Detect and Avoid Online Scams

"Hey buddy, come over here. Listen, keep this quiet. I've got a friend overseas who's trying to come here. He's filthy rich but he has to go through a lot of red tape on his side and ours. I was hoping you could help me out by spotting me a few thousand dollars so that we could grease the wheels a little. Don't worry -- once he's over here he'll repay your investment 100 times over. What do you say?"

If a random stranger approached you on the street and said something like that, you'd probably ignore him and keep walking. You might even report him to the local police. Who would trust someone they had never met with that much money? But an online scam very similar to the scenario above has fooled thousands of people into giving away millions of dollars to the scam artists. It seems that people who might be able to smell a rat in a real life encounter become more gullible while online.

That particular scam goes by names like the Nigerian scam or the 419 scam. There are hundreds of variations on the scam but they all have the goal of fooling you into giving away as much money as possible -- up to and including your bank account information. And there are thousands of other scams online. Some share similarities to the Nigerian scam and others are completely different. A few will even install harmful software called malware onto your computer and become a persistent problem.

The best way to deal with online scams is to avoid them entirely. After all, you don't want to have to repair damage later. We're going to give you some tips on how to recognize a scam so that you won't be a victim. The first thing you need to remember is that old saying, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."


This is just an introduction for the article "How to Detect Online Scams" by Jonathan Strickland which can be found on HowStuffWorks website. Read on and be enlightened about online scams.

Anyway, here are some investments which are not scams. They are trusted and paying PTC sites:

Exchange Free Traffic Sites

Traffic Swarm Expert Review

As more and more people are getting online, online advertising is part of an ever-growing niche, and that is one that Traffic Swarm is being to exert a fair amount of leverage. Traffic Swarm is a site where you can work towards getting more hits to your website.

Whether you are trying promote a new book or you have your own online business to run, you’ve already found out how many of your hits come from places like Google. With a program like this to work with, there is a lot you can learn about the procedures that are available to you in terms of web advertising.

Essentially, Traffic Swarm is a viral marketing technique. You write or design ads that other people will see and then this company makes sure that other people see it. Though there doesn’t seem to be a place where compensation to either side is discussed, it might be a fair bet to think of this opportunity as pay per click, where you pay for every click that comes to your site via one of these ads.

You’ll find that in the realm of the internet, viral marketing, where essentially one person tells another a fact and then the other person tells everyone they know, is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal.

The statistics for Traffic Swarm are fairly impressive. The site claims that there are more than 400,000 successful members in the group and reading the testimonials, it seems clear that many people are getting the results that they want to their site. Similarly, there is a referral program in place where whenever people who heard about the opportunity through you show up, you will receive more traffic to your site as a bonus.

Another advantage of Traffic Swarm is that the traffic that comes to your site is all directed and relevant. You won’t have worry about hits that aren’t really interested in you driving your bandwidth up; this company insists that all the traffic it brings to you will be at least marginally interested in what you are producing. The people are coming to your site of their own free will and, unlike situations where they are tricked or the page is force-loaded, you’ll have no problems here.

There are many people who should be interested in the opportunities that this company provides. A new network site like this one is a great way to work with ads and find out what really works or not. The site is very upfront about not bringing Google-like numbers to the door, but many people are perfectly content with that, due to the increase in relevant traffic to their site, something that not even Google can recommend.

If you are interested in what is being offered by Traffic Swarm, think about what kind of use it can be in your life and what you can do to make the most out of the opportunity.

Earn Money with Google Adsense !

If you have a website then you can earn money easily ! Just signup for Google Adsense and earn money with placing Google ads on your website. This is way to easily earn money online.

The Google will pay you when their ads will displayed on your website and users click on the ads on that time your balance will updated automatically. Google will pay u money every month by Cheque. They will Pay after your account reaches 100 $. If your account not reaches to 100 $ this month. Example : This month you earned 90 $ on next month you earned 120 $ you will be paid totally 210$ of both months.

There is nothing to do to earn , You must have website (with domain or sub domain) , and then you have to signup for Google Adsense ! This account is used to not only to Google Adsense you can use this account for all google services means with this user name and password use can login to any other Google service like Gmail, googleanalytics, googletalk, adwords, orkut and etc.,

Steps to Earn by Google Adsense !

1. Create an website!

If you are not able to host your website means you can't estimate money for web hosting you can host for free there are many free hosting provider are there like 110mb.com , 2ip.com etc.,

2. After hosting your webpage in any hosting services apply for Google Adsense .

Follow the Instructions to Apply enter username and password, enter url of your website ex : http://www.iswebsearch.co.cc and enter all fields correctly.

3. Finished your Registrations. They will verify your application and shortly contact you by email which you have entered on registration time.

