I hate when I’m directed to the site quora when I am googling for an answer. There are three reasons for my vitriol.
- Quora displays ads and fake responses that link to ads before listing any user responses. You have to scroll past at least four “responses” to see any real content.
- Quora gatekeeps. I can see only one or two answers before being hit with a gatekeeper screen requiring a login.
- The quality of responses is all over the board. Some authors seem to have legit credentials and responses. Many appear to be as random as a twitter posters & reddit users with zero credibility.
Today, after I was pushed to quora for an answer when scanned the “fake answer” ad I, the lead sentence was, “I made more money playing Solitaire online last month than…”
That got me thinking about the money making scams I’ve seen over the years.
Before the Internet, companies used to post “Help Wanted” ads in the newspapers. These were often brief descriptions of the job, along with contact information for how to apply. They were expensive to run, so many ads were something like this:
Help Wanted: Delivery Driver. M-F 8A-4P. Call 412-xxx-xxxx
Help Wanted: Counter Help. Part-time. Apply in person at xxxx.
Longer ads were run for better positions at big corporations, educational institutions and local government. These would include more complete descriptions of the job and the requirements.
Then there were the scams.
They were big ads with bold copy:
EARN $1000 A Week! No Selling required!
HELP THE ENVIRONMENT AND EARN $200 A DAY. No experience necessary.
These ads never gave you the name of the company. There was a phone number only.
I, along with other job searchers, would see these ads week after week. Some of us reached a point where we were desperate enough to call them (grasping at any straw).
When you called, you were immediately scheduled for an onsite interview the next day. During the “interview” you were jammed into a room with a bunch of other desperate job seekers and given a hard core, rah rah, sales pitch by some huckster. You were told that “only a few people can step up to the challenge”. You were told about making BIG money if you were someone special. Then you signed some paperwork and were shoved into a telemarketing cold call room for an unpaid “trial”. Over the next four hours, you cold called to sell – perfume, encyclopedias, clean water action (soliciting donations), or some other overpriced product or even worse, soliciting donations.
Yes, I tried it. I was desperate. I got zero donations in 2 hours and was cut during the break.
Out of 10 of us, I think one guy was still there for the second half of the 4 hour session. I’m pretty sure he was as ex-convict who’d recently been released from prison.
Help Wanted/Job Search scams have changed since then. With the Internet it’s much cheaper and easier for scammers to reach many more people and scam them without having to have an office, interviews or even a quasi-legit business.
But some things never change.
- If it sounds too good to be true, it is. If the pay is higher than anything else, if there’s no experience required, if you are asked no legitimate interview questions…
- If they ask you for money, it is a scam. No legit company charges people for interviews. It might be an MLM asking you to make an initial “investment” or it might be a total scammer just bilking unsuspecting job seekers.
- If they ad says anything about EASY Money, run away.
Here’s the thing:
Easy money does happen.
Sometimes we get lucky. You might inherit a business. You might be working for a monopoly – or even better, own one. You might land a big sales. You might be in the right place at the right time. Some of us have made big commissions getting lucky. Some people were initial employees at tech startups that turned them into millionaires. If you are so lucky, take the easy money and enjoy it.
But when people actual make easy money, here’s something that never happens: They never talk about it publicly to strangers. If anything, they are trying to keep it a secret. They might not even tell their friends and family. Because they want to keep making the easy money.
Easy money recipients, if they say anything at all, will brag about how hard they had to work, how nothing was handed to them, how they pursued their dreams with relentlessness yada, yada, yada.
And for sure, they will never “pitch” their method to recruit other people to work for them.
I like getting easy money. A few times in my life, I was in the right place at the right time and made some. Most of the time, making any money was hard. It took a lot of time, effort and determination.
I wish we could all win the Lottery. But chances are we never will. The same goes for getting a legit job that promises easy money.
Don’t be fooled.