A lot of classified ads promote quick and easy weight-loss products and programs. They cannot deliver what they promise. Another hot area in the classifieds Ads are "business opportunities." Work at home schemes, such as making arts and crafts or stuffing envelopes, have been replaced by offers to "use your home PC to make fast money in your spare time." Other ads encourage customers to invest in communications technologies, such as telephone 900" numbers and telephone services, with promises of low-risk and high returns and The attraction of "900" number pay per call services is that high profit can be made of 25% or more from the fees of $3 to$5 per minute charged to callers by the 900 service providers. The company's promises on these investments are likely not to be true.

Disguised advertising:

"Disguised advertising," may be hard to recognize. Bulletin boards and chat forums may include areas where comments about the quality or performance of products or services may be disguised ads.

The Internet and online services provide bulletin boards where interested parties can exchange information in general topic areas. Individuals contributing to the bulletin board may have financial ties to companies or businesses that sell those products or services related to the bulletin board subject area. This may not be clear to the online user. What may seem to be an open discussion could be disguised sales pitches. Since the identities or affiliations of online bulletin board operators and participants may not be known, it could be hard to detect disguised advertising.

Some commercial online services also provide chat rooms or chat forums. Service subscribers can enter the rooms or forums for an online conversation by typing what they want to say. These forums provide discussions on a variety of subjects, including products and services. Some companies have used these chat forums to promote their products without claiming their interests.

Tip-offs to fraud:

Read online ads and conversations with a healthy dose of skepticism. The same things that tip you off to some scams and frauds in print and on television also appear in cyberspace.

Here are some signs of questionable online advertising:

Hyped up claims of product effectiveness. Use of the word "hot" to describe an investment opportunity can indicate a scam.

Claims of potential high earnings or profit.

Claims of "Inside" information.

Company makes promises of cheap stocks making high returns

Exotic investments promotions such as ostrich farming, gold mining, or wireless cable TV.

When you make any decisions about products or investments, be careful. Check references and a variety of sources and before you buy.

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