A Beginner’s Guide: Financial Freedom Scams

Have you ever been scammed? Have you ever lost money online? Or you almost gave in to an online scam?

The internet is full of scams. Some obvious. Others are a little bit difficult to detect at first. In this post, I will show you the exact method and psychological tricks used by financial independence and personal development ‘gurus’ to get you into their well-oiled financial schemes.

But before that, let’s understand the meaning of a scam.

A Side Note: There is a Prize for you at the end of this post. A video on how Fake Life Coach can quickly scam you and get hold of your money. The Video is from my favorite Copywriter from Texas, Neville Medhora.

What is a Scam?

A scam is a well-coordinated scheme to get hold of your money. It comes in many ways. The chief aim is to siphon your money.

Unlike daylight theft, scammers use a series of strategies to ensure that you willingly give out cash. You will realize that you have been scammed after the money is already lost.

Here are some common scams:

Types of Scams

Since our main focus is not on the types of scams, I will just list them and provide a few explanations for each kind of scam.

1. Phishing scam –This is the kind of scam where the scammer impersonates as a trusted company/person. The aim is to make you give further information that will facilitate the execution of the scam.

2.  Shopping scams – These occur when a ‘company’ pretends to sell products to you. After buying the product online, the company either doesn’t ship the product or ships a substandard product. If you give out your credit card information, further charges may as well be done to your card.

3. Nigerian Scams –I call them Nigerian because they mostly originate from Nigeria. These scams take different forms. Usually, the fraudster reaches out to the victim and appeals for financial help in exchange for a certain amount of money once the current problem is sorted. The amount promised is usually quite big, making gullible victims an easy trap.

4. Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency – Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are essentially not scams. They are digital assets and have as much value as any other asset. Their prices are dictated by supply and demand. However, their nature of high privacy and non-traceability make it possible for scammers to create schemes around them. If you are to invest here, kindly take your time and do thorough research.

5. Romance Scams – Online dating has taken root in our society today. While it is possible to get love online, the number of scams associated with online dating is at a record high. The rule of thumb here is not to send money to strangers. You should also not share sensitive personal details with strangers online.

6. False Surveys – There are legit survey apps that pay after giving out the needed information. But they usually pay peanuts and I would not advise anybody to use their time here. There are better ways of earning online. This said, there are other kinds of survey apps that will take you rounds and never pay the promised amount.

7.  Fake Jobs – Due to joblessness, fraudsters have invented sophisticated ways of getting hold of job seeker’s money. They will use psychological tricks to get you into the game. The approaches used are many and varied. The fundamental rule is to never send money for any job interview. Most companies hire for free. In case of any expenditure, it is deducted from the paycheck but not asked in advance.

8. Phony prizes, Sweepstakes, and Lotteries –The most gullible will fall into this scheme. Usually, the fraudsters send a message congratulating you for winning a prize or lottery. To get your prize, you will be required to pay some cash for facilitation or other related excuses. Once you make the payment, the contact disappears and you will never hear of them again.

How to Recognize One

There are scams that are obvious. But others use sophisticated methods. There is no one-fits-all method on how to recognize scams but here are few rules which you can use:

1. Never send money or personal details to strangers

2. Always check the URL of the website you are visiting to ensure that it’s legit. In case you are in doubt, go to the WHOIS website and paste the URL there. You will get the domain owner details.

3. Stop being greedy- Nobody is giving out free money online.

4. Don’t be desperate

5. Stay in the know

Work from Home: Is it a Scam?

Working from home is becoming fashionable. Corona pandemic gave it even more relevance. And it has benefited the online fraudsters immensely.

Working from home is not a scam. Different jobs can be done from the comfort of your home or even when you are on travel. It’s true that you can work and deliver quality while on the beach, in a hotel room, or even from your bedroom. But this does not displace the place of hard work.

Fraudsters and get-rich scammers use this loophole to prompt their victims to ‘invest wisely’. ‘Grow their money’ from the comfort of their homes and travel the world.

They float the idea that work is easy and doesn’t need much mental effort. This is a lie. You will need to use skills, knowledge, experience, and persist in what you do to achieve your financial goals. It’s never easy as they say. Beware!

How to Scam People through Financial Freedom Traps and Investment Schemes

“You deserve better. You should escape the rat race. You can be a multi-millionaire if you want to. You can grow your income through knowledge and wisdom. You have to get the right personal development course to get you on the path of success. Being average is bad. It’s a curse. You need to kick poverty out of your life. And as quickly as you can. Here is how to do it…..bla bla bla.”

Everybody wants a quick path to financial success. Most people would like to have more than enough. They would like to live in classy homes, take exquisite cruises and dine in 5-star hotels.

It is the dream of many to be rich. To make it in life. To chase and achieve the American dream of financial independence.

Financial freedom scammers use those innate desires to get hold of your money. To make you dish out cash to them with the hope that they will help you get out of your financial mess.

Here is how you could do it too and get your own victims in your cage!

1. Tell Them They Don’t Need to Work Hard, They Just Need To Invest and Wait

Focus on the gains. Give them a mental picture of how it feels to be a multi-millionaire. Having no need to work to pay bills.

Don’t hint at the hard work. Tell them that they only need to follow your investment strategy, the rest will work on itself. They also need to invite their friends.

Create an affiliate-reward system. If they bring new friends, you reward them with more cash. That way, you will not only con one person but the whole family and related cronies.

