International Law

How [Not] to protect yourself against consumer fraud

Posted on October 28, 2008
Image by AlaskanLibrarian via FlickrDemonstrating why the large accountant firms couldn't spot fraud if you spotted them the "f, r, a, and u", here is list of useless advice about fraud."There are many different types of crimes involved, including tax refund scams, fraudulent weight-loss programs, phony lottery or prize schemes, and bogus work-at-home scams...

Is That Business Opportunity Legitimate?

Posted on October 28, 2008
Image via WikipediaJohn Tozzi, writing at Businessweek, has a neat article on home-based business opportunities:"The Internet is littered with offers for home-based business opportunities that promise big profits for easy work. But many of these offers, which range from envelope stuffing to medical billing, are really scams that prey on people's aspirations to work for themselves...

Animals Who Hoard

Posted on October 28, 2008
Image via WikipediaInteresting story about the psychology of hoarding."Over 600 animals were found in the home of a Los Angeles woman, arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty. Some of the animals were already dead and some so ill they had to be euthanized by Animal Services...

Auto Surf Living Dead

Posted on October 28, 2008
Image via WikipediaInteresting revival of the AdSurf Daily scheme."Do you still remember about Asdcashgenerator and Ad Surf Daily, also known as ASD had closed immediately after the company had been raided and the assets been seized by the Secret Service Agents in early of August...

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Fraud News for Monday

Posted on October 27, 2008
Image via WikipediaRobert FitzPatrick has a very interesting observation about victims of fraud: "There is a counter-intuitive rule in the world of scams. It is that the easiest person to fleece is someone who has recently been fleeced. Wouldn't the previous loss cause the consumer to be more vigilant, plus experienced now? Sadly, for many, no...

Amazon Kindle Offer

Posted on October 27, 2008
I read a great deal, have far too many books in my office/home library. If you are like me, you will be interested in any of new e-book gadgets. But having already dropped, several years ago, $300 on the RocketBook, I was reluctant to jump in again until the market determined a winner...

Iowans attracted to Internet 'Ponzi scheme'

Posted on October 27, 2008
Image via WikipediaGunnar Olson, at the Desmoines, writes about the attraction of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme to Iowans. "Some 25,000 Iowans have spent money with the company, according to Ankeny resident Mindy Bales, who described herself as one of the earliest and most successful promoters of AdSurfDaily in Iowa...

Quality scores and Ad auctions

Posted on October 27, 2008
Image by Esthr via FlickrHal Varian, Google's Chief Economist, has an explanation about Adsense's quality score that is interesting. "Suppose that two advertisers are bidding on the keyword "jet airplane." Joe's Jets is selling actual jet airplanes, while Moe's Models is selling models of jet airplanes...

Web-Scamming the Lawyers

Posted on October 24, 2008
Image via WikipediaSome hubris from the ABA, revealing their ignorance about marks and fraud. If there's one group of professionals that might be regarded as immune from Internet scam artists, it would be lawyers. But attorneys are the marks in a series of scams preying on a lawyer's need for new business and a banker's trust in good customers...

Lies My Economist Told Me

Posted on October 24, 2008
Book cover via AmazonNow this is full disclosure. "Lies my economist modeled for me" could be the name of this interesting economic conference. Fyodor Dostoevsky's novella Notes from Underground (1864) is a classic of introspection and confession. The symposium takes its title from Dostoevsky's work...

Peanut Butter on the Chin

Posted on October 24, 2008

High Yield Investing Program Clones

Posted on October 24, 2008
Image via WikipediaProving that the Ad Surf ponzi schemes are the living dead of the internet, AdSurf Daily has morphed in the SurfExchange. 5. How do you sustain the payouts in the long run? Do you perform any investment to back up SurfExchange? Answer: We trade a substantial amount of money as we receive and also derive revenue from ads that we sell out...

Dream Dinners' Attorneys Sued

Posted on October 23, 2008
Image via WikipediaJanet Sparks, writing at Blue Mau Mau, has a very interesting article about a lawsuit in which the franchisor's attorneys were sued in connection with their role in preparing the franchisor's FDD."The lawsuit claims that Bender knew or should have known that prospective franchisees were receiving materially false, incomplete and misleading information regarding the franchise opportunity, and that he was a "person in act of control of the activities" of the franchisor...

Gold Star Vending Biz Op Scam

Posted on October 23, 2008
Image via WikipediaFrom the Justice Department Press Release on the Gold Star Vending scam.Two individuals charged in connection with the operation of a fraudulent business opportunity scheme were arrested today following their indictment by a Miami federal grand jury on Oct...

Anne Hathaway's Scam

Posted on October 23, 2008
Image via WikipediaAnne Hathaway on being scammed by her conman boyfriend."I broke up with my boyfriend, and two weeks later he was sent to prison for fraud. I mean, we've all been there, right, ladies?" the actress said, before joking that she had recently sent about $100,000 to her new beau, a Nigerian prince who had emailed asking for help and her Social Security number...

