The Free Thrifty Thanksgiving eBook

When thinking about holiday spending, most people typically fast-forward to December’s big budget busting holidays. However, it pays to think thrifty all season long—starting with Thanksgiving. While a turkey alone might not tip your financial scale, holiday food, travel, decorations, and entertainment can really add up. Thankfully, Thrifty Thanksgiving includes a lot of ideas to help you trim the fat from your Thanksgiving budget. In addition to ideas on how to stretch your dinner and budget, Thrifty Thanksgiving covers:

• Step-by-step instructions for decorating on a dime
• 5 ways to keep tradition
• 5 ways to break tradition
• Travel tips
• Tips for staying in the black on Black Friday
• How to make the most of leftovers
• Ways to incorporate “thanks” into your Thanksgiving

Thrifty Thanksgiving also offers a holiday checklist to help you organize your plans. After all, a little planning can help you enjoy and tasteful and thrifty Thanksgiving.

What more could you ask for? It’s a free eBook that helps you plan out hosting Thanksgiving while saving money without compromising traditions. If you’re cooking the turkey this year, this eBook is a must read.

Download it for free: http://thanksgiving.moneymanagement.org/
Read more at: http://blog.moneymanagement.org/free-thrifty-thanksgiving-ebook/

A few days ago, I wrote a post sending some love to Craigslist.org for their efforts to combat job-related scams.

This morning, I received an e-mail from Monster.com warning me about job scams when searching “online.” It didn’t go so far as to say scam ads are alive and well at Monster.com, but we take what we can get. (Pssst! Hey, Monster. The first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem.)

I would like to see a little stronger language from them, and more important, some policing of ads posted on their site. But this is definitely a step in the right direction so kudos to Monster for that. Yahoo? It’s your turn now.

Here is the email in its entirety. I copy it here because of its good information about online scams revolving around jobs.

3 Scams to Avoid In an Online Job Search

“If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.” Whether you are searching for a new job through Monster or other websites, keep in mind that the same technological innovations that help in your job search may be used by cyber-criminals looking to lure job seekers into questionable job “opportunities.”

Monster, the worldwide leader in the online recruitment industry, makes protecting job seekers a top priority. While Monster continually monitors its network and database to detect and terminate fraudulent access or job postings, keep in mind that Monster’s primary purpose is to serve as an open forum for employers to advertise open positions and a service for job seekers to broadcast their qualifications to interested employers. We work hard to ensure that only appropriate parties (such as employers) have access, but neither we nor any other online recruitment company can guarantee that inappropriate parties will not gain access to a posted resume. Accordingly, we’d like to remind you of what you can do to help keep yourself safe during a job search.

Know What to Avoid

Some employment scams appear as job postings or classifieds while others may target victims with an offer through an unsolicited email. Below are the most common scams you may see:
Money-Laundering Scams
Money launderers often create job descriptions that offer commissions or pay as high as $2000 per day to process checks on behalf of foreign nationals. They are recruiting local citizens to “process payments” or “transfer funds,” because as foreign nationals, they can’t do it themselves. The image below is an example of a money laundering scam hidden behind what appears to be an offer of employment.

Reshipping Scams
Reshipping, or postal forwarding, scams typically require job seekers to receive stolen goods in their own homes– frequently consumer electronics — and then forward the packages, often outside the United States. Those who fall for reshipping scams may be liable for shipping charges and even the cost of goods purchased online with stolen credit cards. Read more about reshipping scams here. »

Pre-pay/Work at Home Scams
Although there are genuine jobs working at home, many “offers” are not valid forms of employment and may have the simple goal of obtaining an initial monetary investment from the victim. Using claims such as ‘be your own boss’ and ‘make money quickly’, Work at Home scams will not guarantee regular salaried employment and almost always require an “up-front” investment of money for products or instructions before explaining how the plan works.

Protect Yourself

What seems like a lucrative job offer could cost you your savings and more. Learn to identify the signals of an employment scam to protect yourself. When conducting a job search:
Look for signals in a job posting or email offer, which could serve as an indicator that what is being presented as employment is not legitimate. Don’t get involved with an employer that can’t make its business model perfectly clear to you or one that’s willing to hire you without even a phone interview. Do your own research on any employer that makes you feel at all uneasy.

Never put your social security or national ID number, credit card number, bank account number or any type of sensitive personal identification data in your resume. You should never share any personal information with a prospective employer, even if they suggest that it is for a “routine background check”, until you are confident that the employer and employment opportunity is legitimate. Use Monster’s resume visibility options to ‘Be Safe’.