4. After your Application was approved simply login to Google Adsense with your account username and password. And customize your ads size and copy the JavaScript code and paste it in your website where you want to display your ads....

5. When any one open your website the Ads will be displayed. when users click on that ads you will be paid.

6. Google will Pays you money by Cheque or Paypal every month. ( You must reached to 100$ to Receive Payments ).

The Google Adsense is the best choice to earn money easily by displaying their ads.......

I'm earning money by Google Adsense and I'm very satisfied that's why I'm educating other to earn money by Google Adsense.

Thinking Money Online

I have many different ideas currently floating around in my head on what to post about. But it’s not really want I want to talk about, it’s what you want to hear about. So I want to know what exactly it is you want to learn about. There are thousands of ways to make money online, so think of something, and I will teach you how to make money with it, and possibly even live off of it. I’ve dealt with nearly every money making process on the net and can put up good information for you to know. Whether you want to know how to monetize your site, or use Google services correctly, I’m up for posting.

Please post a comment on what you would like to see and you may see it in upcoming articles, cheers!

AdSense Tip: Can You Buy Traffic to AdSense Sites?

There is an AdSense technique called AdSense Arbitrage. It used to
be all the rage and some people made a killing using the technique.

Can AdSense sites still profit from this technique?

AdSense Arbitrage is simply the act of using AdWords to drive
traffic to AdSense Sites. Profiting with the method required the
total spend for the AdWords clicks to be less than the amount
earned with the resulting traffic clicking on the AdSense ads;
simply bid on low cost keywords in AdWords and route the clicks to
pages containing high paying AdSense clicks.

In the past, this was much easier to profit with than today.
However, Google did not like their programs being used in this way;
they felt it lowered the quality of the user experience and was
harmful to "legitimate" AdWords advertisers. Therefore, they've
tightened the screws on AdWords advertisers forcing them to be more
"relevant".

If you are an AdWords advertiser, you can still have AdSense on
your destination pages. However, if Google believes your purpose is
to simply drive traffic to a site in order to get AdSense clicks,
your AdWords keywords will likely be deactivated.

Is there any way to make AdSense Arbitrage work now? Yes, but you
must have a content rich site Google already respects. You probably
will not have success with a new site trying this method even if
you spend several weeks feverishly writing original content for it.

For example, if CitiBank decided to put AdSense on their site and
start advertising a credit card application with Adwords, there
would not be a problem. However, if your new site,
MyBestCreditPlace .com has AdSense on it and you start using
AdWords to drive traffic to it, Google will take a much closer look
at what you are doing.

What is the answer? SEO is your key to success. Create sites Google
(and the other search engines) will want to rank well. Once your
optimization efforts pay off and the site is ranking well AND
getting traffic put the AdSense ads on.

Ways to Make Money on the Internet

The following list of making money online does not include the following: Taking Surveys, Get Paid to Surf the Internet, MLM, Programs with a ton of negative user experiences (based on researching forums, Googling them, etc.), Contest Sites, “Buy my DVD, CD, Audiobook”, etc.

The list consists of things you can use to legitimately make money online - everything from getting paid to review software to Google Adsense.

Anyway, here you go.

