While there are thousands of certification logos and such on the Internet is there room for one more, I have bounced around in my head the ability for people selling single products or even whole groups of products that could go over a scam free certification process where we go over the terms of service, billing cycles, other related things that we normally look for when deciding if the product is a scam and give some type of logo that would like back like SSL verification logos and prove the service has been validated by Scam Times.

I guess the question is this would a service be valuable to both the consumer and the business, and could we create that web of trust among vendors and consumers. The way we see it is we would be able to become a trust authority on that product and we can verify that the consumer will not get taken advantage of. Now this brings problems in itself but would this type of service be valuable. We have done some of the ground work to get this idea in motion but we figured what better way to find out if it is worth it to hear from everyone else and see if this type of certification would be valuable.

I go to several of these scam sites and they will say protected by McAfee or HackerSafe logos none of which are clickable because they are invalid so we would have to worry about that type of use. I could see this worth it to people trying to sell work at home business kits and plans, or products that are true, etc. I see value but that is because I am biased I need your opinions. What I need is everyone to get the word out and tweet, Facebook etc and let’s try to find out if this would be worth it to others. Thank you in advance for your support

Recently there has been a rise in people getting telephone calls from unknown sources that are being asked survey style questions about TV and Cable programing. These calls are trying to get information and they will attempt to confirm your address to send a $200 dollar gift card to your home.

The catch? They will ask for your credit card for a $1.00 shipping charge, now we know what happens next, you will get other random charges and probably lose any money you have in your account pretty quickly. I doubt these are the ones who will only bill you monthly. This type of scam is run all the time and its very dangerous as these are the ones who will attempt to charge your account quickly so they can get out.

There is also risk with these types of attacks that your credit card number will also get sold so your best bet is to cancel your credit card right away. If you get one of these calls just hang up. This is one reason I do not allow any survey type calls to come into my house they get hung up on quickly.

I got approached today from a friend who was trying to get me to join up for some great social networking marketing and making money with social networking. They sent me a text message with a domain and login and after watching the video I figured I would put some information out about this. I will not call this a scam because it’s not really a scam, however it is a MLM opportunity and we all know the majority of people involved with MLM opportunities do not make money.

LTD Team is a Amway/Quixtar property so you do get the people behind that and I will not lie Amway has been successful and some people have made a lot of money with Amway but those people where in at the ground floor like most MLM groups, and it takes a ton of work and time to get people under you to build your down line.

Who is LTD Team

LTD Team stands for Leadership Team Development and has been around 25+ years, they are the group that analyzes and explores market trends to find the next best thing to be in so that makes Social Networking a natural attraction to this group of people. Social Networking is a booming industry but the problem with Social Networking is monetization. The last thing we as social network users want is more people trying to make money in the network. It’s already frustrating on twitter that everyone is tweeting affiliate links cloaked and everything else.

In closing this is more than just a note and not a scam alert.

I recently have had several emails and noticed that on the analytics side of this blog that people are searching for information about Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing or FHTM. I have no experience with FHTM nor do I recommend any company at all. I am only doing this to provide a small amount of information. I will not claim this  a scam or a sham it is what it is and that is multilevel marketing.

What is multilevel marketing?

The Direct Selling Association defines multilevel marketingas “type of compensation plan found in direct selling. A direct selling company that offers a multilevel compensation plan pays its representatives/distributors based not only on one’s own product sales, but on the product sales of one’s “downline” (the people a representative/distributor has brought into the business, and, in turn, the people they have brought into the business).”

How did FHTM start?

Paul Oberson founded FHTM in 2001 in Lexington Kentucky. Before starting FHTM, Paul was a top recruiter and salesperson for the new bankrupt MLM Excel Telecommunications. He retired from Excel before the bankruptcy filing. (I personally find this interesting does anyone know the timeline?)

What do they sell?

Like most MLM companies they sell whatever they can get hooked up with. FHTM sells products and services as affiliates for other companies which to me marks them down as nothing more than affiliate marketing. The products are legitimate there is no doubt that Dish Network is truly Dish Network however you have to be careful because normally the products and services that MLM companies sell are found cheaper from the real product owner, remember there has to be profit for the intermediary or the affiliate. Paul Oberson also owns the company True Essentials Nutritional Products, Inc which seems to be the backbone of the health products that are marketed by FHTM.

What will it cost me

Here we go it’s time to pay for your job, this is one of the problems I have with all MLM and scams and shams alike they all want you to pay for your job. We talked about that earlier which means that these companies that are asking for your “investment” are in the business of selling the business not the products, and you will have to sell the business as well. The initial fee claims to be $299 and they will want you to pay for the $698 package to be a coach. This is normal for all MLM companies they always offer different levels of investment one thing to be careful is some will not pay you commissions or any earnings if you are in the basic level. They will also charge you for a website and other add-ons. You will also be required to buy 3 of the products or services that are represented. This screams out to me to stay away.

Better Business Bureau

The BBB as of October 2009 holds a B rating because of consumer complaints and it is not a BBB accredited company.

In Closing

 You may have luck in multi-level marketing but the majority of people end up spending more money then they make. This is not an easy job and in my opinion should be stayed away from.  I will not call it a scam or a sham but I will give my personal recommendation of be very careful when dealing with any company that requires an investment to get a job.