It’s been said that we are entering the second big dot-com bubble, and with that there have been many online companies that have sprouted up in the past four to five years as clones of already successful online businesses. One of the classic examples right now are all of the Groupon clones that have popped up in different niches. If you’re at all involved with the internet at all, it’s likely you’ve dealt with a few investment opportunity pitches, either from friends or through your email.
Keep your credit card details safe to avoid scammers.
The most common way to get scammed online through email these days has been the investment pitch. You’ll get an email saying, “Hi, I’m running a very profitable internet business in the beginning stages of development. We are well on our way to becoming the next Facebook/Twitter/Groupon but we need cash in order to fund the purchase of our new office space. Of course, we will be offering equity in the company that will be worth millions (if not billions!) in a few years when we go public, so for a very small investment right now you can get a HUGE return on your money. Simply give me a call at 555-555-5555 to speak more about this amazing opportunity!”
The first thing that you need to be thinking when you read this email is, “If this was such a special opportunity, why are they emailing random people about it?” If it was truly as good as the email makes it out to be, then there is no way on Earth they would be talking about it with anyone other than close friends, family, business partners, and potentially venture capital firms – this means it’s a scam!. Think about it: if it actually was on track to be the next Facebook, Twitter, or Groupon, then they would have millions of people interested in investing in it in the early stages. The trick is that no one can truly know how successful a company will be until it actually achieves that level of success. Business, and internet businesses in particular are just too complex to fully project out their future success. For this reason alone you should never invest in an opportunity like this, even if it comes from one of your friends that you have made on Facebook or Twitter.
Don't gamble with the safety of your personal details.
Online friendships are great, but they can come at a huge expense if you don’t truly know the person. They could be cultivating that relationship for years in order to pull off an investment con like this, making you think that they know quite a bit about online startups and business in general. So when they come to you asking for money, it doesn’t even cross your mind that it could be scam and you happily pony up the money, thinking you’ll have it doubled, tripled, or multiplied by ten in no time at all. After all, if they did it at Facebook, you can do it too, right? Wrong. You need to be wary of the fake investment scam just as you must be wary of any other internet scam that’s out there today. Stay informed about internet scams to avoid becoming one of the statistics. This article provides up to date information about some of the latest ones spreading across the web.