Any DUers who know how to find out if something is a scam

[jiacinto]

Today I had a job interview with a marketing company. It was really weird. The man basically took me into his office with another guy and told us that "they needed someone to start Friday".

So anyway the man was telling me about 50-100K a salary "right off the bat". This is a scam, I can tell. They want me to come in for a "secont interview" tommorow to see "the business in action". I am going just to find out what it is.

But something tells me this is a scam. I went to a web site called "badbuisnessbureau.com" and "ripoffreport.com and the information I found was really sketchy.

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. how many envelopes do you have to lick?

:)

[tico]

2. I bet you have to go out on the streets and sell cologne

I used to answer ads like that out of curiosity and I realized that's not for me. Sure, they make it sound good on the money aspect, but it's not worth it.

[Droopy]

3. Have they asked you for any money?

That is usually the tell tale sign that it's a scam. If you have to contribute in some way other than working. Now, I suppose the guy could be exagerating the salary potential. It would just have to be something you have to check out. What else have you got to do? Is it worth your time to investigate? Do you have any other offers on the table that don't sound fishy?

[jiacinto]

6. No they haven't

IF they do I will say "thanks but no thanks" and walk away.

[trof]

4. You know it's a scam

1. when you have to purchase your "sales kit".
2. when the guy hiring you tells you about the fantastic money you'll make and you see he drives a rusted out '92 Yugo.
3. when he tells you "This product sells itself. All you have to do is take the orders."
4. when he tells you "You're not really selling, you're fulfilling a need."
Run, don't walk.

[TrogL]

5. Sounds like a scam to me

You sure this isn't amway or something?

[Blue-Jay]

9. Amway was my first thought as well.

nt

[jiacinto]

10. I'll PM the name of the company to you

if you want to know.

[Blue-Jay]

15. No need to give me the name of the company.

Here's what I'd consider:

1) Have they actually spelled out what your job would entail?
2) Is there an actual "office" that you can visit?
3) Can you spend a few hours shadowing with a current employee doing his/her job?
4) What does a Google search bring up about their company?
5) What is their actual product/service?
6) Will they provide you with the name of a present or former client?
7) Is their assertation of a 50-100K salary due to commission projections? What is the base salary, without commission?
8) Benefits. Do they have any? Retirement? 401K? Medical?


Basically, if it sounds too good, it probably is. Get as many details about the company as you can. If they evade any relevant questions about their business, they have something to hide and can't be trusted.

Just my opinion.

[jiacinto]

18. Well

I did a google search on it and ended up a site that gave scary information.

I'll email the link.

I'm not going there tommorow and forgetting it.

[Speck Tater]

7. The salary range is a dead giveaway

50k to 100k is a pretty wide range. If they offered $72,500 that's probably legit. But what they are, in effect, saying is that they can't tell you how much you WILL make, and that makes it some kind of commission or piecework deal or pyramid scheme deal where you have to recruit X number of people to make X amount of money.

Also, if they require ANY kind of "investment" from you then it is definitely a scam. They will take you money and leave you feeling like an idiot.

I hate to be so negative, but I've seen too many friends get taken in by this kind of crap. They prey on people's greed with big promises and deliver exactly zip.

[jiacinto]

8. Yeah I know

nt

[niyad]

11. find out where their home office is, and contact the DA's

criminal affairs division in that town (and your own) also check with Better Business Bureau and Chamber of Commerce

just for chuckles, you might tell them you are doing so. and see what happens

basically, all marketing companies are ripoffs

[Barad Simith]

12. Was the interviewer's office that of a $50k earner?

If he's telling you the starting pay is 50-100 thousand, he should be earning in that range himself. I wonder if the "something" that told you it was a scam was the office itself.

I've been duped by this sort of interview myself. Usually it's selling on commission. Sometimes it's selling perfume and cologne in supermarket parking lots.

If they want you back for a second interview, but you're not yet sure what you'll be doing, my advice is to not waste your time showing up.

[jiacinto]

13. The office was suscipicious

nt

[KG]

14. not so much a scam has a cattle call.

it's a numbers game for them. they'll hire anybody. keep looking.

[jiacinto]

20. Yeah

I am not even going to bother to show up for the "second interview".

[TreasonousBastard]

16. You really can't tell.

Some legit operations seem flaky.

I got hired on the spot for a sales job years ago. Cheesy little office in midtown. The top earner made $250,000. blah, blah, blah...

Very suspicious, so I checked a few biz pubs and directories and found out the company itself was solid and had a good product. Had a factory, and everything. Been around for 70 years or so.

I actually made a decent living with them for a while, but that guy who made the quarter million was, well, a freak.

On the other hand, there are a lot of very wierd "opportunities" out there. I can't begin to list the oddball schemes I looked at over the years, but I will admit that I did spend two days on one job-- the guy who stands by the door at K-Mart and hands out coupons for free photos. You can actually make a couple of hundred a day doing that, but you have to be VERY motivated.

I wasn't.

[jiacinto]

19. Well

I PMed you the name of the company and the links I found out about it.

[amazona]

17. sounds like sales

When they pull out the piece of paper asking you to sign an agreement stating that you are a contractor, just walk away -- you ain't getting paid.


they have to hustle dozens of people to find one good salesperson...unless you already know how to sell, don't waste your time

[Skip Intro]

21. Did you find this job thru some ad in a paper or online?

I have answered a ton of ads, went to interviews, bla, bla, bla.

I have found out a few things:

If they are vague about what the job is and how you get paid, there's a reason.

Do they offer benefits? Do they tell you what benefits and when you get them?

Its been my experience that "marketing" jobs, the kind that offer a 50-100k salary right off the bat, are really lower-end sales jobs. They are already trying to lie to you by not telling you that it is indeed a sales job.

Also, if you seen the same ad over and over, you'd have to ask yourself, why would they have such a hard time filling such a great job.

The best ad I answered from one of these ads turned out to be mortgate sales. No experience needed - a dead giveaway - and six digit income year one! Well, that is if you can cold-call people on the phone and talk them into refinancing their mortgage with you, right out of the blue with someone they've never met or heard of. But that job did have a livable base salary and benefits. Problem for me was it was a sweat shop, and if you weren't meeting some high quota, you were out on your a$$.

The worst of these "marketing" jobs will, sometime very soon after your second interview, require some type of "investment." You may be selling water purification filters, or something. Door to door. And they'll teach you how to become rich quick, but for a price. And then you have to "buy" your "inventory" to get started.

If money has to come from your pocket before they put money into your pocket - walk away.

My guess is, at best, its something that will require a lot of cold calling and long hours, will be commission only with big quotas to meet before you hit the "big pay," and will have someone breathing down your neck to push you.

I would be very interested to know what they're selling, if not who they are, if you can maybe share that.

But do go for the second interview. It could really be something. Just take you bs detector.

[jiacinto]

22. Well

I am not going. Check your inbox.

[jiacinto]

23. anyone here

nt