Click here for more details on these scams and how they work.

Click here to find out where to report these scams.

Scam Email #1

MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD (MSIL)
Head Office Maruti Suzuki,
India Limited Nelson Mandela Road,
Vasant Kunj, New Delhi-110070.
Board no.46781000.

REF: “MARUTI SUZUKI” DIRECT RECRUITMENTS OFFER.

Your Resume has been selected from MONSTER,TIMEJOBS,NAUKRI.COM,YUVAJOBS.COM etc, for our new plant.The Company selected 45 candidates list for Senior Engineer IT,Administration,Production,marketing and general service Departments, It is our pleasure to inform you that your Resume was selected as one of the 45 candidates shortlisted for the interview. The Company SUZUKI is the best Manufacturing Car Company in India, The Company is recruiting the candidates for our new Plants in Delhi,Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai.Your interview will be held at The Company Corporate office in New Delhi on 19th Of April 2011,at 11.30 AM, you will be pleased to know that the 45 candidates selected 34 candidates will be giving appointment,Meaning that your Application can progress to final stage.

You will have to come to the Company corporate office in New Delhi,your offer letter with Air Ticket will be sent to you by courier before date of interview. The Company can offer you a salary with benefits for this post 62, 000/- to 200, 000/-P.M. + (HRA + D.A + Conveyance and other Company benefits.The designation and Job Location will be fixing by Company HRD. At time of final process.You have to come with photo-copies of all required documents.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS BY THE COMPANY HRD.
======================================
1) Photo-copies of Qualification Documents.
2) Photo-copies of Experience Certificates (If any)
3) Photo-copies of Address Proof
4) Two Passport Size Photographs.

You have to deposit the (Cash) as an initial amount in favor of our company accountant name in charges to collect your payment department for Rs.10,200/- (Ten Thousand two hundred rupees ) through any [STATE BANK OF IDIAN] OR [ICICI BANK] Branch from your Home City to our Company accountant name in charges. Account NO:,which will be sent to you upon your response. This is a refundable interview security. Your offer letter with Air tickets will be sent to your Home Address by courier after receiving the confirmation of interview security deposited in any of the STATE BANK OF INDIAN OR ICICI BANK. This Company will pay all the expenditure to you at the time of face-to-face meeting with you in Company. The Job profile, salary offer, and date -time of interview will be mentioned in your offer letter. Your offer letter will dispatched very shortly after receiving your confirmation of cash deposited in STATE BANK OF INDIAN OR ICICI BANK.

We wish you the best of luck for the subsequent and remaining stage. The last date of security deposits in bank is 16th Of April, 2011. You have to give the information after deposited the security amount in bank to the Company HRD – time by courier to your postal address after receipt of security deposited confirmation in bank. The interview process and arrangement expenditure will be paid by SUZUKI COMPANY.Lodging, traveling and local conveyance actual will be paid by SUZUKI COMPANY as per bills. The candidate has to deposit the initial refundable security as mentioned by HRD.

NB: You are advice to reconfirm your mailing address and phone number in your reply.And 10,200/- (Ten Thousand two hundred rupees) will be the refundable amount,as 200 rupees will be deducted as bank charges for funds deposit and if you are been selected or not, still the amount will be refunded to you,as the amount is just to prove that you will be coming for the interview in order for us not to run at lost after sending you the air ticket and you don’t show up on the day of interview.

Wishing you the best of luck.

Regards,
Shinzo Nakanishi
Head of Human Resources Dept,
MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD (MSIL)

Scam Email #2

Dear Applicant,

You are one of the hundreds of people who are contacting us about the opportunity to find a job abroad. Thank you very much for trusting our intermediary services!

Finding a job abroad can be a remarkably easy or rather infuriating process. Either way, every job-seeker should eventually succeed with patience, perseverance, and an open mind.

We are professional team that really helps people in need. Since we deal with so many applicants every day in real-world situations, the knowledge and experience gained from creating the best in our services allow us to react quickly and efficiently in all situations.

We understand that it is hard to pick out the real serious proposals amongst the non-effective or least-effective attempts of recruiting.