Miscalculation and Confidence

Posted on October 23, 2008
Image via WikipediaI am convinced that credit crisis will not end until the banking community gains comfort with radically new measures of risk."This financial crisis has shown that history is an unreliable guide for gauging future losses. Banks relying on historical models were fooled when it came to potential mortgage hits...

The Value of Franchisee Associations

Posted on October 22, 2008
Image by Angela Radulescu via FlickrLance Winslow has some good points about the value of franchisee associations.What is important about a franchisee association? What is the value of the association to the individual franchisee?"Best of all, you have a peer, someone just like you with the exact same business model as you, with the very same ups and downs as you...

Shop to Earn v FTC

Posted on October 22, 2008
/* Webster's Rule: When the Biz Op's Alexa ranking approaches the ranking of the Regulator, in this case the FTC, bad things are about to happen. Related articles by ZemantaAmway - Vulnerable?FTC Could Move To Establish Legal Precedents On Green Ad ClaimsFTC busts 'world's largest spam operation'FTC Shuts Down Canadian Domain Name Scammers

How not to investigate a Franchise.

Posted on October 22, 2008
Image via WikipediaI continually see this bad advice about how to investigate a franchise system. "After you have read the offering circular, ask the franchisor for a list of franchisees that you can contact. Current franchisees are a great resource and can give you detailed insight on how the company is really doing, what to consider before and after you get into the business, and other critical information...

Be Your Own Boss! Earn $$$$!

Posted on October 22, 2008
Image via WikipediaInteresting observation from an employment counselor about biz op scammers."Ads that offer big bucks and the promise of autonomy never lose their ability to ignite burned-out workers' dreams. I once sent away for free material about a job that involved reading books for profit...

Shop to Earn Disclosure

Posted on October 21, 2008
Image by tyger_lyllie via FlickrTracy Coenen posted a very revealing post by a distributor in Shop to Earn. "I am hoping by posting my experiences on here I will help those of you who are thinking of joining and those of you who don't understand how it works...

Amway Funds for Favors?

Posted on October 21, 2008
Image via Wikipedia One of the important points that Robert Fitzpatrick raises is the level of influence that MLM supporters have purchased in the United States government. "Most assume that MLM is generally a viable business. One probable reason for this is the seven-year silence that has prevailed in law enforcement on multi-level marketing, giving the business a new aura of legitimacy...

Franchise Regulation Review in Australia

Posted on October 21, 2008
Image via WikipediaSome ideas about regulating franchising in Australia.Franchising in Australia is currently regulated by the Franchising Code of Conduct (the Code), which is a mandatory industry code established under section 51AE of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Trade Practices Act)...

F.B.I. Cannot Handle Financial Fraud Cases?

Posted on October 21, 2008
Image via WikipediaERIC LICHTBLAU, DAVID JOHNSTON and RON NIXONreporting at the New York Times, have a very troubling story about the failure to investigate and prosecute white collar fraud."The Federal Bureau of Investigation is struggling to find enough agents and resources to investigate criminal wrongdoing tied to the country's economic crisis, according to current and former bureau officials...

Making the Gambler's Fallacy Disappear

Posted on October 20, 2008
Image via WikipediaHere is an interesting paper about the Gambler's Fallacy - the propensity to find patterns in a series of independent trials."Recent papers have demonstrated that the way people acquire information about a decision problem, by experience or by abstract description, can affect their behavior...

What We Think We Know

Posted on October 20, 2008
Image via WikipediaVictoria Pynchon, over at her blog on Negotiation, has an interesting application of confirmation bias. She writes: I watched the debate last night with people who support my candidate.  They all also happened to be mediators, so they understand concepts like confirmation bias --the tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions and avoids information and interpretations which contradict prior beliefs...

The Truth About Franchise Attorneys and Due Diligence

Posted on October 20, 2008
Image via WikipediaBen Hanuka, a well respected Ontario franchise attorney, has an article in the Toronto Star about franchising."Buying a small franchised business in Ontario is becoming more common than ever. This is not surprising given the benefits of franchising, such as brand recognition, access to an established system, initial training and ongoing support, and many other benefits that a franchisee may receive from a reputable franchisor...

Is LifeMax a Franchise?

Posted on October 20, 2008
Image via WikipediaOne of the constant themes in at BizOp news is the number of business opportunities that are actually franchises or business opportunity franchises, according to the legal definition of a franchise. Many sellers of business opportunities are actually selling franchises, and do so without providing the purchaser the required information about the opportunity...

Applause Auction

Posted on October 17, 2008
Image by MarkWallace via FlickrInteresting little puzzle, as reported by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha at Livemint."Avinash Kamalakar Dixit likes to play a game or two--even as he teaches game theory to his students at Princeton University. There is an old Princeton tradition that Dixit uses to bring to life what can sometimes be an esoteric and math-heavy subject...

Selling fraudulent business opportunities

Posted on October 17, 2008
Image via WikipediaThe Arizona AG is warning about biz op scams.Selling fraudulent business opportunities is nothing new. But the scammers have gotten more sophisticated. No longer are you being asked to stuff envelopes or being told just by giving up some money, you'll make more...

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