* Adbrite - Sell space on your site for text ads
* Amazon Affiliate Program - Easily create a store or shopping section on your site instead of sending your visitors to Amazon. Amazon handles the shopping cart and fulfillment.
* Amazon Seller - Sell your stuff on Amazon
* Associated Content - If you write a story, how-to, rant, etc. you can submit it to them and they will pay you $3-$20 per article if they like it
* Azoogleads - Another ad program. They do have some decent companies lined up as advertisers. You provide space, they’ll provide an ad.
* BidVertiser - PPC (pay per click) program with a low $10 payout amount.
* Bravenet - These guys offer a ton of services for webmasters and blog owners. Although I feel like I was spammed for a while, it has ceased and they’ll pay you $1 for each person you send over
* Blog - Start a blog and consistently write excellent content. With good ad placement, you may make some money.
* Business Opportunities Blog - I am adding this because I am a subscriber to their site and I see ideas everyday that could result in making money. A lot of the ideas pertain to online businesses. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, it’s a good reference.
* CafePress - You provide a design, they’ll toss it on a T-Shirt, Hat, etc. No upfront costs. Get a free online shop and promote your products on your website.
* Chitika - Their eMiniMalls service has shown great results for many Bloggers and site owners. You choose a keyword and they show relevant products on your site using a pretty unique interface.
* Clickbank - Another Affiliate Program site with 10,000+ products to advertise
* ClicknWork - Get paid $5-$150 per hour for basically doing freelance work on a per-assignment basis. You have to pass a pretty tough test to get in.
* Clicksor - These are the guys that generate contextual ads on sites that show up when you hover over a double-underlined word.
* Commission Junction - If you have a site, you can join Commission Junction. Once enrolled for free, you can choose companies whose ads are pertinent to your site. Companies have the ultimate say on working with you. Their are easily over 1,000 companies to choose from here.
* CreamAid - For blogs only, advertisers provide you with a topic and you write about it on your site. To do this, you have to install a flash widget into your blog post. The more people you bring into the conversation through the widget, the more you get paid. It’s difficult to explain.
* eefoof - Think of it as YouTube + Flickr + Music. You add original content and they pay you based on the visitors you attract.
* Ether - If you are an expert on something, Ether provides a way for people to pay you to talk about it in a one-on-one setting. If you want to charge $250/hr, that’s fine. You have to do all the advertising so you should have a blog or site already established.
* eBay - Come on, you know what this is. Gather your junk and sell it!
* eBay Stores - If you have a real store and want to sell your stuff online, this is a decent option to get you started.
* ELance - Name gives it away. Programmers, Codes, Web Designers, Writers, Editors, can look for freelance opportunities.
* Feedvertising - This is an arm of Text Link Ads and is currently only good for WordPress 2.0 Users. This does me no good currently, but as you can guess, they place ads in your feed(s).
* Feedburner - Not only are they the best place to house your feeds, they will also add ads to your feed and website. You get paid per impression.
* Google Adsense - Come on, you don’t need an explanation. These ads are all over the place. Google displays relevant ads based on your site’s content
* Google Adwords - Create simple text ads and choose keywords that determine when they are displayed. This is where the Adsense Content comes from. You do not need a site for this.
* SHUT DOWN Google Answers - If you are good, Google will pay you to answer questions in your specialty. Questions all come from normal people like you and me. You can get paid $2.50+ per answer you provide.
* H3.com - Get paid to fill jobs. Commissions range from $50-$5,000. It all depends on how tough the job is to fill and how desperate the hiring company is. This is another one that’s tough to explain.
* Indeed.com - Add their job board to your site. They then post jobs based on the geographic location of visitors and the position types you pre-select. I tried it and I they continually report that I sent 0 visitors and I know that’s not right. Nevertheless, I may have an isolated problem so they make the list.
* InnerSell - If you have a customer that wants to buy something you cannot sell, you can sell the lead here.
* Jellyfish - This is a shopping site that pays you a percentage of the purchases made by people you refer. They are not part of a wider affiliate program so you do it direct.
* Jigsaw - It’s a pretty flaky model but if you have a Rolodex full of good contacts, you can sell them here. I can’t make sense of it but it looks like you get $0.10 per profile.
* KarmaOne - They are basically a recruiting website. If you fill one of their jobs by finding a good candidate, you’ll get paid anywhere from $50-$12,000. It all depends on how desperate the hiring company is.
* - If you have a site, you can join Linkshare. Once enrolled for free, you can choose companies whose ads are pertinent to your site. Companies have the ultimate say on working with you. Like Commission Junction, there are a ton of companies waiting to evaluate your site.
* Microsoft Adcenter - Bid on keywords and Microsoft places your created ads then they are searched for. This is similar to Google Adwords. You do not need a site for this.
* Overstock.com - Sell your stuff on Overstock.com
* Pageflakes - This is a company that developed a user-defined Ajax homepage to show feeds, flickr photos, and a ton of other things. Think of it as a replacement for your Google Homepage. Anyway - they’ll pay you $1 per referral that you send over. They are not part of a wider affiliate program so you do it direct. This one is pretty simple.
* Pay Per Post - I don’t agree with this model entirely but they have advertisers that will pay you to write about their products on your blog.
* Pheedo - If you have an RSS feed, run it through Pheedo. Like Feedburner, they can include ads into your feed and if you really become large, advertisers will pay a premium for you to show their ads.
* Shareasale - I’ve never really worked with them but I do have an account. They are similar to Commission Junction and Linkshare however they seem to have lower tiered companies with advertising offers.
* Shoemoney - This is a blog that can teach you a ton on making money online. I’ve spent hours reading his old stuff.
* Software Judge - They will pay you up to $50 to review software.
* Text Link Ads - I have never made a dime here but I know people that have. You can earn by sending advertisers to them or by selling spots on your site. You must have a real site or blog to do this - nothing on a shared domain (i.e. /blogspot).
* Vibrant Media - Don’t bother unless your site has 500,000 page views of text based content a month. If you have that readership, these are the guys that display bubble box ads to underlined words on your site.
* West Work At Home Agent - Not entirely online but this is worth a mention because it’s won awards and is very legitimate. If you are an at-home Mom or free-lancer without work, you should check this out.
* Yahoo Publisher Network - This is the Yahoo version of Google Adsense.

I know this isn’t a complete list and I am always interested in learning about more legitimate sites.