Please, be informed that finding a European employer, ready to accept candidatures from your country is not an easy job to be done. There are lots of preliminary made conversations and correspondence with various employers, most of who are saying “no” at the beginning. After all, in your case we are even not sure that we will have a positive result at all. Our experience indicates that (sorry to say that) everything depends on the circumstance and the possibility your candidature to be “sold out”.

However, we always respect our applicants’ desires and expectations and in case an application was not successful the first time, then we are always ready to seek other options.

As you have already been informed, the standard application set of documents includes the following items:
1/ personal identification number in the foreign labor office
2/ CV – European format
3/ work permit form filled with your details
4/ motivation letter

Being a non-European citizen, you are most probably confused by these terms and completely at a loss about how to prepare the documents above.

Moreover, time is flying, there are thousands of other well-qualified applicants and sometimes it is a matter of days to be successful or miss an opportunity.

Instead of going around asking and wondering how to prepare this set fastest and in the best way possible, we suggest you to use services of specialized company that can obtain for you a personal identification number in the foreign labor office and provide all of the required documents with an excellent quality, i.e. in accordance with all European employment application standards.

Many other applicants of ours have used such a company because they were in need of quick and efficient assistance and not sure that they would prepare all with the required quality all by themselves.

Here we enclose the contact details of the company they used:

E-MAIL: FILEASSIST@GMAIL.COM
YAHOO – MESSENGER: EXPERTASSIST

We kindly recommend you to avail their services as this is the most common and reliable course of action.
We truly hope that you will proceed with the further steps that need to be taken since they will lead to a successful end.

Your application is important for us and we are always ready to assist you.

Please keep us updated about the status of your documents preparation. Let us know after the documents company prepare the required application set and give us notice, so that we can give you further guidance.

You may reply this letter or contact our Recruitment Consultants online at their Yahoo Messenger ID: geteurojob or through LIVE CHAT.

Sincerely yours:
The Recruitment Agency

Scam Email #3

Simon Survey Shoppers® LLC
14311 Port Comfort Road,
Fort Myers, FL 33095

Hello,
We are a franchise of Ebay®. We have a mystery shopping assignment in your area
and we would like you to participate. It’s fun and rewarding, and you choose
when and where you want to shop.
You are never obliged to accept an assignment. There is no charge to become a
shopper and you do not need previous experience. You would be provided with the
resource to use, it could be cash, money order or check. After you sign up, you
will have access instruction via e-mail or postal mail. You will be paid $100
per duty.
Kindly fill your information on the application form below and we will get back
to you shortly with the assignment detail.

PERSONAL INFORMATION
First Name:
Middle Name:
Last Name:
Street Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Cell Phone Number:
Home Phone Number:
Age:
Alternate Email Address:
Thanks as we look forward to you working with us.
Alan McCarthy,
Simon Survey Shoppers® LL

Scam Email #4

From: drthier@aol.com
Subjetct: ATTENTION JOB SEEKERS!!!

HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT
CONTINENTAL AIRWAYS
UNITED KINGDOM
Royal Docks
London E16 2PB
United Kingdom.
+447-045-700-985
+447-011-148-144

This is to notify the general public that the Continental Airways United Kingdom now offers interested persons with good qualifications and experiences the job positions of Pilots, Marketing Executives, Engineers, Flight Attendants, Cabin and Flight Service Officers, Team Managers, Accountants, Internal Auditors, Doctors, Nurses, Editorial Officers, Helicopter Landing Officers and Catering Officers.

Interested persons must be 20 years and above and should note that they are to work in our London Offices. All candidates with six months working experiences should attach and forward the soft copy of their resume documents and cover letters to these email addresses (job.continentalairways@gmail.com) (continentalairwaysjob@gmail.com) for immediate approval if it is found suitable for the position applied for.

