Someone needs to explain this to me, because I admit that I just don’t get it. Perhaps I’m just somehow lacking in experience, or maybe I’m just not a trusting enough soul, I don’t know. It might be that I’ve become so cynical for so long now that I wouldn’t recognize opportunity if it came up and bit me, but I do try to keep an open mind on things. However . . .
I have a friend - and it’s probably best if she remains nameless - who saw an e-mail that told her she could make a ton of money with little or no time and effort on her part as an "internet marketer." A marketer of what, I don’t know. As a matter of fact, I’ll admit that I don’t know a whole lot about this, other than that she was given the opportunity to get in on the ground-floor of this incredible business opportunity for the low, low investment of only $2,000.00.
Hmm. Could just be me, but I am reminded of an old saying: A fool and your money are soon partners. In any event, my friend bought into this idea - literally, and tried to convince me to get in on the action, too. But I’m afraid that the only thing that occured to me when she was explaining it was "ponzi scheme." Again, maybe it’s just me being cynical . . .
My friend didn’t stop there, though. Funny thing about the internet, but you keep getting all sorts of e-mails promising to show you the road to riches; hell, you can even see the commercials on television promising hundreds of thousands of dollars of income in exchange for a few hours a month at your computer keyboard, "marketing" things that "sell themselves." And all of it for a low, low "investment" fee that you’ll make up ten-fold.
And you know what? $2k here, $1.5k there, pretty soon you’re talking some real money, and I suspect I know how the authors of these schemes are making their internet riches. Something about a sucker being born every minute, I’m guessing, because I have yet to meet anyone who has actually made any money off one of these pyramid schemes. Other, that is, than the people who start them.
I may indeed have no faith, but I just can’t escape the old saw about if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Take my friend, for example. So far, I’ve watched her sink a ton of money into these "plans." I’ve watched her spend upwards of eighteen hours a day on her computer and on the phone, talking to her "partners." Last May, she wanted to borrow $2,000.00 from me because she "could earn" $200,000.00 by September. Unfortunately, the return so far on all of her investments has been zero . . . not that I’m surprised by that. But she plugs away at it all the same, day after day, but this whole thing seems like an awful lot of time and effort to sink into something that is, after all, billed as a turn-key operation.
You know, my entire professional life in the civilian world has been the study of the human mind and behaviour, but this one really stumps me. That otherwise intelligent people could be so easily and so willingly suckered into such obvious scams. It would seem that common sense would tell you that if it were indeed so easy, then everyone would be doing it; hell, we could eliminate poverty in this country simply by giving everyone a computer and an IPS connection and telling them "Go forth and internet market."
Funny how that hasn’t happened . . .
What really disturbs me, however, is the fact of all those soulless schmucks who roam the digital wastelands, preying on the naivete of others. The very same kind of people who would be howling for blood if the same kind of thing were done to them. Or that we, as a society, tolerate such things. I realize that I may be somewhat out-of-step in my insistence on clinging to the idea that one should always do the right thing simply because it is the right thing, and I realize that you can not always protect people from themselves. But I care about my friend, and I care about other people, else I would not have chosen to do the things that I have done with my life. But this one has me flummoxed . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment