Income at Home 55 is a Scam!
Posted on | August 1, 2009 |
I know, I know, like you didn’t know it already, right?
Well it’s one of those thoroughly obnoxious radio ads I hear day in and day out during my commute, so I thought I sign up and check it out. But first, the ad.
The Radio ad:
“Financial Freedom Awaits You!”
“A simple way to earn ‘quit your job’ kind of money”
“One of the few work at home companies with an A+ BBB rating”
Here’s the details:
They mention being an A+ BBB rated company, but they don’t specify what that company is or what the affiliation is - not even on the website they direct you to.
Speaking of the website, incomeathome55.com redirects you to: Premier Team Online Home Business System website https://leadingincome.com. Incidentally, Premier Team Online Home Business System IS listed in the BBB, but they are not accredited and have an F rating.
Anyway, the Premier Team Online Home Business System website provides additional flashy, marketing type logos and text proclaiming the multitudes of people who now make 6 figure incomes with their “system.”
About 23 pages down, at the very bottom is a form section that asks for your personal contact info so they can “rush your free kit” out to you.
On June 29, I singed up for :
Free Online Package - Video, Workbook, and Audio
Package $0.00, Shipping & Handling $0.00
(the DVD package required $9.95 shipping, and I wasn’t down with that.)
Within a few minutes I received an email:
“Dear George, (I never use my real name for these things, until I’m sure it’s a real deal)
Congratulations for ordering the Home Business Information Package! Your Personal Mentor will be contacting you soon to send your Free Online Package. You will also receive a confirmation email. Be sure to check your screened mail if the confirmation does not show up in your email inbox.
For fastest service contact your Mentor now. Below you will find their contact information.”
A couple hours later I received a follow up email, containing a link to a 30 minute video title “The 5 Key Elements to Financial and Time Freedom in a Depressed Economy.”
The video was really nothing more than a number of testimonials from people who got rich using the system - with the following phrase floated at the bottom on the screen:
“Income applicable to the individuals (in examples) depicted are not average”
No doubt.
Anyway, the video opens with a guy on the beach talking about how great and wonderful and transformative the system is. It them goes into more glitz and glam about being wealthy and free, and ends with the obligatory testimonials.
The testimonials are filled with the usual stories of everyday people who were fed up with their mundane and stress filled jobs. They were tired of working to “make somebody else rich” and went off on their own. Within 6 months of using the system, they were able to quit their day jobs. Pretty standard stuff really, where these type of scams are concerned.
So the video references these “Five Rules of Financial and Time Freedom”, and asks if they really work, but takes forever to actually outline what they are. Instead, they talk about the “rewards for playing by the new rules” and show lavish lifestyles, big houses, SUVs and yachts. - they even threw in some women in bikinis and island resorts! Again with the caption “Income applicable to the individuals (in examples) depicted are not average.”
Eventually they do get to the Five Rules:
1. Find a large and growing industry
2. Have a consumable product that people need.
3. Create income leverage (get paid for other people’s time)
4. Follow a proven model for success.
5. Associate with successful people.
In short, this is a complicated, maze-like pyramid scheme designed to keep stringing you along with abstract promises of a better life and vague references to “the new rules” of wealth, retirement and so on. I suspect that all roads eventually lead to a collection point where you sign up and fork over your hard earned money to get a video tape of how to make your own “work at home” sites and string unsuspecting people along to buy a similar kit from you, and so on…
The large and growing industry is a pool of suckers who are disgruntled with their 9-5 jobs and dream of getting rich quick with some new method or technology (like a work at home kit on the Internet!).
The income leverage is the pyramid scheme. You likely get more residual income (commission) for signing up a certain number of suckers and have them work for you signing up ever more suckers.
The proven model of success is the “system” that you follow. Sites like these give you a template or pattern to follow. You create some unique branding to make it look just different enough, and the more unique and different it is the more suckers you will likely attract.
Associating with successful people ties back into the pyramid scheme. You want to stick with the person who signed you up (your “mentor”) because you view them as successful. That means they get to keep a higher number of suckers under them, and hence earn more money.
UPDATE: Since originally writing this post, incomeathome55 now redirects to http://radio.theonlinebusiness.com/goland45/CITADEL-STRM-45. The mere fact that the site keeps changing is a major scam red flag!
