Ten Ways to Spot a Business Opportunity Scam

Everybody seems to like lists, so here is one of mine....

Ten ways to tell if it's a scam:

1. If during the pitch you are shown pictures of people in front of huge mansions, luxury cars, gigantic boats or private jets, IT'S A SCAM!

2. If during the pitch people in the audience begin saying things like "Amen!", "Hallelujah!", or otherwise begin acting like they are in an evangelical church, and they aren't. IT'S A SCAM!

3. If during the pitch anyone denigrates the value of honest labor, refers to people who work for others as losers, or uses derogatory language when talking about having a job, IT'S A SCAM!

4. If anyone intimates that you will become wealthy without working very hard, and they aren't your dead rich uncle's lawyers, IT'S A SCAM!

5. If you are ever told you have to sign up now or never, IT'S A SCAM!

6. If you are encouraged to run up debt to present an appearance of success (Fake it 'till you make it), IT'S A SCAM!

7. If you heard about the "opportunity" by dialing the phone number on an illegally placed roadside sign, IT'S A SCAM!

8. If you are offered a higher position in the company or "secret insider information" in exchange for a higher buy in, IT'S A SCAM!

9. If you cannot get straight answers as to what the company's name is, what they do, or the what ACTUAL reported income (e.g. what's on the 1040) of your recruiter is, the first time you ask, IT'S A SCAM!

10. If all of the meetings seem to be about how to get more people into the program rather than how to sell whatever it is they are supposed to be selling, IT'S A SCAM!

I have more but these are the high points.

A real business opportunity seminar revolves around what that business does and what value it brings to the market, thereby explaining how to make money at it. They generally won't start out by telling you how rich you're going to get. Profit is important, it is reason people are in business, but without true market value there will be no customers and no profits. Anyone who pitches a business by concentrating on the wealth you might obtain and the lifestyle you might enjoy, without focusing first and foremost on the product and its value in the marketplace is selling snake oil.