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In one of my Facebook accounts, I received an invitation this morning–from a friend–to join a group named Drop The Internet Stacks of Money And Quit Your Job. This group directs its members to a website that offers an Online Success Kit, which claims to help anyone make some easy extra cash, up to millions of dollars for hard workers.

Following the link, I arrived at a fake newspaper site that praised in all its articles a miraculous method to becoming rich. After making some searches on the Net, I discovered this website was not unique.

In one example, the lucky woman was Kim Barnes of Paris; in another it was Charlie Thompson from the City of Light. The accounts were almost identical, prepared by a simple copy and paste. This story would be funny if it did not hide a really sad financial swindle. All the links direct to a site where you have to fill in a form with your name, postal address, email, and phone number. Having done this, you are (of course) advised that you are right for the job. You have to pay only a small amount (US$2.97) to receive your kit.

I hear some of you asking: “Such a small amount. Where is the rip-off?” I’ll tell you: It is in the Terms and Conditions:

By paying the $2.97, each victim agrees to be charged $93.67 after a five-day trial period. Then, this charge recurs each month!
To cancel, you need to contact the Customer Service Department. That’s not easy because the postal address is in the Republic of Panama. There are several phone numbers on the customer service web page. I tried to reach the French one, but my efforts were fruitless.
This swindle is not restricted to a fake job opportunity. The same Panamanian company offers, in similar terms, e-cigarettes, nutritional foods, and a teeth-whitening kit.

I was horrified to see that the Facebook group I mentioned at the top of this blog had 268,000 members about two weeks after its creation. I dare not imagine the number of innocent victims, nor the amount of money these criminals have pocketed.

In the United States, victims should to contact the Federal Trade Commission, which collects–and sometimes acts upon–complaints about suspicious companies and business practices. Outside the United States, victims must contact their local law enforcement services to try to stop this rip-off.
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