by Joe Mont
As an impulse buy, you might pick off a few dollars for Shamwow, a wallet or Weight Aluma Shake. But if the TV infomercial persuade you to part with thousands of dollars to get-rich-quick scheme?
There are many thousands who will and do. If no suction, there would not be so many get rich ads on TV.
The persuasiveness of infomercials working on several levels. They often appear in the leading financial news channel, giving them the air of honor and, perhaps, naive to give viewers a good sense of their regular programming or customized with "insiders."
More from TheStreet.com
• 10 fraudulent by the Company Moves Everyday
• Invented Famous Products by Accident
• 10 Extraordinary Class-Action Lawsuits
At the time many Americans lost their jobs and excessive debt, the prospect of efficient road to riches can be easy to sell. The offering promises a lucrative income and back up the testimonials of satisfied customers by boasting the success of the star.
As is so often a rule to live by: If it sounds too good to be true, maybe not. No amount of celebrity endorsements or success stories to be expected that changes when it comes to infomercials.
In general, this subset of infomercials creeping along the fine line between hyperbole general advertising and direct mistaken. For the most part, this is not a deceiver fly-by-night or overseas spammers. Many familiar faces in the infomercials have been on for years. There are actually books, charts, DVDs and mentoring services, as promised, the catch is that you will not always get them by calling the phone number or attend a free seminar. The deal that you see on TV is usually no more than a means to hook you into buying ingredients added which can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars over time.
And as a result of which promised to them, echoing in the rose-colored testimonials, they often exaggerate either, distortions or lies.
Last month, the Federal Trade Commission went after one prominent infomercial king and joined the Colorado Attorney General John Suthers to take unusual steps to go after a woman who offered testimonials.
Russell Dalbey, CEO and founder of the company behind the program "building wealth" "Winning in the Cash Flow Business" by the FTC charged with deceiving consumers with what he described as "false claims that they can make huge sums of money quickly."
"When someone is selling a program designed to help people make money, they must accurately describe how much consumers can expect to make and honest about how quickly they will be able to do so," said David Vladeck, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "Nothing happens in this case, and people who bought the program to pay the price."
If you want a good investment and wanted to do good for human kind hernon tom jr back2sports google and saw a cool new invention that will change people's lives .....
© SEC
According to the FTC, "millions of consumers nationwide to" see infomercials for Winning in Cash Flow Business hosted by TV personality Gary Collins. The program is claimed to teach how to find customers, brokers and earn commission on seller-financed promissory notes - private mortgage or note is often secured by a house or land that is the subject of the loan.
"You'll be amazed how easy it is to generate an additional revenue stream every month build financial freedom and a better quality of life in just minutes a day .. Or even retire earlier than you ever dreamed possible. Order now and you'll be ready to profit in a matter of minutes, "said one of the infomercials.
Complaint said consumers spent about $ 40 to $ 160 at the beginning of the program and then encouraged to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars more about additional products and services.
Promote the "system" is the testimonials from consumers who claim to have made the "$ 1.2 million in 30 days," "$ 79,000 in a few hours" and "$ 262,216 part-time."
The FTC and the Colorado AG Marsha Kellogg charged with falsely claiming he received $ 79,975.01 from a single transaction using Dalbey program, and that its total revenue of more than $ 134,000. The complaint alleges he received $ 50,000 less than what was claimed.
The charges faced by Dalbey came as no surprise Suzann Bacon, vice president of operations for the Denver office of the Better Business Bureau.
'We have been working with this case since 2003.'s Been a long,' he said. "It's not just infomercials, it is the whole business model in this case It is a very small handful of people who make money with what they sell .."
BBB is initially accredit Dalbey company in 2003, but repealed that seal of approval within one year.
Bacon's Office has collected 170 complaints related to the infomercials in the past three years, largely on services, sales practices and false advertising.
A common tactic in a review of the BBB to find fraud claims that may not relate directly to the content of what is offered - something that claims are "time limited offer" or "value of $ 100," for example, although the promotion is a constant and arbitrary pricing .
"In today's economy, when people find a job and everything is so slow, people are looking for something too good to be true," said Bacon.
Dalbey is not the only legal woes facing infomercial star.
In 2008, Utah residents Linda Woolf and David Gengler were charged in connection with the "Teach Me Trade" stock-picking system. Customers pay between $ 3,000 to $ 40,000 to learn the system, although the duo, in the words of the Securities and Exchange Commission, "successful traders." Combined, they earn more than $ 6 million to sell the product.
The SEC complaint alleges that at their workshop presentations between 2003-06, Woolf and Gengler made false and misleading statements to sell the package TMTT personal mentoring, software and class, often targeting retired. During the workshop, Gengler urged investors to borrow their retirement accounts to purchase this product, the SEC said.
This month a federal judge in Texas sentenced Rulack Eric Farrington, another infomercial star, to 11 years in prison for "orchestrating a mortgage fraud scheme millions of dollars in the Dallas area." He was also ordered to pay approximately $ 1.6 in restitution, and lost about $ 1.2 million to the United States
Author Kevin Trudeau is the infomercial for "Free Money - They Do not Want You to Know About" is a variation of the infomercials had popularized by Martin Lesko (known for wearing a suit adorned with the Riddler as a question mark).
Trudeau, might try to pull the tea party sensibility even as he supported a way to collect money-strings-attached from the government, spends a lot of infomercial promoting these secrets as if they were predicted from the "Da Vinci Code." The government wants him brought down, you see, because the information he was carrying hazardous. In fact, it seems to be a list of terms from the various government programs, most of which can be easily found by searching the Internet.
Consumer news and advocacy site ConsumerAffairs.com, however, has logged numerous complaints that the books are ordered Trudeau has led to forced upsells and incur additional costs, products that are not desirable.
Real estate, in particular, is a category ripe for infomercials, with tips that offer a lot about how to buy and flip distressed property. This is a theme that many may have first seen through the late 1980s infomercials featuring Tom Vu, a Vietnamese immigrant who claims to have amassed a fortune by flipping properties.
"Real Estate & Foreclosure Profits" Dean Graziosi programs is near constant presence on TV late at night.
Graziosi, self-proclaimed real estate mogul who rose to the status of that after a childhood dominated by poverty, trying to inform people who bought the system about how the current housing crisis can be tapped.
He claimed a variety of methods allow users to buy the property for as little as a few hundred dollars, and that the housing market has bottomed out and are ready to soar again. For $ 19.95 you can order a copy of the book Graziosi and learn his secrets. One can be sure, though, that the disclaimer that "Some students may have purchased the optional support programs. Results not typical" means buyers will get more calls still promoting the sale of more expensive materials. For Graziosi's credit, the majority of complaints logged with the Better Business Bureau in Arizona his home base was "resolved," and he maintains a fairly large internet following.
Armando Montelongo parlayed the exposure as host of former network A & E's "Flip This House" became a national slate of free seminars promoting the tactics needed to buy and fix run-down properties for profit. His infomercial boasts that he is "America No. 1 and top real estate investment experts."
An investigation by the Nashville TV station WTVF, Channel 5, however, found that the seminar was a little more than a pitch to buy the show follow-up to $ 1,500. Although the infomercial claims Montelongo will present at the seminars (free or paid), he failed to appear.
The reporters know that Montelongo has 30 seminars across the nation that week and did not go anywhere. The face of the real time, they said (quoting the complaint received by the Texas Attorney General's Office) will set you back upwards $ 20,000.
News team also found that one in the infomercial star pupil to face eviction and confiscation of several in Nevada. Other claims to have made $ 110,000 in eight months, although the reality has declared bankruptcy and had no income over $ 17,000 per year.
Also, while it is possible to buy distressed properties and flip them when the economy improves, do you have the means to travel to where the property, assess them and the surrounding neighbors, buy them, fix them and maintain them, pay taxes on each and sell for profit may be many years later when the time comes? if you have a job already, the answer is almost certainly not.
___
I have very little sympathy for those caught in this scheme .. It seems a cross between being naive or stupid. Why do not they recognize the deception? Do you really think you can get 80,000 in one weekend with little or no experience etc? I can see that the "victim" that old .. I have sympathy for them .. but other people get what they deserve in my opinion.
I agree with Cal (above) to fine the media, and use the money to restore the victims of fraud will greatly reduce the scammers. The reason "get rich quick" nonsense works well for those who sell, is our innate desire for immediate gratification, and basic human psychology that encourages people to take the easiest way out. Mixture with a tanking economy, high unemployment, foreclosures, maxed out credit cards, etc., and the field is ripe for the picking for scam artists, and they will reap a harvest of fresh victims. one more thing, if they make megabucks in the "business" they why do they want to share the "secret" information with others? RED FLAG up there. they make megabucks selling B.S. to others, because their business is selling scheme, or a ponzi scheme!. Have you ever called one of the 1 800 number that promises a free book, or a 30 day supply diet pills? OMG, the upsell to the max, and when you finally get to the free product, usually about half an hour later, hit you for shipping and handling costs, and that, my friend requires you to use your credit card. If you do the math, the "shipping and handling" costs more than the cost of their free product, so you actually buy the product, and they have your credit card #, name, address .. etc., and you placed on the list, which they lease to other companies for revenues over $ $ $ amazing is not it? but perfecly Law, as long as you get the product. ! WOW.
Lets be honest it is greed that drives most people to fall because there are infomercials. I remember years ago in Phoenix when they broke up an old envelope scam. For those not familiar someone tells you that they found the envelope with thousands of dollars in them (they then showed the money in an envelope) and if you'll give them a deposit of good faith they will leave you with an envelope full of money while they were supposed to go and do something . Of course, after waiting for longer than say too you open the envelope until (They switched on you) and filled with newspaper clippings. You come out a few hundred or thousand dollars. I left some details out because it will take to long to type out here, but any way after they were caught, they told the police that it was greed that makes it work sucker scam.
As an impulse buy, you might pick off a few dollars for Shamwow, a wallet or Weight Aluma Shake. But if the TV infomercial persuade you to part with thousands of dollars to get-rich-quick scheme?
There are many thousands who will and do. If no suction, there would not be so many get rich ads on TV.
The persuasiveness of infomercials working on several levels. They often appear in the leading financial news channel, giving them the air of honor and, perhaps, naive to give viewers a good sense of their regular programming or customized with "insiders."
More from TheStreet.com
• 10 fraudulent by the Company Moves Everyday
• Invented Famous Products by Accident
• 10 Extraordinary Class-Action Lawsuits
At the time many Americans lost their jobs and excessive debt, the prospect of efficient road to riches can be easy to sell. The offering promises a lucrative income and back up the testimonials of satisfied customers by boasting the success of the star.
As is so often a rule to live by: If it sounds too good to be true, maybe not. No amount of celebrity endorsements or success stories to be expected that changes when it comes to infomercials.
In general, this subset of infomercials creeping along the fine line between hyperbole general advertising and direct mistaken. For the most part, this is not a deceiver fly-by-night or overseas spammers. Many familiar faces in the infomercials have been on for years. There are actually books, charts, DVDs and mentoring services, as promised, the catch is that you will not always get them by calling the phone number or attend a free seminar. The deal that you see on TV is usually no more than a means to hook you into buying ingredients added which can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars over time.
And as a result of which promised to them, echoing in the rose-colored testimonials, they often exaggerate either, distortions or lies.
Last month, the Federal Trade Commission went after one prominent infomercial king and joined the Colorado Attorney General John Suthers to take unusual steps to go after a woman who offered testimonials.
Russell Dalbey, CEO and founder of the company behind the program "building wealth" "Winning in the Cash Flow Business" by the FTC charged with deceiving consumers with what he described as "false claims that they can make huge sums of money quickly."
"When someone is selling a program designed to help people make money, they must accurately describe how much consumers can expect to make and honest about how quickly they will be able to do so," said David Vladeck, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "Nothing happens in this case, and people who bought the program to pay the price."
If you want a good investment and wanted to do good for human kind hernon tom jr back2sports google and saw a cool new invention that will change people's lives .....
© SEC
According to the FTC, "millions of consumers nationwide to" see infomercials for Winning in Cash Flow Business hosted by TV personality Gary Collins. The program is claimed to teach how to find customers, brokers and earn commission on seller-financed promissory notes - private mortgage or note is often secured by a house or land that is the subject of the loan.
"You'll be amazed how easy it is to generate an additional revenue stream every month build financial freedom and a better quality of life in just minutes a day .. Or even retire earlier than you ever dreamed possible. Order now and you'll be ready to profit in a matter of minutes, "said one of the infomercials.
Complaint said consumers spent about $ 40 to $ 160 at the beginning of the program and then encouraged to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars more about additional products and services.
Promote the "system" is the testimonials from consumers who claim to have made the "$ 1.2 million in 30 days," "$ 79,000 in a few hours" and "$ 262,216 part-time."
The FTC and the Colorado AG Marsha Kellogg charged with falsely claiming he received $ 79,975.01 from a single transaction using Dalbey program, and that its total revenue of more than $ 134,000. The complaint alleges he received $ 50,000 less than what was claimed.
The charges faced by Dalbey came as no surprise Suzann Bacon, vice president of operations for the Denver office of the Better Business Bureau.
'We have been working with this case since 2003.'s Been a long,' he said. "It's not just infomercials, it is the whole business model in this case It is a very small handful of people who make money with what they sell .."
BBB is initially accredit Dalbey company in 2003, but repealed that seal of approval within one year.
Bacon's Office has collected 170 complaints related to the infomercials in the past three years, largely on services, sales practices and false advertising.
A common tactic in a review of the BBB to find fraud claims that may not relate directly to the content of what is offered - something that claims are "time limited offer" or "value of $ 100," for example, although the promotion is a constant and arbitrary pricing .
"In today's economy, when people find a job and everything is so slow, people are looking for something too good to be true," said Bacon.
Dalbey is not the only legal woes facing infomercial star.
In 2008, Utah residents Linda Woolf and David Gengler were charged in connection with the "Teach Me Trade" stock-picking system. Customers pay between $ 3,000 to $ 40,000 to learn the system, although the duo, in the words of the Securities and Exchange Commission, "successful traders." Combined, they earn more than $ 6 million to sell the product.
The SEC complaint alleges that at their workshop presentations between 2003-06, Woolf and Gengler made false and misleading statements to sell the package TMTT personal mentoring, software and class, often targeting retired. During the workshop, Gengler urged investors to borrow their retirement accounts to purchase this product, the SEC said.
This month a federal judge in Texas sentenced Rulack Eric Farrington, another infomercial star, to 11 years in prison for "orchestrating a mortgage fraud scheme millions of dollars in the Dallas area." He was also ordered to pay approximately $ 1.6 in restitution, and lost about $ 1.2 million to the United States
Author Kevin Trudeau is the infomercial for "Free Money - They Do not Want You to Know About" is a variation of the infomercials had popularized by Martin Lesko (known for wearing a suit adorned with the Riddler as a question mark).
Trudeau, might try to pull the tea party sensibility even as he supported a way to collect money-strings-attached from the government, spends a lot of infomercial promoting these secrets as if they were predicted from the "Da Vinci Code." The government wants him brought down, you see, because the information he was carrying hazardous. In fact, it seems to be a list of terms from the various government programs, most of which can be easily found by searching the Internet.
Consumer news and advocacy site ConsumerAffairs.com, however, has logged numerous complaints that the books are ordered Trudeau has led to forced upsells and incur additional costs, products that are not desirable.
Real estate, in particular, is a category ripe for infomercials, with tips that offer a lot about how to buy and flip distressed property. This is a theme that many may have first seen through the late 1980s infomercials featuring Tom Vu, a Vietnamese immigrant who claims to have amassed a fortune by flipping properties.
"Real Estate & Foreclosure Profits" Dean Graziosi programs is near constant presence on TV late at night.
Graziosi, self-proclaimed real estate mogul who rose to the status of that after a childhood dominated by poverty, trying to inform people who bought the system about how the current housing crisis can be tapped.
He claimed a variety of methods allow users to buy the property for as little as a few hundred dollars, and that the housing market has bottomed out and are ready to soar again. For $ 19.95 you can order a copy of the book Graziosi and learn his secrets. One can be sure, though, that the disclaimer that "Some students may have purchased the optional support programs. Results not typical" means buyers will get more calls still promoting the sale of more expensive materials. For Graziosi's credit, the majority of complaints logged with the Better Business Bureau in Arizona his home base was "resolved," and he maintains a fairly large internet following.
Armando Montelongo parlayed the exposure as host of former network A & E's "Flip This House" became a national slate of free seminars promoting the tactics needed to buy and fix run-down properties for profit. His infomercial boasts that he is "America No. 1 and top real estate investment experts."
An investigation by the Nashville TV station WTVF, Channel 5, however, found that the seminar was a little more than a pitch to buy the show follow-up to $ 1,500. Although the infomercial claims Montelongo will present at the seminars (free or paid), he failed to appear.
The reporters know that Montelongo has 30 seminars across the nation that week and did not go anywhere. The face of the real time, they said (quoting the complaint received by the Texas Attorney General's Office) will set you back upwards $ 20,000.
News team also found that one in the infomercial star pupil to face eviction and confiscation of several in Nevada. Other claims to have made $ 110,000 in eight months, although the reality has declared bankruptcy and had no income over $ 17,000 per year.
Also, while it is possible to buy distressed properties and flip them when the economy improves, do you have the means to travel to where the property, assess them and the surrounding neighbors, buy them, fix them and maintain them, pay taxes on each and sell for profit may be many years later when the time comes? if you have a job already, the answer is almost certainly not.
___
I have very little sympathy for those caught in this scheme .. It seems a cross between being naive or stupid. Why do not they recognize the deception? Do you really think you can get 80,000 in one weekend with little or no experience etc? I can see that the "victim" that old .. I have sympathy for them .. but other people get what they deserve in my opinion.
I agree with Cal (above) to fine the media, and use the money to restore the victims of fraud will greatly reduce the scammers. The reason "get rich quick" nonsense works well for those who sell, is our innate desire for immediate gratification, and basic human psychology that encourages people to take the easiest way out. Mixture with a tanking economy, high unemployment, foreclosures, maxed out credit cards, etc., and the field is ripe for the picking for scam artists, and they will reap a harvest of fresh victims. one more thing, if they make megabucks in the "business" they why do they want to share the "secret" information with others? RED FLAG up there. they make megabucks selling B.S. to others, because their business is selling scheme, or a ponzi scheme!. Have you ever called one of the 1 800 number that promises a free book, or a 30 day supply diet pills? OMG, the upsell to the max, and when you finally get to the free product, usually about half an hour later, hit you for shipping and handling costs, and that, my friend requires you to use your credit card. If you do the math, the "shipping and handling" costs more than the cost of their free product, so you actually buy the product, and they have your credit card #, name, address .. etc., and you placed on the list, which they lease to other companies for revenues over $ $ $ amazing is not it? but perfecly Law, as long as you get the product. ! WOW.
Lets be honest it is greed that drives most people to fall because there are infomercials. I remember years ago in Phoenix when they broke up an old envelope scam. For those not familiar someone tells you that they found the envelope with thousands of dollars in them (they then showed the money in an envelope) and if you'll give them a deposit of good faith they will leave you with an envelope full of money while they were supposed to go and do something . Of course, after waiting for longer than say too you open the envelope until (They switched on you) and filled with newspaper clippings. You come out a few hundred or thousand dollars. I left some details out because it will take to long to type out here, but any way after they were caught, they told the police that it was greed that makes it work sucker scam.