WAGES PER WEEK
Pilots: (GBP)10,200 Great Britain Pounds.
Marketing Executives: (GBP) 5,830 Great Britain Pounds.
Flight Attendants: (GBP) 4,625 Great Britain Pounds.
Team Managers: (GBP) 5,200 Great Britain Pounds.
Doctors: (GBP) 6,820 Great Britain Pounds.
Nurses: (GBP) 4,520 Great Britain Pounds.
Administrative and Human Resources Officers: (GBP) 6,820 Great Britain Pounds.
Editorial Officers: (GBP) 4,525 Great Britain Pounds.
Helicopter Landing Officers: (GBP) 5,300 Great Britain Pounds.
Cabin and Flight Service Officers: (GBP) 4,300 Great Britain Pounds.
Ticketing and Reservation Officers: (GBP) 5,420 Great Britain Pounds.
Catering Officers: (GBP) 4,100 Great Britain Pounds.
Accountants and Internal Auditors: (GBP) 6,520 Great Britain Pounds.
Aircraft and Avionics Engineers: (GBP) 6,500 Great Britain Pounds.
Security Officers: (GBP) 5,500 Great Britain Pounds.
Official Messengers: (GBP) 5,200 Great Britain Pounds.
Legal Officers: (GBP) 5,000 Great Britain Pounds.
Facility Services Officers: (GBP) 4,650 Great Britain Pounds.
Statistics Officers: (GBP) 5,120 Great Britain Pounds.
Flight Operations Managers: (GBP) 5,420 Great Britain Pounds.

Best Regards,
Dr. Jim Compton
Recruitment Manager.

Both of these emails are just fake check scams. Do not work for either “company.”

If you have any similar emails, please forward them to Steve@IveTriedThat.com. I can post them to this blog and help protect potential victims who search for the names and email addresses used.

Email #1

From: Advance Services® Subject: Job Position for Payroll Administrator
To:
Date: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 11:17 AM

Job Summary:

We are seeking a highly motivated candidate to assist with both creating, analyzing and dispatching residual payments for external sales organizations using VersaCheck Software, Quickbooks. This job has the potential to become a full-time position for the right candidate. Compensation is based upon experience but in the range of $18 – $27 per hour to start with average $400 weekly

Job Description:

Collects and disburses patient valuables & provides patient information.
Coordinates & collects required deposits, co-payments.
May perform other duties as required

Job Requirements:

Must have internet
Must be detail oriented, analytical and able to work
Comprehensive knowledge of Payroll systems
You must be familiar with QuickBooks, VersaCheck, able to reconcile accounts, pay bills and have an eye for detail.

Note:

This is a variable position schedule hours will vary between the Day shift. Shift may also include, but is not limted to, weekends and/or holidays depending on departmental/operational need.

Get back to us if you are interested in this job position.

Regards,

George Kayser
Advance Services

Email #2

From: smartpayreg@aol.com
Subject: RE: [1] CareerBuilder: Accountant Position
To:
Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 4:29 AM

Hello Jamie,

Thank you for writing to us,

Please allow me to introduce myself; my name is Kristin Robinson and I am
the International Human Resource Manager of Smart Pay Limited I am pleased
to inform you that we have an open position for you within our company.
Below you will find a short history of our company; please give me a bit of
your time and allow me to present it to you.

COMPANY DETAILS

Our Company was founded in 2004 in the United Kingdom; Smart Pay Limited is
one of the largest equipment selling companies in Europe and our customers
are various businesses, hospitals, groups and individuals. The Smart Pay
Limited is a renowned and trusted symbol of dependability. Naturally, you
have great expectations regarding your career and that means you will need
plenty of room – to grow, to explore your potential and to realize your
goals. Smart Pay Limited needs a responsible, honest, self motivated and
reliable individual to work for the company as our Representative in USA for
our newly opened market. This is in view of us not having an office
presently in the USA but accepting orders from our American customers. You
don’t need to have an office and this certainly will not disturb any form of
work you have going at the moment.

JOB DESCRIPTION, TERMS AND CONDITIONS

- No fees needed to get this job.
- No one at Smart Pay Limited will ask for your sensitive info.
- You are not involved in any sales.
- Everything is legal under EU/USA and International laws.

The today’s situation on the financial market requires us to open and fill
several of these job positions within our company; the job opening is that
of a Representative within the US. This opening will help our company to
reduce the time it takes to receive funds from orders that we receive each
month. And we offer you one of the highest incomes on the market today and
the minimal expenditures of time.

