Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Autosurf Scams

According to todays Wall Street Journal, most paid autosurf Web sites are Ponzi schemes. In fact, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a warning about them, and has shut down one site.

While some autosurf sites are legitimate, most are not, and it's very difficult to know who is legitimate and who is not. These Web sites promise to pay subscribers to view advertising for 12 days that appears on the member's computers through automatic surfing, or "autosurf."

Members have to pay a membership fee up front to participate. The more they pay in, the more they get back. These scams work like the traditional Ponzi scheme. Dividends are actually paid from the money that other new members invest, not the fees the advertisers pay. So, people who get into these schemes at the beginning will make some money, but eventually, the whole thing collapses, and most people end up losing their entire investment.

The SEC froze the funds of 12DailyPro.com last week, saying, according to the Journal, that the Web site had defrauded more than 300,000 people of more than $50 million.

These scams are perpetuated by greed. People like to make a fast buck, and will take great risks to do it.

1 comment:

The Advisor said...

I am into autosurf programs. You are right, most sites are ponzi scheme. But I still make quite a lot of money. The key is keep informed and have a strategy :)