Learning how to make money online and making money on Google is very popular among Internet surfers. The internet is a vast wealth of online knowledge, and it only makes sense that people want to use it to make a living as well. But most people wind up losing large amounts of money investing in unproven methods of success on the Internet. One in particular is the dreaded Ponzi scheme.

These usually come under the guise of a website that will pay you to click on ads for them. The way it’s set up is simple enough: you’ll get paid a certain amount to click on ads. Once you accumulate enough to request a cash out, do so, and you’ll receive a payout. Payouts are usually given to an electronic vendor of your choice, such as Alertpay or Paypal. If you want to earn more, however, you can buy referrals for a small amount of money. You earn a percentage of their earnings, so naturally the more referrals you buy, the more you’ll earn. Think of it as an investment: you take $50 and turn it into $500 in a few week’s time. And you can do this repeatedly.

However, the problem comes in when it’s time to get a payout. Then, you may notice, that you’re not getting anything at all. Instead customer service might tell you that you’ve violated terms of service, or worse, they’ve sent you a check in the mail. Sounds fishy now, doesn’t it? Especially when you’ve obeyed all the rules and haven’t really given them your address to begin with. Now you’re wondering if you’ve been scammed. You should already know the answer to that question.

A Ponzi scam takes money from new investors and distributes it to old investors. In order for it to keep running, it has to constantly keep taking in new investors. Therefore these scams fail after a short while, only to restart again somewhere else.

There is never a product listed on the website; there are only promises of how much you can make if you buy into it or invest in it. If there are credentials or licenses, they are clearly fake – proper examination of them will tell you that. Unfortunately, it’s hard to trace a Ponzi scheme or even report it , as most of the contact information on the website is fake. Since no real address likely exists, reporting them to the Better Business Bureau is moot. Your best bet is to just avoid the website altogether.

Tags: ,