Presently with the amount of orders we have we cannot put them on hold for
fear of losing our customers, secondly we cannot cash these payments from
the US soon enough, as international checks take about 28 working days to
cash anywhere in Europe. We lose a lot of time and money each month because
we have money transfer delays. Our clients could pay us where we want by
sending checks to an US address. What we need you to do is to provide us an
address where you can receive our customer checks. We need someone who can
receive the money through this method of payment. Regarding the check
process all you have to do is to receive the checks our customers will send
to your address, take them to your bank, cash them and send the remainder
amount to us after deducting all fees incurred and your commission. All fees
for transferring the funds will be supported from our share. Bonuses will
apply for cashing checks within 24 hours upon receiving a check. You will
always take your commission upfront.

We make direct contact for sales of products. Once orders are received and
processed we deliver the product to our customer (usually through USPS). The
customer receives and checks the product and proceeds to send the payment.
We accept all forms of payment but most of our customers pay using Bank
Checks and so in order to solve this problem and not lose any of our
customers we have decided to open this new job position. This job is legal
according to the U.S. legislation as it is today. Local money transfers take
but a few hours, so it will give us a possibility to get customer’s payment
almost immediately.

PAYMENT AND SALARY:

For example you receive a check as payment in the amount of 3000.00 USD, you
deduct your commission (10%): 300.00 USD and then send to us the balance:
2700.00 USD. In the first month you will receive around 15-20 orders under
3,000.00 USD to process and after checking your performance records during
that first month the orders you will receive may increase from 3,000.00
upwards to 6,000.00 USD. For example 20 transactions each around 3000.00 USD
gives you a total income of 6,000.00 USD per month and after establishing a
close co-operation with us you’ll be able to operate with larger orders and
you’ll be able to earn more. You will also deduct fees that are related to
this job (gasoline, western union fees, bank commissions, etc) from our
balance, not from your commissions. At first the checks you will receive
will vary from: $500.00 to $3,000.00. We will also send you a 1099 Form for
tax deduction on your part. Our payments will be issued out in your name and
you can have them cashed in your existing bank account, we don’t accept
newly created bank accounts because it slows the cashing process. Deduct
your percentage and forward the balance to the company attorney manager via
a western union money transfer, the name will be given to you later after
cashing a payment. This job takes only 3-7 hours per week. You’ll have a lot
of free time for taking up another job; you’ll get good income and a regular
job. This job is very challenging and you should understand it. We are
looking only for the employee who satisfies our requirements and will be an
earnest assistant.

We have health insurance and the 401K retirement savings plan as well as all
the other standard benefits that a major company usually provides.
Unfortunately we can only start talking about this after the first month has
passed since you’re working for us. We consider the first month as a trial
period. In any case you do not have to pay for anything in advance, there
are no hidden costs for performing this job. Any fee you might encounter
will be deducted from our share of the funds before you send it to us.

You will receive next instructions step by step.

WORKING HOURS

This depends of how many checks you will receive but it won’t take more than
2 hours to deposit the check and send an e-mail as soon as the check arrives
to you. Also as soon as checks arrive we will send you further instructions
and all details in order to complete the process with Western Union.

Unfortunately we cannot setup any interviews now as we do not have any
representatives in US. We will be able to come and meet within the next few
months when the new offices will be opened in your area!

Please let me know if you are still interested and I will e-mail you the
contract. Also include phone numbers and e-mail address where you can be
reached. Within 24 hours after we will receive this information we will
forward you a copy of the contract you have to fill in, sign and e-mail back
to us.

Kristin Robinson
Smart Pay Limited
Kingsway,
London, WC2B
United Kingdom
FAX 011-44-587-880-8080
FAX 011-44-107-880-8081

What Is a Virtual Juror?

Several sites are advertising a “virtual juror” job, which allegedly pays up to $10 hour. The sites include virtualjuror.com, ejury.com, onlinejury.com, and a couple of others.

These sites claim that attorneys will pay you to review cases, or parts of their cases, so that they can sort of “test drive” their case on people that might be like people that will be on real juries. You review the case under consideration and then answer questions about it in an online format. The site that gave you the case pays you via PayPal.

The Truth

Like many online opportunities, this one has a grain of truth to it. There is at least one site that appears to have a legitimate business model: ejury.com. It costs you nothing to sign up, the terms and conditions are easy to find and clearly stated, and it is as clear as possible about what exactly you will be doing. Even more important, it is clear about your income potential:

“For each verdict rendered, eJurors are paid $5 – $10 depending on the length of the case. The amount to be paid will be shown at the top of each case. You certainly won’t get rich serving as an eJuror, but just one case a week would probably pay for your Internet access.”

