Everyone has heard the saying that if something sounds too good to be true, it is. Why then are people so easily fooled by “make money” programs and systems?

I think one of the reasons is that people are searching for a dream, they truly do need money, and because of that they let their common sense fly out the window. Desperation leads folks to pull out their wallets quicker than they normally would if they weren’t in such need of some way to make money that will get them through this recession.

Another reason is that many online money making scams only charge you a small processing fee or shipping fee up front and then charge you later for much more. They fool you into thinking the product is much cheaper than it really is. Of course the real thing they fool you about is that the product will help you make money in the first place as most of them are full of empty promises and hype.

Before you pull out your debit or credit card for any online program or product, you should always scroll down to the bottom of the page. There you should see links to a “disclaimer” and “terms and conditions” that will help you have a better understanding of what to expect. You might even see them spelled out at the bottom of the page and not even have to click a link to view them. Here is one that should raise a lot of red flags for anyone thinking of making the purchase:

If you read any of carefully you will notice that it almost reads as reasons NOT to make the purchase. From warning after warning it pretty much spells out that the product will work for only a select few who are willing to pay for additional training and do a lot of other things exactly right. How many people would pay money for something like this that clearly states up front that your chances of making money with it are slim? Probably not many but the problem is that people never bother to go to the bottom of the web pages and read the fine print.

Don’t get caught up in the dream of making money online and allow it to cloud your judgement. Before you buy any Internet marketing ebook or program online, you should research it first. Before you even get to that step you should always read the small print at the bottom of the page. The FTC is cracking down on things like this now and so most sales pages will have additional information (sometimes in links) that may immediately alert you to the fact that you should steer clear and NOT buy.

I don’t know if Executive Gold Buyers is a scam because I have never used them. What I do know though, is that their advertorial is made to look like a real news site and news story and it is NOT!

The name Karli Mathews will be from whatever city or town you live in because the ad detects where you are logging on from. Most likely none of the links on the site work except for the ones that take you to the gold site. Work at home moms are a favorite group to advertise to because the economy is doing so poorly.

You may get money for your gold and they might be legit but I am warning you that this advertisement is all a fake. The ad you see might have a picture of a woman holding a check in the comments but the check is a check from Google. It is NOT a check for gold and you can barely make anything out on that check anyway.

The comments are all fake, the expiring promo is fake, there is no reporter listed and there is no online news site like this called Daily Consumer Alerts. So please be very careful because there are a lot of similar advertisements on the Internet like this that want to make you believe they are legitimate news stories from legitimate news websites but they are not real!

This is a check from Google! Not for gold!

One thing that most people trust is a good rating from the BBB (Better Business Bureau) as they have been around forever and have become ingrained in our minds as a trusted source. Some Internet “make money” programs and websites have the BBB logo displayed somewhere on their site along with the “As Seen On” with logos of FOX, CNN, MSN and others.

All these logos are put there to get you to trust the websites but you have to be careful because it looks like a good rating from the BBB is pretty much meaningless these days, even if the rating is real. I frequently see the BBB logo displayed on all sorts of websites and now I know that I can’t trust that either. If you have to pay money to be a member and get a good rating, then a good grade from them means absolutely nothing at all.

Please watch the video below which details how many honest and legitimate businesses are having to pay to get a good BBB rating: