What is a Scam?

We all see the word, "Scam" all over the place.Letter. It will not last and most people will not
Some of us even use it ourselves.make money.
But do we really know what it is?Most people will loose money. The ones who will
I spent sometime looking it up. Here are somemake out likebandits, are the people who started
definitions of theword Scam:it in the first place.
From Cambridge International Dictionary ofOr how about Gifting Clubs.
English:scam, noun [C] INFORMAL, a plan or actionI don't care what they tell you on the Website to
for making moneywhich is dishonest, illegal andmake youbelieve it is all legal. I don't care what
often clever. He burnt his own housedown so thatthey say about
he could claim the insurance money - what aGifting being a time honored way of sharing. To
scam!do it in aprogram like this, is illegal. It will get shut
From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:scam Maindown, and mostpeople will again loose money.
Entry: Pronunciation: 'skam Function: nounOnly the ones who start it willget the big pay
Etymology:origin unknown Date: 1963 : aoffs.
fraudulent or deceptive act or operationI see both types of programs being offered all
(an insurance scam)the time. Don'tfall for them. If you want to have
From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of theany kind of reputation DO NOTpromote these
English Language:kind of things.
Fourth Edition. 2000:scam ...Slang A fraudulent"But what about the ones who get in first... won't
business scheme; a swindle. Inflectedthey makemoney?"
forms:scammed, scam·ming, scams ToThey can, but think about this. Think about the
defraud; swindle. Origin unknown.scammer -NOUN...people who willbe asked to join later. Think about
From The Newbury House Online Dictionary:scamthe money they will be askedto pay. Think about
n. a plan to make money by deception or fraud,the money they are going to loose becauseall the
(syn.) a swindle:greedy fools who are going to join have joined
They ran a scam where they burned cars andand theycan't find anyone to cover their costs.
collected insurancemoney.Think about all thepeople who will be out if the
From yourdictionary.com:scam (skm) Slang n. Athing gets shut down by the Law.
fraudulent business scheme; a swindle.Most of these things never get big enough for
From the Dictionary of Slang:scam Noun. A trickthe Legal
or con.Authorities to get involved. They just die of their
As you can see there are very specific definitionsown wait.
for the word.Are you the type of person who can sit back and
A scam is something that is set up to rip peopletell yourself,
off. To taketheir money."It's all right, I got mine."
It is not, as we sometimes think, a company thatIt's not all right.
is havingproblems with their systems. AllYou are setting people up to loose money if you
companies have problems. Lookat AOL. Theyjoin and promotethings like this.
have lots of problems with their systems. ButBut just because someone sets up a Gifting
theyare not a scam.program or a Chain
Just because we loose money or don't makeLetter type deal, doesn't make them scammers.
money, doesn't makethe company a scam. JustThey may have thebest intentions and honestly
because a company is having problemsgettingbelieve what they are offering isperfectly legal. It
their members paid on time, does not make themisn't, but they may think it is.
a scam.In case you haven't noticed, PayPal is coming
Companies do have problems that are beyonddown hard on a lotof Network Marketing
their control.companies. They are not doing this on theirown.
It's how they handle them that tells you a lotMasterCard and Visa, are the ones who are
about the kind ofcompany that they are. If theyforcing them toget out of Network Marketing
are honest and up front about theproblem, that iscompanies. Why? Because the Credit
a good thing. If they hide the problem with alot ofCard Companies are getting hit Very hard with
double talk or no talk at all, that is a bad thing.Charge Backs, and
Itdoesn't make them a scam, but it does say aFraud. Stolen Credit Cards are being used all over
lot about how theycan be expected to dothe World tojoin Network Marketing companies.
business.The Thieves clean up, and the
When you look at companies, really look at them.Credit Card Companies and sometimes the
What is the first thing they say abouthonest programs take thehit. MasterCard and Visa
themselves? Do they talkabout the product orhave both long had clauses in theircontracts that
the service they offer? Or do they justlaunch intopeople could not use their services for MLM
how much money you can make? If the firsttypeprograms. Now they are enforcing it.
thing youread is all about the money to be made.If the company you are with has not had these
Watch out. It might notbe a scam, but it tells youkind of problems,they will and they should be
that is all they are about. To themit doesn'tprepared for them. Companies thatare going
matter what the product or the service is, it'sthrough this, are not all scams. In fact my guess
allabout the pay plan.isthat if this happened to a scammer, they would
These companies, may not be scams, but theyjust close upshop and move on with whatever
maybe illegal. Therehas to be a real product ormoney they could. A Real Company,will find a
service being offered. If there isno product, if it isway to work around the problem.
just passing money from the ones below totheSo the next time you read someone calling this or
ones above, it is illegal.that company ascam, think. It maybe a perfectly
How many of you have seen this kind of thing?good company that is workingthrough some
A program sets up a list of members for you toproblems.
pay directly orwith the help of the program, andA Real Scam is something that is set up just to
you then take the first nameoff the list and addtake your Moneyand Run. A Real Scam will not
your name to the bottom. It doesn't matteriftry and work through problems.
they tell you that you are ordering a report orThey will just pack up and go on to something
somethinglike that from each of the members, itelse.
is an illegal Chain