Do not engage in any transaction in which you are requested to transfer or exchange currency or funds to a prospective employer. Remain alert for the Work at Home employers who require you to make an up-front investment.

Be cautious when dealing with individuals/companies from outside your own country.
If you see a questionable job posting or suspect misuse of the Monster website or its brand, please report the suspected fraud to Monster.

If you think you have been a victim of fraud, immediately report the fraud to your local police and contact Monster, so steps can be taken to ensure your safety. We also recommend that you file an online report with The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). For more information on how to conduct a safe job search, visit Monster’s Security Center. You can also check out LooksTooGoodToBeTrue.com.

Holiday Mail for Heroes

Red Cross started a program two years ago that delivered your letters to service members throughout the holiday season. Cards are delivered to both veterans and those on active duty. The Holiday Mail for Heroes program allows you to “send a touch of home” to those in the armed forces.

We have established an extensive process to ensure all cards sent to our service members are safe and arrive in time for the holidays. Holiday cards will be collected through a unique P.O. Box address from Monday, November 2 through Monday, December 7*.

First, cards from across the nation must be sent to this address:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Every card received will be screened for hazardous materials by Pitney Bowes and distributed to participating Red Cross chapters nationwide. Once the cards arrive at the Red Cross chapters, they are sorted and reviewed by volunteers who then distribute them to service members, their families and veterans in communities across the country.

Your card must be received by December 7th for it to be delivered. Otherwise the card will be returned to you. Other than that, the Red Cross has just a few more guidelines for you to follow.

Do…

• Sign all cards
• Entitle cards “Dear Service Member, Family or Veteran”
• Limit cards to 15 per person or 50 for school class or business group
• Bundle groups of cards in single, large envelopes

Don’t…

• Send letters
• Include personal information such as home or email addresses
• Use glitter – excessive amounts can aggravate health issues of wounded recipients
• Include inserts of any kind as they must be removed in the screening process

That’s all! I’ll be mailing out a batch of cards later this week. Let us know if you send out any as well!

Read more at http://www.redcrosschat.org/

This is an update for those of you not following the story at carepages.com. The family now asks that no more cards be sent:

Wow! The outpouring of love and concern for Noah is just amazing! Scott and I never in a million years thought that so many people would want to send Christmas cards to Noah. However, please note: We did already celebrate Christmas LAST Sunday — November 8th.

PLEASE STOP SENDING CARDS AND GIFTS!!!!

Noah is very ill. He is not getting out of bed and it’s time for Scott, our families, and I to concentrate on our son. His time is very short and he needs us.

Scott and I would like to say thank you so much for the support and continued show of love. However, we are asking that everyone please stop sending cards and gifts.

Also, everyone please post the stop order on Facebook and any other websites or organizations that you belong to. We need the peace right now.

Thank you for your understanding in this request.

How much mail did Noah get? On Nov. 11, the family announced:

We received 80,000 pieces of mail on Monday alone!

Eighty. Thousand. Cards. Wow. God, are you listening?

Thanks for your support, folks. You’re a good bunch of people. Makes me wonder what else we could accomplish in this little corner of cyberspace with the holidays on the horizon.

Any ideas? Speak up in the comments.

The Premium White/Dazzel White Pro Scam

The scam itself is not with the product your ordered, but rather the monthly memberships you are automatically enrolled in after giving away your credit card and private information. If you go through the site and sign up for the $2.95 free trial, you will be billed monthly for $112.44. That’s right, each month they will deduct over one hundred dollars from your bank account until you call and demand that they stop.

Customer Testimonials

Don’t just take it from me. Here are horror stories from those who have fallen victim to this scam.

These people are scam artists and have so mant telephone numbers and highly automated, efficient and crooked to the core and will charge your account and you can not cancel. They sucker you in by a free trial offer and then subcribe you to all kinds of crap and charge your account. The confirming email was for the correct amount of $1.95 but they charged my account $48.92 and will charge again around $80 and try as I might, I could not cancel all these extra garbage. These free calling numbers are worthless and you can talk to these people who are nice and polite but they have no authority. The system is purposely set up to take your money only. The “Terms and Conditions” Are burried way at the bottom of the page in fine prints and if you go to that link they will tell you some of the bad news and imply you can cancel any time. They said they will have to ship all the products and that I had to return it paying for Insured, track-able return to a different address than the one that came from. If I had not received the phone call from my credit card fraud division, I would have not known to at least cancel all additiona shipment. They enroll you automatically into these expensive automatic subscription. They said they sent me emails for returns and I never got them. I gave alternate email and I still did not get any emails. PLEASE do not giove them your credit card number or do any business with them. THey should be put out of business.