The problem with the concept and with ejury.com is that your chances of getting a case are very slim. Few number of cases divided by a large number in the jury pool means don’t count on this to pay your cable bill.

The Dark Side

You knew there was a dark side, didn’t you? This post is credited to alert reader, Erik, who read about ejury.com and went to do some research about the virtual juror concept.

What did he find? A Web site that charges you $97 for access to a list of companies that are paying for such work. This site is virtualjuror.com, and I recommend you stay away. What do you get for your $97?

Within 48 hours [business days only] of Paypals confirmation to Virtual Juror of your payment, you will receive special links that will take you where you will start the application process. Again, there is nothing else to pay for. Should you provide excellent service we believe you will be chosen time and again to review many cases. [Emphasis mine]

No Terms and Conditions and a clearly stated “no refunds” policy. You see, the list of links is an electronic product so they can’t offer refunds.

I won’t be paying the $97 to find out, but I would bet that ejury.com is on the list. In fact, here’s a challenge to you, VirtualJuror.com Internet sharketer dude: pay me $97, show me your list, and if ejury.com isn’t on it, I’ll publish an “I Was Wrong” post. (Oh, and since a blog post is an electronic product, the $97 is non-refundable.)

Stay Away from VirtualJuror.com

So yeah, Erik was right. He said he knows that any site that wants you to pay for a job isn’t legitimate. Virtualjuror.com is not offering you a job. It’s trying to sell you information that is not worth much and freely available elsewhere.

I don’t think virtualjuror.com is setting out to deceive anyone. In fact, it even states in fine print at the bottom of the page:

The websites we send you too have no fees and can be found by anyone, but we save you the hours of research and provide these specials links to you for a one time administration fee.

I have no problem with that: there is value in compiling information and presenting it in a convenient format for people. But $97 is too much for a list of companies that offer such small income potential.

There’s this scum-sucking bottom feeder, see? This scammer places an ad on Craigslist saying that he is a soldier about to deploy to Afghanistan and that he HAS to sell his 2009 Tahoe before he leaves. As much as he hates to do it, he is highly motivated to get rid of it FAST, so he’ll let it go for a killer of a deal—a mere $20,000. That’s a good $15,000 less than it’s worth.

This guy lives in…wait for it…Utah, which is apparently the online scam capital of the world (after Nigeria).

So three people see the ad (two from Texas, one from California), do some homework to check out the deal and make sure it’s real, and they each wire $20,000 to a bank account in Sandy, Utah.

Of course, the cheap truck is never delivered and they learn that they have just fallen victim to an old scam: prepaying for something that doesn’t exist.

The good news is that they acted fast. One of the victims called the local police, who, working with the district attorney, were able to freeze the account and return the money. The perp has not been found, though he has been formally charged and has a warrant for his arrest. Read the whole story here.

Though this one has a happy ending, it could have been much worse. $20k is a lot to lose. These people must have ignored the huge print warning on the Cars for Sale page at Craigslist that says, “OFFERS TO SHIP VEHICLES ARE 100% FRAUDULENT.” They also ignored rules #1 and #2, which are to deal with people you can meet locally, and never to wire money.

The police chip in with this obligatory warning:

Although this story has a happy ending for these victims of fraud, this is not always the case,” said Sgt. Troy Arnold. “Police remind people to always use caution when conducting business transactions over the Internet. Do as much as possible to verify the seller’s information and to make sure the item they are purchasing is not too good to be true.

A brand new truck for half the list price? Yeah, I’d say that falls in the too good to be true category. Still, I’m glad it turned out well for these three potential victims.

Last summer we celebrated the FTC’s action against Infusion Media, the company scumbags responsible for Google Money Tree, Google Treasure Chest, and others.

I discovered that Google Money Tree was supposedly run from an office building a mile or two from my former office. (By the way, and this won’t surprise you, those jerks have yet to pay any of the $42,000 fine that Utah hit them with. Maybe they’re broke from issuing refunds?)

Now Google has filed suit against another Utah company, Pacific Web Works, for running similar “negative option” scams under such names as Google AdWork, Google Profits, Google Startup Kit, Google Biz Kit, and more. And this company, PWW? Yeah, about a mile from my new office.

