The Win Report

The Federal Trade Commission is responsible for issuing and enforcing rules for consumer issues on the Internet. As part of this process, the FTC has published a list of the 12 scams you are most likely to receive as email.

The Dirty Dozen Scams

The “dirty dozen” are:

1. Business opportunities

These business opportunities make it sound easy to start a business that will bring lots of income without much work or cash outlay. The solicitations trumpet unbelievable earnings claims $1,000 a day or more without doing any work. Many business opportunity solicitations claim to offer a way to make money in an Internet-related business. Short on details but long on promises, these messages usually offer a telephone number to call for more information. In many cases, you’ll be told to leave your name and telephone number so that a salesperson can call you back with the sales pitch.

The scam: Many of these are illegal pyramid schemes masquerading as legitimate opportunities to earn money.

2. Bulk email

Bulk email solicitations offer to sell you lists of email addresses, by the millions, to which you can send your own bulk solicitations. Some offer software that automates the sending of email messages to thousands or millions of recipients. Others offer the service of sending bulk email solicitations on your behalf. Some of these offers say, or imply, that you can make a lot of money using this marketing method.

The problem: Sending bulk email violates the terms of service of most Internet service providers. If you use one of the automated email programs, your ISP may shut you down. In addition, inserting a false return address into your solicitations, as some of the automated programs allow you to do, may land you in legal hot water with the owner of the address’s domain name. There are also very strict rules, known as the CAN-SPAM Act, regulating bulk email marketing.

3. Chain letters

You’re asked to send a small amount of money ($5 to $20) to each of four or five names on a list, replace one of the names on the list with your own, and then forward the revised message via bulk email. The letter may claim that the scheme is legal, that it’s been reviewed or approved by the government; or it may refer to sections of U.S. law that legitimize the scheme.

The scam: Chain letters are almost always illegal and nearly all of the people who participate lose their money. The fact that a “product” such as a report on how to make money fast may be changing hands in the transaction does not change the legality of these schemes.

4. Work-at-home schemes

Envelope-stuffing solicitations promise steady income for minimal labor-for example, you’ll earn $2 each time you fold a brochure and seal it in an envelope. Craft assembly work schemes often require an investment of hundreds of dollars in equipment or supplies, and many hours of your time producing goods for a company that has promised to buy them.

The scam: You’ll pay a small fee to get started in the envelope-stuffing business. Then, you’ll learn that the email sender never had real employment to offer. Instead, you’ll get instructions on how to send the same envelope-stuffing ad on your own. If you earn any money, it will be from others who fall for the scheme you’re perpetuating.

5. Health and diet scams

Pills that let you lose weight without exercising or changing your diet, herbal formulas that liquefy your fat cells so that they are absorbed by your body, and cures for impotence and hair loss are among the scams flooding email boxes.

The scam: These gimmicks don’t work. The fact is that successful weight loss requires a reduction in calories and an increase in physical activity. Beware of case histories from “cured” consumers claiming amazing results and testimonials from “famous” medical experts you’ve never heard of.

6. Effortless income

The trendiest get-rich-quick schemes offer unlimited profits exchanging money on world currency markets; newsletters describing a variety of easy-money opportunities; the perfect sales letter; and the secret to making $4,000 in one day.

The scam: If these systems worked, wouldn’t everyone be using them? The thought of easy money may be appealing, but success generally requires hard work.

7. Free goods

Some email messages offer valuable goods-for example, computers, other electronic items, and long-distance phone cards-for free. You’re asked to pay a fee to join a club, then told that to earn the offered goods, you have to bring in a certain number of participants. You’re paying for the right to earn income by recruiting other participants, but your payoff is in goods, not money.

The scam: Most of these messages are covering up pyramid schemes, operations that inevitably collapse. The payoff goes to the promoters and little or none to you.

8. Investment opportunities

Investment schemes promise outrageously high rates of return with no risk. Many are Ponzi schemes, in which early investors are paid off with money contributed by later investors. This makes the early investors believe that the system actually works, and encourages them to invest even more.

The scam: Ponzi schemes eventually collapse because there isn’t enough money coming in to continue simulating earnings. Other schemes are a good investment for the promoters, but no for participants.

9. Cable descrambler kits

For a small sum of money, you can buy a kit to assemble a cable descrambler that supposedly allows you to receive cable television transmissions without paying any subscription fee.

The scam: The device that you build probably won’t work. Most of the cable TV systems in the U.S. use technology that these devices can’t crack. What’s more, even if it worked, stealing service from a cable television company is illegal.

10. Guaranteed loans or credit, on easy terms

Some email messages offer home-equity loans that don’t require equity in your home. Usually, these are said to be offered by offshore banks. Sometimes they are combined with pyramid schemes, which offer you an opportunity to make money by attracting new participants to the scheme.

The scams: The home equity loans turn out to be useless lists of lenders who will turn you down. The promised credit cards never come through, and the pyramid schemes always collapse.

11. Credit repair

Credit repair scams offer to erase accurate negative information from your credit file so you can qualify for a credit card, auto loan, home mortgage, or a job.

The scam: The scam artists who promote these services can’t deliver. Only time, a deliberate effort, and a personal debt repayment plan will improve your credit. The companies that advertise credit repair services appeal to consumers with poor credit histories. Not only can’t they provide you with a clean credit record, but they also may be encouraging you to violate federal law. If you follow their advice by lying on a loan or credit application, misrepresenting your Social Security number, or getting an Employer Identification Number under false pretenses, you will be committing fraud.

12. Vacation prize promotions

Electronic certificates congratulating you on “winning” a fabulous vacation for a very attractive price are among the scams arriving in your email. Some say you have been “specially selected” for this opportunity.