- Follow @CreditLoan and win $1,000!
- Get your Auto Insurance Quote online from autonet insurance.
- Avoid Credit Trouble By Having A Plan For Financial Emergencies.
- How Much Money Should I Save?
- Collecting Postage Stamps
- Why You Need To Start An Internet Business Today
- Weakonomics Weekend Edition: Kiva Edition
- What is a Legacy?
Comments
20 Responses to “Income at Home 55 is a Scam!”
Leave a Reply
Popular Posts
Featured Links
Need Help With your Debt?
Incredible DealsRecent Posts
Categories
- 10 Investment Tips for Beginners
- Budgeting
- Building Wealth
- Career
- Credit
- Debt
- Economy
- Education
- Employment
- Frugal Lifestyle
- Home Buying
- Home Selling
- Income
- Insurance
- Investing
- Opinion
- Personal
- Rant
- Real Estate
- Retirement
- Reviews
- Saving
- Scam
- Small Business
- spending
- Sponsored
- Student Loans
- Taxes
- Tips
- Uncategorized
Blog Catalog
Archives
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
Sponsors
Scan2Contacts
Search
Get Updates
by Email
Recent Comments
- Debt Settlement Company on Nationwide Asset Services - Debt Settlement You Should Avoid!
- Local Services Expert - Melba Denosta on Avoid These 5 Credit Card Rookie Mistakes!
- credit blog on How Does Debt Settlement Affect Your Credit Score (And More!)
- Texas A&M on Avoid These 5 Credit Card Rookie Mistakes!
- Peter on Income at Home 55 is a Scam!
Contact
Recent Tweets
Blogroll
Tags
401(k) 529 savings plan Auto Insurance bailout Banking blogging Building Wealth college savings Cramer Credit Credit Cards Credit score Debt debt settlement Economy Employment FDIC foreclosure getting out of debt Gift Cards Housing Income Insurance Investing money Mortgage Rates Mortgages news Opinion Rant Real Estate Recession Retirement Review Reviews Saving Saving Money Savings Scam spending Sponsored Stock Market Stocks Taxes TipsDisclaimer
Unique visits since 2008:
October 28th, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
Thanks for posting this… I have pointed my mother-in-law to your posting because she has fallen for several such “systems” that offer riches for little work.
Things like Herbalife, Excel Long Distance, etc… She bought into many of them.
October 28th, 2009 @ 3:36 pm
Thank you for stopping by. I’m glad to be able to help people whenever I can. I can’t believe such companies do as well as they do, and educating and exposing them is about the only thing the everyday person can do to combat them.
October 29th, 2009 @ 12:15 pm
I fell for it also. Paid $9.95 for a ‘fluff’ brochure with no hint whatsoever as to the opportuniy or a product. Two weeks later I’m billed aother $39.95 for the same brochure.Contacted my ‘coach’. given return instructions to a Merelle Worldwide. Grapevine, Texas. No phone, no email. Bogus!
Suppose I should just accept my gullibility, but plan to contact the local advertisers and make them aware of this scam.
October 29th, 2009 @ 3:35 pm
I appreciate your thoughts on this. This company must be making money hand over fist to afford the number of ads that have proliferated on the radio.
I would laugh if it wasn’t so nauseating.
These shysters (probably in Florida where most of the other shysters are) I am sure, hired a group of marketing psychologists with PHDs to write the perfect spiel. Then they hire perfect studio “actors” with just the right kind of inflection and excitement in their voices to hook the target audience.
PT Barnum really was right.
November 11th, 2009 @ 10:31 am
I just heard about this on talk radio and I thought well they would not promote a scam, so I was on my way to get the CC and pay the $9.95 from the incomeathome55.com site and something, call it an internal flag, said check it out. Found this site so glad I didn’t pay for it.
November 11th, 2009 @ 11:50 am
Happy to be of help Francis!
This just shows why it’s important to remember that people pushing a product are doing so to make money. Sometimes, the product is beneficial and makes our lives easier, and sometimes the product is junk and only takes our money. Often, the people pushing the product haven’t actually used it or researched it.
Buyer beware!
In the end, you did your own research and came to your own conclusion, which is the way it should be.
