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Business Opportunity BUST! Recognize any names?
By DaveM | December 14, 2006
It truly warms my heart to see some of these business opportunity scams finally getting smacked by law enforcement. The FTC couldn’t have selected a more appropriate name for the project — FAL$E HOPE$. That pretty much says it all…
The Federal Trade Commission today announced Project FAL$E HOPE$, a federal and state law enforcement sweep targeting bogus business opportunities and work-at-home scams. The crackdown includes more than 100 law enforcement actions by the FTC, the Department of Justice, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and law enforcement agencies in 11 states. In four of the new FTC cases alone, consumers have lost more than $30 million.
“Bogus business opportunities trample on Americans’ dreams of financial independence,†said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras. “If a business opportunity promises no risk, little effort, and big profits, it almost certainly is a scam. These scams offer only a money pit, where no matter how much time and money is invested, consumers never achieve the riches and financial freedom promised.â€
That’s just the beginning of an FTC news release on Tuesday titled, Federal, State Law Enforcers Complete Bogus Business Opportunity Sweep.
Here’s a more comprehensive list of all the FTC cases open under Project FAL$E HOPE$. I don’t know about you, but I recognize more than one name from that list. Thankfully I never got sucked in by any of those specifically, but I certainly investigated a couple of them.
Reading about stuff like this is a great reminder that I’m finally doing the right thing by giving up on pie-in-the-sky business opportunities and focusing on starting an honest business of my own.