Read the news story here. The article includes a PDF link where you can download and read the full complaint. And if you want to watch the locals throw mud at each other, which is always amusing, read the comments after the article.

One commenter on the story linked first adds this:

Pacific Webworks listed the same phone number (801-578-9020) as one of the companies scamming people using the Google name-Google Treasure Chest. Other names that Pacific Webworks used, according to the Better Buisness Bureau, are Googlefastcash.com, googlebizkit.com, yourprofitgateway.com, profitstudiolearning.com, esucess2u.com, eauctionsucess.com, your websiterev.com, and profitcenterlearning.com

It’s About Time

The TX Attorney General, the FTC, and a class action suit in Illinois all beat Google to the punch. What took them so long? Companies have been illegally using Google trademarks for at least two years and Google is finally getting around to suing? How many people have become scam victims while Google bean counters tried to figure out if legal action was cost effective?

Better late than never, I suppose.

What is Affiliate Marketing? How exactly will I make money?

Affiliate Marketing works like this: you help customers connect with other peoples products or services. You don’t have to worry about shipping, inventory, payments, customer service, or any of those headaches. What you do is help a customer find a product or service then rake in commissions whenever they make a purchase. Wealthy Affiliate teaches you how the best and most successful methods of affiliate marketing.

Here’s a scenario. Say someone comes online and is searching for an acne cure. They Google ‘How can I get rid of pimples?’ One of the search results would then be an article you wrote on the topic (Wealthy Affiliate teaches you all about how to write articles, get them online, and get them included in search engines). Your article details various methods on how to cure acne. One of your methods is an acne cream. In your article you link to a company that sells acne creams. If the person reading your article clicks on that link and then makes a purchase, you get a percentage of the sale as commission.

So, no products, inventory etc. Just connecting people with products and services. That’s what Wealthy Affiliate teaches you how to do.

Is there a lot of competition? How do I sell other people’s products?

Affiliate Marketing isn’t really limited. There are seriously millions of things you can market. If you can buy something online, there is probably an affiliate program available. Every member of wealthy affiliate is not promoting the same products/services. You pick and choose what you want to market.

There are a few major affiliate companies that anyone can sign up for. The biggest one out there is Commission Junction and they’re partnered with nearly every single online retailer. They handle everything from affiliate links to paying out commissions. You sign up for an account with Commission Junction and you can partner with any of those retailers.

Here’s a real example, say you want to write an article on a new TV that’s coming out. You can setup an affiliate account with Best Buy through Commission Junction (I think they offer 3% commissions), write your article praising the new TV, then link to the TV on Best Buy’s website. A reader reads your article, follows your link, and then makes a $2500 new TV purchase. You get a $75 commission.

I personally started working as an affiliate marketer a few years ago to bring in some extra income each month. I’ve since made it my full-time job. I work everyday from home for myself as an affiliate marketer. A training program like Wealthy Affiliate will really give you a leg up in getting started and that’s why I highly recommend you join today.

Get $20 Back for Signing Up Today

The cost to join Wealthy Affiliate is $39/month. But if you sign up between now and the end of Wednesday, I will send you $20 via Paypal bringing your first month’s cost to only $19.

I do have two criteria for you to follow.

1. You MUST be new to the program and you MUST sign up by using this link or the link at the end of this post by the end of Friday.
2. You then need to forward your confirmation email to Steve@IveTriedThat.com so I can verify your purchase.

That’s it! Sign up today and say hi to me once you’re in. My username is IveTriedThat.

Click here to sign up for Wealthy Affiliate now and I’ll send you $20.

We’ve never been impressed by them, and I’ve lost patience with them, truth be told. So if you have an urge to write to us and say, “Hey, have you checked out get-paid-to-read-emails.com? They say they’re different than EZ-email-cash.com,” I suggest that you step away from the keyboard and go for a brisk walk. I don’t know how much longer I can suppress my snarky replies to such requests.

If I did reply, not that I ever would, you understand, but IF I did and Steve didn’t stop me in time, the reply might go something like this: If you have time to sit there clicking junk mail, despite all our warnings, in the hope of getting paid a couple of pennies per click IF you meet the max required for payout and IF the company doesn’t cancel your account just before you do, which in our experience is about as likely as you winning the lottery or as me getting a date with Meghan Fox, then you have time to get a real job, and may I suggest one in which your safety doesn’t depend on brain power.