2. Give them a Visual Proof

For you to be convincing, you will need to give them visual proof. Blast them with photos of how you enjoyed a holiday in Hawaii, How you dived in the blue waters of the Bahamas and how you played Pool onboard an exquisite cruise ship.

Accompany these photos with meaningless hashtags. Things like #EnjoyLife, #SmashingitCool, #Life’sGood, #KnowledgeisSuccess, etc.

If this is not possible, hire a professional photo editor. They will create all the alluring backdrops and place you in the cruise ship while playing Pool game and any other location and surrounding you wish. After all, they say, ‘Fake it until you make it”.

3. Sell to the Poor and Middle Class

The poor are most desperate. They often sleep hungry, get locked out of their houses due to delayed rent payment, and are likely slaving in low-paying jobs. Others are jobless. The middle class has the money to give you but are still struggling financially. They are a good culprit.

Don’t aim at the rich. The rich have mastered the art of making money. It will be difficult to trick them with few pennies.

They know that it takes hard-work (Mental or otherwise) to make significant money. They know that there are risks. And thus they thoroughly evaluate an investment before investing. It will be hard to convince them to join your phony investment.

4. Be Vague, Confuse and Take Them in Circles

Never explain in detail how the said online investment will generate money. After all, it’s a scam. And you know it. Confuse them. Take them in circles. Tell them how their investment is appreciating daily.

How they will regret one year down the line if they don’t join now. How others are making it with the newly-found online business.

Focus on telling them how they stand to benefit big time, not how the system will churn out the money. Since they are gullible, they will hop in. Along, they will drag their friends, cousins, and spouses!

5. Use Numbers, Even If they Mean Nothing

Numbers are good psychological triggers. Tell them of millions, billions, and trillions. Give them percentages. Make them yearn for the millions, the billions, and trillions.

6. Capitalize on their Gullibility

The ignorant are gullible. They are not financially savvy. They are daydreamers. They spend their free time wishing.

Wishing that something could just happen and make them rich. Be that something. Promise them wealth and riches.

Tell them that they just need to think positively. Remember to mention the law of attraction even if you have no good idea of it. Tell them that they just need to think of riches and they will attract wealth. Tell them that their tongue has power.

They should confess that they are rich and prove it by paying the investment amount!

Make them repeat a certain mantra in the morning and before sleep in the promise that it will change the overall state of their minds. And get wealth. It works. It has worked with other scam artists and it can work with you.

7. Use Quotes, Some Fake

Quotes are powerful. Oh, men! I’ve seen them all over. In Whatsapp statuses, Facebook, and across Social media circles. Remember to attribute such quotes to big and successful people.

You can as well attribute them to unknown people. People like you. In case you have none, here are a few which I just cooked up!

“To be born poor is not one’s choice, to live in poverty is stupidity”, Philemon Mulwa; Author of best-selling book; ‘Get Up and Work’

“If you are want to get rich within one year, invest in bitcoin”; Robert Kiyosaki; Author of All-time best-seller; “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”.

Hilarious! Right? Go on and make your own quotes. LOL.

8. Remember to Tell them to Escape the Rat Race

Nobody wants to be called a rat, right? Tell them that waking up in the morning and going to work just to pay bills is a rat race. They need to outgrow that habit.

They need to start a side hustle to fuel their dream. Tell them that their employer exploits them. Make them hate their day job.

Then give them a bait, your investment. Promise them that your investment strategy will solve all their financial needs. Tell them to fire their boss. And employ themselves.

9. Make Them Feel Guilty

In this game, rubbing your victim’s ego is not acceptable. Instead, make them feel guilty.

Tell them that they are poor because they want to. Because they have not taken action. They are poor because they have not invested in the online business which you are offering!

That they have not achieved financial independence because they lack knowledge. And they can gain that knowledge by signing in to your coaching programs bla..bla…bla.

10. Mix Half Truths and Outright Lies

If you decide to be an online fake investment guru, then you have to keep your ethics aside. Lies, half-truths, and deception is the rule of the game. Deceive.

Create a fake online profile. Don’t tell them that you sleep in a studio room downtown. No! Go to hotels and share pics of you and your cronies taking lunch. Brandish expensive wine.

Go to car showrooms and hire expensive cars to roam around. Faked luxury! After all, they need to see it to believe it. Seeing is believing!

11. Education is not Important, Drop out of College

Show as much contempt as possible to the formal schooling. Tell them that it is outdated. It only creates employees. Go ahead and mention a few well-known guys who dropped out of college. The owner of Facebook, the founder of Google, and you as well. Tell them how you dropped out of school. How you got bored and dropped out. And how well you are doing after you dropped out.

Disclaimer:

The above post on how to scam people is informational only. It is aimed at making readers appreciate that there are more scams online than they can ever think.

And that some seemingly legit online investments are actually scams. That they should not take advice from strangers.

Instead, they should train themselves to think critically, analytically, and appreciate that success is not an overnight affair. It needs persistence, hard work, knowledge, and relevant skills.

Drop your thoughts in the comment section

The Video:

PS:

My e-book on how to start a legit online business is up for sale. I’m offering it at KSH. 100 bob only. Get in touch with me through +254711 203 918.

The offer ends on 25th/Feb/2021. After that, kindly don’t contact me over the e-book.

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