Ali

Another:

I feel very silly to have even fallen for this but, the ads were very convincing. I followed a link to a Consumer Weekly ad about a mom who had experienced a very inexpensive way to get whiter teeth. The blurb made it sound like you only paid shipping and handling for free trials for Dazzle Smile and Smile Brite and so I followed the link and signed up for my free trials with the understanding that I only needed to cancel before the trial period was up to avoid the monthly fees of $87 and $92 US.

Wrong! Had I read the terms and conditions closely nearer to the bottom of the page, it states that the trial is the first monthly supply so if you don’t cancel before 14 days (Dazzle Smile) or 10 days (Smile Brite) then you will be charged the monthly amount. However, it starts from when your credit card is charged for shipping not from when you receive the product. It took nearly 10 days to get the product!

The real catch is that someone from Smile Brite called me and I said that I changed my mind and didn’t want any of it thinking that was enough, however, I didn’t cancel it on the website and so 10 days later, my credit card was charged $92. No one answers at the phone number that was listed with the charge.

When I received the Dazzle Smile trial I immediately tried to cancel it but, also couldn’t get a hold of a customer representative. The number was either busy or I was immediately on hold for extended periods of time so I tried the chat. They will only confirm a return address so I sent the trial back Express Post so I could track it. Interestingly enough, not even a week later, the company name on the return address changed from Farend Services Ltd. to Premium White although the address is the same.

No one on the chat will confirm they received my trial return but, keep telling me to phone a customer service rep with whom I cannot reach. In short, I ended up canceling my credit card to avoid any further charges after doing more research and hearing people say that more charges were incurred on their credit cards for other products that they knew nothing about.

I strongly advise that you stay away from this scam!

And there are literally hundreds more just like this. I don’t understand how these guys are getting away with absolute thievery.

How to Get Your Money Back

To be honest, I don’t know. I have been trying to find a verified method of getting your money returned, but there are dozens of different email address, websites, and phone numbers. They make it damn near impossible to get in contact with them.

The most common number I’ve seen for the teeth whitening programs is: 1-866-528-6214. You need to make it very clear that you want to cancel every single monthly charge and that you want a refund on the money that they have taken out of your bank account.

If they refuse to refund you, demand to speak with a supervisor. Let them know you will be filing a chargeback through your credit card or banking company and you will be reporting everything to the FTC. Usually these threats are enough to get your money back.

You now need to do three things:

1. File a fraudulent charge claim with your credit card or bank if they refuse to give you a refund. Explain to them your situation and the refused refund and let them know this company is notorious for taking money. Insist they perform a chargeback. They have the tools and information available to fight for your money.
2. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. It is their job to monitor and go after these types of scams. Visit: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/contact.shtm
3. File a complaint with your state Attorney General. Contact details here: http://www.naag.org/attorneys_general.php

If all else fails, you will need to cancel your credit/debit card and get a new one issued. This is the only 100% guaranteed method of stopping these guys from stealing your money.

If you have fallen victim to this scam, PLEASE do everyone else a favor and file a complaint with the FTC. Hopefully if enough complaints are received, we can shut these guys down for good.

When you responded to the ad, you were told to pay money up front for a “membership” or for “training” or special software or whatever. Our mantra, never pay for a job, started back then.

The scammers and their tactics have only changed slightly. They still pretend to be offering you a job when what they really want is to sell you crap, but now, big names in cyberspace are fighting back. Google cracked down on scammy ads; the FTC is pressing charges. The good guys have won some victories.

Craigslist is one of the good guys. Our e-book teaches you how to find legitimate jobs through Craigslist while avoiding the scams, and now, Craigslist is helping fight the bad guys. If you go to a Craigslist site and click the Jobs heading to browse the job listings, you’ll see this warning:

SCAM ALERT – affiliate scammers are posting bogus ads promising (nonexistent!) employment, paid research trials, or other compensation, but then notifying repliers that they’ll need to jump through a hoop first…all in hopes of earning affiliate marketing commissions or otherwise profiting at the expense of persons seeking employment.

The warning then goes on to list some of the tactics we have been warning about from the beginning. Again, we have nothing against affiliate marketing. But we draw the line at deceptive practices that pretend to offer you a job while taking your money on the sly.

This is excellent news. It means that, FINALLY, one of the big ad listing sites is taking another step toward responsibility for the crap posted on its pages. If Monster and Yahoo and other sites would follow suit, we would have fewer victim stories.

The Online Cash Success Kit Scam

The scam isn’t with the product itself, but rather the various monthly memberships you are immediately signed up for upon joining under a free trial. The fine print on the website claims that if you do not cancel your free trial within 7 days, you will be charged a monthly membership fee for various programs. Despite the 7-day warning, we’ve read numerous reports from victims stating that their trial money was taken, and then the following day around $80 in unauthorized charges was pulled from their bank accounts.

You do not want these people to have access to your personal and banking information.

Actual Customer Testimonials

I paid the $3.00 to find out what the earnings were all about. They use Googgles name as a lure to sucker you in. It has nothing to do with Google. In 1 day my credit card was charged $79.86. I called today, Monday, and the girl said she would cancel my membership. I insisted on receiving a refund, but, that is not their policy. I told her to send me the merchandise then because I wasn’t going to just let them have the money. I was transferred to a supervisor where I made a much bigger stink telling him I would file fraud charges with the bank and anyone else I could. He then told me he would see that I got my refund. We’ll see! Too bad our Gov can’t stop these scam artists.

We signed up for what we thought was a legitimate Google company. We still don’t know for sure who is running this company. The terms and conditions said we wouldn’t be charged for 7 days. This is what printed out after we signed up. We were charged $79.00 in 2 days. The terms said $47.50 on the 15th day after we signed up. Their customer service claimed this wasn’t their terms and conditions. How could they make that claim when the name was exactly the same and printed out on the screens we signed up on? Either someone didn’t proofread their terms or they are cheating the public using Google’s name to do so.

How to Get Your Money Back

Call this number: 1-888-591-2190. You may have a long wait, but it’s one of the few numbers out there that work. You need to make it very clear that you want to cancel every single monthly charge and that you want a refund on the money that they have taken out of your bank account.

I’ve read multiple reports that they have flat out refused to give refunds. If they refuse, demand to speak with a supervisor. Let them know you will be filing a chargeback through your credit card or banking company and you will be reporting everything to the FTC. Usually this is enough to get your money back.

You now need to do three things:

1. File a fraudulent charge claim with your credit card or bank if they refuse to give you a refund. Explain to them your situation and the refused refund and let them know this company is notorious for taking money. Insist they perform a chargeback. They have the tools and information available to fight for your money.
2. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. It is their job to monitor and go after these types of scams. Visit: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/contact.shtm
3. File a complaint with your state Attorney General. Contact details here: http://www.naag.org/attorneys_general.php

JustThink Media Contact Information

These guys are operating more scams than we could count. They range from teeth whitening, to Acai Berry, to Google money scams.

Just Think Media
Corporate Head Office
Suite 204, 85 Cranford Way
Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA T8H 0H9
Phone: 780.416.0211
Fax: 780.416.0218
Careers@justthinkmedia.com
Corporate@justthinkmedia.com
Legal@justthinkmedia.com
Customer Service
1-888-591-2190
customerservice@justthinkmedia.com
Owner: Jesse Willams

If you’re fighting for a refund, I wish you luck. Be sure to outline any details in the comments below. It would be great to have verified methods of getting your money back from these guys.

And we’ve promoted blogging in a number of ways, from telling you about great blog training to offering to set up your blog for free.

Some might wonder why the repeated push. Why do we keep harping about blogging as a way to make money?

It’s because of stories like this.

Pat lost his job during the economic downturn in the USA.

Just 12 short months later, he’s made $203,219.04 online.

Pat makes money selling an ebook from his blog.

The topic is quite obscure – he’s helping people with a special exam that some architects choose to do called the “LEEDs” exam (Pat lost his job as an architect).

Crazy stuff. And we trust the source (Yaro Starak), having worked extensively with him for a couple of years now. You can listen to how Pat set up his blog, created his book (he just used his blog posts as content!) and how he was able to make so much money so quickly, in the interview at this link.

Yes, it’s true: Pat’s case is exceptional. Most people who start a blog won’t make a dime. But making no money is a choice. Why? Because the steps Pat followed are well documented. Making money from blogs is no mystery…it just requires action.

Those who take action are the exceptions.

