I was in college and broke. I was working at a restaurant and making decent money waiting tables but spent more than I made. I look back and wonder where the money went because I was living in a very inexpensive house spliting the rent and bills 5 ways and didn't have a car payment or any other expenses!
But, anyway, I saw an ad for a job making $2,000.00 a week "stuffing envelopes". Wow... all the things I could do with that kind of money! I just kept thinking about how nice it would be. I could sleep in and spend my days shopping for the latest clothes then eat out every night. I was going to be rich!
So, I sent the $19.95 money order to the P.O. box indicated in the ad.
What did I get in return?
an envelope with a single piece of paper with some information xeroxed (and not even a clear copy!) giving instructions on how to place an ad like the one I just responded to and how to open a P.O. box to receive the payments.
So, basically, I just got ripped off and got the instructions on how to rip someone else off.
One of my 4 roommates tried to convince me to actually do it! Said if I didn't than he would. The other 3 laughed in my face and called me a moron. That is exactly the way I felt.
Thirteen years later, the internet has embedded itself into our lives and there is much more transparency for consumers.
But.... I still see these scams! Except now there is a whole new breed of them. There are too many to list here.
But for eBayers the big one is the Dropship wholesale list. Every day there is someone buying a list of "dropshippers" online. Even on eBay! They are purchasing a list that they could find themselves on Google for free. The ads selling these things advertise making millions on eBay selling products that you don't own. And they aren't offering the products, they are offering a list of sites that offer products!
I searched "dropship lists" on eBay and got over 200 results! See for yourself, click here
then I just searched "get rich" and got over 300 results! Click here for the results to that one.
This is just the updated version of the "stuffing envelopes" scam.
It took me years to admit that I bought into that. Thank goodness I didn't buy into the dropship fortune dream too!
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