The scam: Most unsolicited commercial email goes to thousands or millions of recipients at a time. Often, the cruise ship you’re booked on may look more like a tug boat. The hotel accommodations likely are shabby, and you may be required to pay more for an upgrade. Scheduling the vacation at the time you want it also may require an additional fee.

In Closing

Don’t check your common sense at the door simply because you are surfing the web. If it seems to good to be true, it is. Don’t fall victim to these scams.

Richard A. Chapo is a San Diego business lawyer with www.sandiegobusinesslawfirm.com - a San Diego business law firm in San Diego, California.

In New Jersey, a Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) conviction becomes a permanent part of the offender’s driving history. There is no method by which it can be erased. Convictions in other states are entered into the document as well. This record is also known as a Motor Vehicles Report (MVR). It contain all past details of a person’s driving career.

The MVR is invariably referred to when a traffic violation takes place. This is to check whether there have been any previous convictions. Insurance companies make it a practice to check MVRs while renewing policies; a person with a bad driving record, particularly a DWI conviction, is likely to be slapped with a steep premium rate, or may even be refused insurance. Employers usually look into an applicant’s MVR while doing a pre-employment background search. Such investigations assume importance because they protect the employer from the risk of being sued for negligent hiring. In any case, nobody likes to have a DWI convict on the workforce. It also prevents job applicants or workers from giving false information to the employer.

It is a wise policy to have your own driving records checked periodically. The Insurance Research Council claims that over 22% of driving documents have mistakes. This could be either due to clerical error or other reasons. You must verify your records and correct any defects.

You can obtain your New Jersey driving record, which would invariably include any DWI convictions, by either going to a New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission Regional Office, using their toll-free telephone facility or mailing an application. A fee of $10 has to be paid. Also, there are service providers through whom you can order the document online for a charge. Payment can be made by credit card.

New Jersey DWI Lawyers provides detailed information on New Jersey Alcohol Treatment, New Jersey DWI Arrests, New Jersey DWI Defense, New Jersey DWI Fines and more. New Jersey DWI Lawyers is affiliated with New Jersey DUI Defense.

In April, 2004, the FAA updated and revised the Practical Test Standards (”PTS”) for the Instrument Rating. The new standards went into effect October 1, 2004. Of particular interest to instrument flight instructors (”CFII’s”) and pilots holding instrument ratings is a substantial change in the requirements for administering an Instrument Proficiency Check (”IPC”).

Prior to October 1, 2004, a CFII had discretion regarding what PTS tasks he or she could require for an instrument rated pilot to demonstrate instrument proficiency. That discretion allowed a CFII to be flexible in order to accommodate/address a pilot’s strengths/weaknesses, as well as the pilot’s aircraft, instrumentation and intended missions. That is, the CFII was allowed to decide what tasks the pilot needed to accomplish in order to show the CFII that the pilot could competently operate an aircraft solely with reference to the instruments.

Although this discretion presented the opportunity for a CFII to conduct an IPC with minimal demonstration of ability by the pilot, most CFII’s required pilots to demonstrate sufficient skills and competence to show that they could safely fly in instrument meteorological conditions (”IMC”). After all, no responsible CFII wanted to be the last IPC sign-off in a pilot’s logbook if the pilot was later in an accident or incident: Too many questions to answer and potential liability for the CFII.

However, the revised PTS no longer give the CFII discretion in how an IPC is to be conducted or the tasks to be performed. The current PTS now require completion of specific tasks including holds, unusual attitudes, intercepting nav-aids and dme-arcs, precision, non-precision and circling approaches, partial- panel and review of instruments and aircraft equipment.

Unfortunately, the removal of the CFII’s discretion seems to convert what used to be a learning experience tailored to a pilot and his or her needs into what is more closely akin to an actual check-ride. Under the prior PTS, a student and instructor could discuss and determine the appropriate and/or necessary tasks to ensure that the pilot could demonstrate the necessary competency to pass an IPC. This allowed a pilot to use the IPC as a learning tool by agreeing with the instructor to review or practice specific tasks on which the pilot may have felt he or she needed additional practice.

Under the revised PTS, all of the designated tasks must now be satisfactorily completed. Although a pilot and instructor can still tailor the IPC to focus on tasks needing additional work, the remainder of the designated tasks will still need to be completed. This will increase the time required for an IPC and may deter pilots from spending the time and money for additional practice of specific tasks.

Another concern is the requirement that an IPC candidate must now perform a circling approach. Unfortunately, this eliminates the opportunity for an IPC candidate to fully complete an IPC using a computer-based trainer such as an Advanced AD. Although an Advanced AD will still qualify for completion of a majority of the IPC requirements, if it does not have a wide, wrap-around display, a circling approach will be impossible and this portion of the IPC will need to either be demonstrated in an aircraft or in a simulator that is equipped for such an approach.

This new requirement also has the potential to increase the cost of an IPC for a pilot. If the pilot does not have access to an appropriate computer based trainer, he or she will need to perform a circling approach in an aircraft.

The revised PTS are here and are the standards for conducting an IPC. Pilots should keep in mind that an IPC sign-off received after October 1, 2004 that does not comply with the revised PTS will not be valid and may leave the pilot operating without instrument currency. Both pilots and their instructors should review the revised PTS to fully understand what tasks are required for an IPC.

As always, fly safe and fly smart.

About the Author

Greg is an aviation attorney, author and holds a commercial pilot certificate with instrument rating. His handles aviation litigation, including insurance matters and creditor’s rights, FAA certificate actions and aviation related transactional matters. He can be reached via e-mail at greigel@aerolegalservices.com or check out his website at www.aerolegalservices.com.