So you see, the less time we spend thinking or talking about getting paid to read emails, the better it is for everyone.

And yet, the lure remains. With so many billions of emails buzzing through cyberspace, surely there’s a way to make money with email?

You’re right. There is a way to make a significant income from email. It goes by various names, but here’s the most direct one: email marketing. What follows is a crash course meant to help you decide if email marketing might be for you

What is Email marketing?

Simply put, it’s a way to sell stuff to people using email. You use email to tell people about a product or service, they buy it, you make money.

Sounds Like Spam

Spam is one form of email marketing. An extremely annoying and relatively ineffective form. Why is it ineffective? Because it pisses us all off! My Gmail account has 2,385 spam messages in it right now, which is about a week’s worth. My work email software filters out dozens of spam messages per day.

But when you do it right, email marketing is not spam because you will only send messages to people that want to hear from you about your offer(s). That’s a HUGE difference and it makes good email marketing one of the most effective ways to create consistent income.

And here’s why I think this topic is relevant for you: you can learn to do email marketing well. You don’t have to become a spammer. But you can create a solid income.

How Does Email Marketing Work?

I’ll tell you more about the process in a future post, but here’s the ideal roadmap:

1. You build credibility and authority in a niche.
2. You build an email list of people interested in your niche subject.
3. You find or create products/services of value to those on your list.
4. You tell them about the products/services.

The key is in steps 1 and 2. You won’t be a spammer because you will have street cred about the subject. Even more important, in step 2, you’ll get permission to email people about the subject. Then when you do, because you have street cred and you’re not sending spam, people buy the product or service you’re promoting and you get paid.

How do you get started? (In which we want to hear from you)

With the first step, of course. What is a subject on which you are or could become an authority? Someone, somewhere, cares about what you care about and wants to know what you know or have what you have. What is it? Answer that question and you’ve found a niche market. True, not all niche markets are equally profitable, but all successful email marketers have to start there.

So speak up, people. We know that I’ve Tried That readers are full of good ideas. In the comments section, please tell us about what you know or do that might lead to a niche market and we’ll discuss. Don’t be shy! Share your knowledge. Rising water floats all boats. If you’re reading this in a feed reader or in email, click here to visit the thread and post your comments.

Well about two weeks in, the in-depth review became less of a priority as other projects entered my work space. I may have spent a day or two here and there by the pool when I should have been working, but there’s no way of possibly knowing for sure.

The past is long behind us and I’m here today to say that the in-depth review is now back on track. My plans are to finish the first niche website I’ve started this week. I want to hopefully have it ranked in the search engines by the weekend and making money by early next week. I also have ideas for two more sites I plan to launch. I’ve already bought the domain name for one of the sites and will have that up and running as soon as I finish the first site I’ve started. The review is seriously back on track.

If you’re just hearing about Niche Blitzkrieg for the first time now, then here are the posts you need to read in order to catch up.

1. Our initial Niche Blitzkrieg Review.
2. My first post on revisiting Niche Blitzkrieg.
3. Niche Blitzkrieg Update: 06/04/09

That’s where I currently stand. I’ll have update for you later this week. Until then, stay tuned, and click here to learn more about Niche Blitzkrieg.

If we accepted your offer, you already got an email from me. If you did not get an email from me, it means we did not add you to our list. I know that seems rude and snobby and I apologize. We still love you, however.

We have a solid pool of reviewers, so the offer is now closed. Thanks again to everyone who responded.

The teaser page where you put in your info says that you’re about to learn about a guy who built four billion-dollar companies and is about to build his fifth and, wouldn’t you know it, he is looking for partners to help him.

Wouldn’t you want to work with the successful builder of businesses by creating your own home-based business?

So I put in my info and watched the presentation so you don’t have to. No need to thank me.

It’s Shaklee. The miracle business builder is Roger Barnett, current CEO of Shaklee. The business model is network marketing. According to the presentation, you don’t have to sell anything. Just use the products and get “your team” to do the same.

Sigh. Been there, done that. Network marketing might be the ticket for some, but not for most who try it. And certainly not for me.