This is the seventh post in a series of articles that will help you avoid scams and invest your time and money into legitimate business opportunities. Read the whole series in the Business Scams section.
Lack of Contact Details
A fairly obvious way to spot a scam business advertisement is a lack of contact details. Scammers selling bogus investment opportunities do not want to be contacted and will not want to give away any of their personal information on their advertisement.
If you are interested in a business opportunity that seems like a good investment, one of the first things you should do is try to contact the seller. It is unlikely that the advertisement will contain all of the information you need to make a decision, so you should try to contact the seller and ask them any questions you have as part of your due diligence.
Unprofessional Contact Details
Sometimes contact details will be provided, but they will look and feel unprofessional. Legitimate businesses will likely have an email address that is attached to their own domain name, rather than web-based email such as Gmail.
Additionally, scammers are unlikely to give their first names and may only allow you to contact a generic email account such as an administration account.
Of course scammers could simply use fake names to give the impression of legitimacy, so a lack of a first name is only a small piece of the puzzle when trying to work out whether a business opportunity is a scam.
No Response
Some scam opportunities will provide contact details but might not respond if you do submit any queries. A lack of response, a slow response, or a reply that gives very little extra information, is an indication that the business opportunity could be one to avoid.
Also, a reply from a name such as “admin” is not a good sign.
Sign Up Now!
Most scams will provide at least one way for you to sign up immediately and part with your money. But before you do, try to contact the advertiser. At least attempt to find out who is behind any business opportunities you are interest in pursuing.
After all, it could be just about anyone operating from almost anywhere!
Read the next post in the series Part 8 – Turnkey Systems
Read the previous post in the series Part 6 – Pictures of Expensive Things
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