‘This is not a scam’

By: ROB PARKER

Last week we reported a fraud that appeared in the pages in our classified section.

This week we are bringing to your attention another possible scam which is advertised in the classified section of local newspapers. As explained last week, newspapers generally do not have the time to investigate the validity of every ad that appears in the classifieds due to the sheer volume received, therefore consumers should exercise extreme caution when responding to classified ads. This weeks ad reads:
Need extra income?
+/- 10 000 BI weekly income. See proof! The easiest way to make big money from your home in your free time...
There is a website provided also www.123richlife.com, when you look at the site there are a number of clues that all is not as it should be.
When one goes to the website, one is told right away that ‘This is not a scam’ – but, in my experience, legitimate businesses generally do not have to proclaim their legitimacy, unless there really is something to hide.
Another tip is that the website promises big money, up to N$5 000 a week for doing data entry from your home, but the truth is data entry is generally low paid work.
An excerpt from the website shows that data entry is not emphasised so much as recruiting people. This gives the business model a look that corresponds closer to a pyramid scheme rather than selling a legitimate good or service, see below:
“A lot of people will respond via SMS sending you their email and postal address you just write them down in your own time on the forms(worksheet). When you are done with your forms you then send/fax/email your form(s)/work sheet(s) to us and we then take it from there we then send our marketing material to this people and you earn commissions per person that order anything from us. Then you just sit and relax and start making money... You get a guaranteed N$ 90 per person that order/ sign up for any of our program. [sic]
Let’s look at a typical example...
For 50 people you get a profit of N$ 4500
100 people you get N$ 9000
200 people you get N$ 18 000
400 people you get N$36 000
600 people you get N$54 000 and so on (there is no limit to how much to make here... if you think you deserve a better life style then you just have to place many of these cheap adverts and a lot of people will respond sending their details then the more money you will make ).
And finally, the ‘company’ wants you to pay N300 to join. Jobs are supposed to pay you, not the other way around. This is a sure sign that something is not 100 per cent legit here. If someone asks you for money up front to have access to a job, chances are very good that this is a scam. As always, be careful when responding to work at home job offers as the vast majority are fraudulent, especially those that promise you will get rich fast. At the time of going to print, the phone numbers provided on the site were not answered.

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