EXAMPLES OF MAIL ORDER SCAMS

After spending the last few months investigating certain types 
of mail order businesses, it was obvious that some of them were 
border line questionable, if not a verifiable scam.

EXAMPLE 1 Collect names for us. We pay $20 each. Guaranteed!    
The truth is, this company WILL pay you $20 for each name you 
collect for them. What they DON'T tell you is that each person 
has to spend $100 or more by placing an order before you get 
your $20.

The customer is led to believe that all they have to do is get 
out their phone books and start sending the company names and 
addresses. In return, the company will send them $20 for each 
name and address they send them.  When they send away for the 
details they discover the scam and think everybody in mail order 
is operating this way. Result: Mail order is labeled as a scam 
and illegal business activity.

EXAMPLE 2 "How to get 100,000 people to send you $10 each. Send 
$1 to..."  This is cute advertising, but you have to put a 
legitimate product behind claims like this. One of the materials 
I found was a book with this title. And you get the book for 
sending $1 to the publisher. Some so-called seasoned pros will 
abruptly judge this as a scam. To some extent, these people are 
not pros. They're just jaded. For mail order neophyites, this 
is very intriguing. Besides, it only costs $1 to find out.  What 
the beginner finds out is that they are expected to run the same 
ad in newspapers and tabloids. Other people will send $1 for 
information and their mailbox is "supposedly" flooded with $1 
bills. This ad is NOT illegal. It asks you to send $1 for 
information and you DO get the information.

These types of ads are all a bunch of paper-passing _ and I 
classify them under the heading of a "Legitimate Scam." You 
can't complain that your order was not filled. You can't 
complain the idea is not possible. You can't complain the ad 
promised something it didn't deliver.
       
Likewise, do not confuse scam-sounding ads with legitimate lead-
generation ads." A mail order buddie of mine will run an ad that 
states: "Want to make a lot of money? Call (his telephone 
number.)" This is NOT necessarily a scam or rip-off. Since there 
is no cost involved _ it might be worth your time and effort to 
call the number and see what this dealer has to offer.

Also, some dealers run ads that don't tell you what the product 
is because they have an entire package of information they want 
to send you. It would be too costly to advertise the complete 
information in a small 1" or 2" ad, so they run "Lead-Generating 
Ads" to bring them inquiries. This is also not illegal and is 
common business practice. You'll also find that real "Lead-
Generating Ads" DON'T ask you for a lot of money up front. They 
only tell you enough about the product to entice you to send in 
a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) or $1 for more 
information. They are unlike the "Example 2" at the left that 
basically tell you the scam before you order it! (It may take a 
little time for you to make the distinction between these fine 
lines.)

Many people overlook the power of the printed word. Instead of 
complaining, people should be writing their mail order 
publishers when they are ripped-off, providing them with 
documentation and a summary of these mail order scams.

Use wisdom. Get your facts straight. Have documentation to back-
up your findings and submit them! Wouldn't it be great if 
everybody in the world were honest? What a wonderful world this 
would be!