November 12th, 2009 @ 1:20 am
There are ways to make good money for little work… but it all depends on what you call “work”. If you start a business that you thoroughly love doing, even as a hobby at first, then like the old saying goes… you will never work a day in your life. It is all a matter of perspective. Now… will you get rich quickly doing it? Maybe not, unless you are lucky with a niche business that no one thought of. But in many cases, money made quickly, disappears almost as quickly.
December 9th, 2009 @ 12:07 pm
Check out their so-called “Privacy Policy”. What these maggots really are doing is selling your personal information to other probably equally scummy businesses. I’ll be they make more on this than their “income at home” bullshit.
December 14th, 2009 @ 5:58 pm
Glad I saw ur ad on how big of a scam this was ..”I listen to a lot of talk radio and head this ad.. hoping to find a way to get a second income flowing …my sixth sense felt it was just another bogus skit ..and guess what I wa right thanks for confirming that for me and a whole lot of others keep up the good work ….!!!!
December 15th, 2009 @ 9:00 pm
two sayings ring through my head whenever i see shit like this. 1) if it sounds too good to be true… 2) NOTHING in life is free, few things are easy.. if you need someone to tell you this, put your money in a C.D. that you cant get out of early, or put it in a credit bureau. (I heard its really hard to get your money back out of) COME ON PEOPLE, use your head!
December 18th, 2009 @ 10:38 am
I fell for one a couple years ago having to do with rebates and they suddenly vanished when I needed the mentoring part. Thanks for posting this info because it just goes to show, this sickness out there doesn’t seem to be going away. “Once bitten, twice shy”.
December 20th, 2009 @ 9:44 pm
First, great article on the IncomeatHome system. I usually like to check out the “At Home Businesses” but I always find myself facing another scam even though radio stations and TV shows are announcing it and saying it’s the real deal. The first time I typed in the IncomeatHome I could tell it was going to be a scam. A good rule of thumb is whenever people claim to be making money hand over fist, yet offer no indication of what the business is…it’s a scam.
Second, I really like your format and your other postings. I just started posting/blogging on blogger.com and have gotten approved with Google AdSense as well. How did you get this post to be found in the Google search engine? Do you have access to its HTML code? I don’t with blogger. I would like to earn extra income w/ Google AdSense; however, I need to get people to view my blogs/postings. I am currently only writing about being a Stay at Home mom and an Avon Consultant; however, I am a Certified Financial Planner and Budget Consultant. Email me if you can provide me with tips.
I appreciate it and great posting!
Sandy F.
December 24th, 2009 @ 9:10 am
I just heard this ad on the radio. good thing i came across this site. i have been looking for a work at home job for a few months now and no luck.i even looked up that google and come on im not stupid i have to pay for a kit and all. no job will make u pay for something in order 2 work for them. does any1 have any sites that i could search on?
December 28th, 2009 @ 12:34 pm
Its nice to hear some straight talk on the subject. Thanks for taking the time to put this information out here for us. Too bad more people don’t do research before spending $$$.
January 5th, 2010 @ 9:43 am
MyEx-Wife fell for one of these a few years ago when I was in the Middle East. It was called Excell! Selling long distance for pennies. Funny thing was to make money you had to sign up people under you. She wasted many dollars on this. It was a sad deal because it prayed of the home sickness of the Marines on base. Telling them for a sall fee you only pay 2 cents a minute, and if your call recipient signed up they could call you as much as they wanted. SAD SAD SAD!
January 8th, 2010 @ 3:02 pm
Why do radio stations play these scams? I listen to WMAL in Washington DC and hear these all day. I guess these scammers play good to advertise.
January 26th, 2010 @ 1:32 pm
Thank you for the heads up. This site saved me countless hours, I would imagine.
January 31st, 2010 @ 10:52 pm
Thanks for the information. Are there any REAL work-from-home opportunities out there? Why do stations play this junk?? What about reputation?
February 2nd, 2010 @ 8:16 pm
By mentioning Lardlad Limbaugh and America’s favorite bartender Sean Hannity
one would think that would scare most people away. Even the woman who does the voice-over sounds obnoxious.
February 4th, 2010 @ 5:12 pm
Thank You….