Enron proved this. The current mortgage crisis proved this. And the following question is one we recommend you ALWAYS keep in mind as you develop your judgement in any area of interest to you.
It came to us through our feedback form:
Q: How do I know you aren’t a scam.
Our Answer:
A: The REAL answer to that question is unless YOU know enough about a particular subject area you can’t know because you can’t really tell if a person is B.S.ing you.
My best advice would be do NOT pull out your credit card for anything until you’ve absorbed enough free information to the point where you feel like you have developed your own judgment in a subject
area.
Even “seals of approval” can be faked and I’ve seen many authoritative non-government resources get things wrong (the federal government sites typically get things RIGHT when it comes to what’s a work at home scam or telecommuting scam).
There are some technical ways to check things out using tools like http://www.domaintools.com
http://www.robtex.com, http://www.copyscape.com and many others.
You can see an example of how to use these tools here:
http://www.workathometruth.com/blog/2008/09/15/sixfigureyearly-not-recommended/
http://www.workathometruth.com/blog/2008/10/14/tip-for-avoiding-money-laundering-schemes/
Certainly for specific AREAS of scams to check if something IS a scam you can use sites like
- http://www.fincen.gov
- http://www.ftc.gov
- http://www.fbi.gov
- http://www.ic3.gov/crimeschemes.aspx
- http://www.consumer.gov/
- http://www.cybercrime.gov/
- http://www.sec.gov
- http://www.fdic.gov
which tend to be extremely accurate. And if THOSE sites reference another site as a resource that’s a good sign, although it’s rare for a site to get that status.