher is pulling in around 1500 dollars in just a few hours of work. Same for the rest of our team. Our specific team is very friendly and I'm sure you would get along with us great we even have our own facebook group called "The XXX." The last team trip was to Costa Rica! It was only my first week on the job so I unfortunately did not make that team meeting :p. Anyways thats lots of exciting things going on! I hope we can add you to the team and get you pointed off in the right direction! 

Here is the video:  They make you enter your email first but then the video appears :) Please contact me if you have questions after the video !!! I repeat please contact me if you are confused on to how this actually works. I would hate for you to get confused or think this is more complicated than it really is. Its probably the most simple, full-filling lifestyle one could have! I know the video is a little long but its worth watching! 

-Maria

As soon as I read that I had to pay to join, I smelled a rat.  I may not be a decedent from Einstein, but I wasn’t exactly hatched under a chicken either.  I also noticed several spelling mistakes, which didn't instill confidence.  So I asked Maria how much had to be paid.  She replied …

There are now five steps to the XXX Program. I started off with the first two because I really did not have any money to spare. I had no job but I knew something had to be done and that my four year business degree was worth more than babysitting and waiting tables until I figured my life out. The first step which is the basic membership is twenty five dollars. The second is 100. Third step is 500. Fourth is 1000, the newly added step costs 3500 dollars. (Which sounds insane but for our upper members like my sponsor, he makes that 3500 dollar commission off of adding new people to his team daily, that its absolutely ridiculous.) Did you watch the video yet?  What my sponsor recommended me to do was to invest in the first two because that was all I could afford until I could move up. That week I realized how easy it really was. While I had two members join my team the second day. I made two hundred dollars. They bought the 500 dollar step. Therefore I lost a thousand dollars worth of commissions off having new members join my team because well simply I did not have a choice! I was still sort of broke then! I hope that kind of puts a bit of a picture on what happens here in the XXX network. In the meantime I was blogging, getting traffic to my site was really quite easy because the XXX network does most of the work for you! You can sit at home blog about whatever you want, people like personality if they like what you write about they will be attracted to your blog! Which your probably already really good at by now! 

She made money with baby sitting ... just exactly how old is this girl?  A program that works for you while you sit back and do nothing ... I smelled another rat.  A pack of rats actually.  If it was this easy to make money, would anyone bother with a full-time job?

Do these people think we’re crazy!  Who’s going to spend that kind of money?

It might be good for the starter or the program though.  With every new fool who joins, he gets a fee.  Then it’s up to you to rope in your friends (to make a little money) or to advertise on Craigslist or Facebook to find other fools.

Fortunately, I am not a fool and those I know aren’t either.