The Job Application Email

My name is Christopher Lewis and I’m the representative of HR
department of Electronics Shopping Store known as CarolPady (Carolpady.com). As our 10′000 associates can attest,
working for CarolPady is the chance to be a part of a company unlike
any other in the world. It’s more than a job; it’s a place to develop
your skills and build a career with competitive pay and health
benefits for you and your family. To work for CarolPady is to be welcomed into a diverse family, where the individual contributions of every associate are respected and valued. Above all, it’s an opportunity to join a team 10 thousand strong who is helping the world live better every day.

We do this by saving our customers money on the things they need for their families, their homes and their businesses. We do it by reaching out and giving back to the communities where our customers and our associates live. And we do it by working together to solve some of the biggest challenges facing our world today, like the environment, energy and health care.

We require 16 dispatchers. We need persons of maturity age, graduators of a high-school, basic users of PC with Internet connection. All expenses are held by our company and you DON’T need to PAY ANYTHING.

DISPATCHER Monthly Salary $1900 (+$100 – Gas Compensation)
- Handling customer complaints and concerns (through email) in a professional manner.
- Communicating with customers when necessary to advise shipments delay and/or information necessary to process orders (online chat and email support)
- Developing delivery schedules and route plans to facilitate rapid and efficient deliveries to customers.
- Initiate orders for replacements parts and/or for correcting errors (shortages, wrong item shipped, etc.).
- Stay at home (or have someone at home) to receive packages and mail during working hours (9a.m. – 4p.m.) and report on each received package or envelope through the dispatcher control panel or email.
- Receive packages with goods (usually electronics, jewelry) and envelopes with documents.
- Repack following the instructions (will be sent to you via email once the shipping label is available for download).
- Log into dispacther’s control panel and download prepaid shipping label and print it (we do not provide with the printer and do not compensate the ink).
- Attach the shipping label to the parcel and ship the parcel same day you received it.
- Update dispatcher’s control panel with tracking number from the printed shipping label once you ship the package.
- Other duties may be assigned to meet business needs.

During your training period you will work only with international
orders and customer complaints. After one month of training you will
be able to start working in one of our offices or continue working
from home with a salary of $2200 (+$200 – Gas Compensation).

Your payment is sent to you by check or can be direct deposited to your bank account once a month.

If you are ready to start please fill in the attached application form and email it back to me to receive the contract and we will start.

We’d be pleased to work with you.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Cristopher Lewis
CarolPady
1800 Middle River Drive
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Http://www.Carolpady.com

The Scam

Simply put, you will be receiving good purchased with stolen credit cards and then you will ship them overseas to the scammer. This is not a job, but rather a serious offense that can cost you thousands of dollars. The USPS has issued a warning against these types of scams.

Reshipping Fraud

Reshipping, or postal forwarding, scam victims are typically offered an at-home job that involves repackaging stolen goods — frequently consumer electronics — and forwarding them. Scammers ask victims to shell out their own shipping charges, and pay reimbursement and compensation with a fake check.

In addition to seeing their own pay checks bounce, those who fall for reshipping scams may be liable for shipping charges and even the cost of goods purchased online with stolen credit cards. They could also be liable for handling stolen goods.

Avoid any job that has you deal with receiving and shipping packages. They are almost always scams and working for a scammer could land you in a lot of legal and financial trouble. Always do your due diligence before accepting a work at home position.

So I thought I’d toss it out there for you all, and someone who’s really ready to work hard to start their own business can take it and run. And then you can tell us all your success story about how you made money from home.

Do you have a scanner and a digital camera? A mind for detail and organization? Then this might be for you.

Sell Photo and Document Backup Services

You know those shoeboxes full of papers and falling-apart photo albums at your parents’ or grandparents’ house? They are just one house cleaning away from being lost forever.

You could take those important documents and photos and create electronic backups using your scanner. Everyone has paper documents they should back up and most people have tons of old photos that they would be happy to preserve—if only someone could do it for a decent price.

You could charge a flat fee per item based on its size and give the person a CD or DVD that contains a copy of those irreplaceable photos and documents. You could think of other ways to add value, too, such as by creating an attractive book or setting up a Web site where the customer’s family could see the old photos that might have been permanently gone.

So what do you think? This could work, right? I think it’s a service that everyone needs.

It’s Up to You

You don’t have to rely on the job market or fickle make-money-online opportunities. I believe that all that stands between you and a profitable home business is an understimulated imagination.

If you liked the idea above, but it’s not quite right for you, you might want to take a look at In Your PJs, a book that will help you generate tons of other ideas for businesses you can build from home. Not gimmicky things like MLM, but real businesses in which you meet a real need and get paid real money.

The book and its resources is the best tool I know for overcoming that problem of the understimulated imagination. Check it out today.