Saturday, 14th January 2006
Just a post to clarify my position on these "Paid To Surf Programs". I have a Studio Traffic account but I did not deposit any money into my account. In my previous post about Studio Traffic, I mentioned I wouldn’t mind putting in $1000 but I did not say I have put in $1000. I registered for a Studio Pay account, Studio Traffic’s payment gateway, and it was really a pain in the neck to set it up because I had to scan my Singapore identity card and my latest telephone bill to them as verification which took about 3 weeks to process if I remember correctly.
After my Studio Pay account was finalized, I wanted to put some money into Studio Traffic. Then I had some doubts… I asked myself:
My answers were No, No, Yes. Therefore I didn’t put in any money at all.
I personally know people in Singapore and Malaysia who swear by Studio Traffic. They consider it their main source of income. I wouldn’t use "Paid To Surf Programs" as my main income stream because I don’t think I can trust these companies.
I read up on "Ponzi Schemes" at Wikipedia and here’s what I found:
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying abnormally high returns ("profits") to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather than from net revenues generated by any real business. In fact, a Ponzi scheme must have abnormally high short-term returns in order to entice new investors. The high returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises (and pays) require an ever-increasing flow of money from investors in order to keep the scheme going. Once the flow of new investment stops, the scheme is doomed to collapse.
The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi, who became notorious for using the technique after immigrating to the United States from Italy in 1903. The manner of Ponzi’s initial scheme was actually fairly crude, one of the apparent reasons being that he himself believed that he had found a way to legally generate large profits.
Today’s schemes are often considerably more sophisticated than Ponzi’s (though the underlying formula is often quite similar), but the idea behind every Ponzi scheme is to exploit the lack of judgement by some based on greed.
When I was introduced to Studio Traffic, I was overcome by greed. The whole concepts sounds so easy… Just turn on your PC, launch your browser, load the pages, and wait for a check at the end of the month. In fact it sounds too good to be true.
Recently I have been receiving emails about 12 Daily Pro. I haven’t joined that program but it looks slightly more "legit" to me. The web site looks kind of cheesy in my opinion but here’s what I have found out about 12 Daily Pro just by searching on Google.com:
12 Daily Pro looks pretty good at the moment but I am still undecided. The whole idea of "Paid To Surf" program looks "legit" to me even though it looks a bit like a "ponzi scheme". I will remain positive about these programs but also expect the worst to happen. Looking back at my previous Studio Traffic post, I think $1000 is way too much. Maybe $100 to $500 would be a more realistic amount of money I am willing to lose if these companies go bust within the first 3 months of me investing my own money into them.
Subscribe to my blog through my RSS feed or email to receive updates on more posts like this. post on your favourite social networking or media site to let others know about this post. Help me generate more buzz by submitting/voting for this post with the following buttons.
On 14th January 2006 11:44 PM, Hugh Hession
said:
Great post, Vince. I like your objectivity. It’s refreshing.
No one knows how long 12 Daily will last(9 months strong, as of now, without missing a payout). Based on my research, it by the far, the most popular autosurf on the net. They are based out of Charlotte, NC.
In regards to NetIBA: Personally, I didn’t sign up because of the “security” measures they tout, but rather because my fees are 4% lower. That’s the motivator for me. In the banking industry, banks typically “motivate” customers to keep certain balances, or be “penalized” by higher interest or charges. It’s done deliberately to increase money streams. In a nutshell: its business.
The word is still out on the anything else NetIBA claims. StormPay owns NetIBA, which doesn’t surprise me. But again, no big news. It’s not out of the ordinary for a company to own another company that compliments the prior.
In regards to a Ponzi, 12 Daily claims that they have money in offline investments, and are not funded 100% by memberships. I read a sizeable chat log in TalkGold, where Charis Johnson (the sites admin) was talking shop. I believe the site is growing, by 2000 members a day…so 12 Daily is definitely not in the same “category” as other autosurfs.
The convention (in Charlotte) they are having in February is also interesting. Unlike most autosurfs, where the admins want to stay anonymous, she is placing herself in the forefront.
As a big skeptic, I would typically steer away from something like this , however – as of now – 12 Daily is making money for me (if anything, to fund other projects). I’ve already made my initial investment back, thus there is no risk.
On 27th January 2006 6:44 AM, 12 Daily Pro (Do Not Invest)
said:
12 Daily Pro has excellent marketing techniques to convince you that they are legit… I worked for 12daily pro ( but I have heart) Charis Johnson is a MILLIONAIRE …. 2000 new suckers daily . She’s Laughing Out Loud… Even the educated are GREEDY she says….. (BE AWARE it is a PONZI SCHEME)….YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!
On 27th January 2006 12:15 PM, Hugh said:
>12 Daily Pro has excellent marketing techniques to convince you that they are legit… I worked for 12daily pro ( but I have heart) Charis Johnson is a MILLIONAIRE …. 2000 new suckers daily . She’s Laughing Out Loud… Even the educated are GREEDY she says….. (BE AWARE it is a PONZI SCHEME)….YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!! >
Give me a break.
On 29th January 2006 5:27 AM, A S Hodel
said:
I just heard about 12 Daily Pro from a friend today who was concerned that a close relative was going to invest the bulk of their savings in the program. There’s plenty of room for concern. The referal mechanism for building income is similar to, e.g., AMWAY. Although that doesn’t make it a Ponzi scheme, it’s not possible to maintain the rate of return they claim if membership continues to grow as it has (and the world population doesn’t keep pace).
See http://homepage.mac.com/hodelas/tar/C1214382596/E20060128103733/index.html for more detailed discussion.
On 31st January 2006 11:10 PM, martin
said:
Guys, please don’t waste your time and money….
http://www.investopedia.com/university/scams/
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/04/042104.asp
A legit paid to surf program will NOT require you to pay them first to earn money! You have been warned….
On 8th February 2006 8:14 PM, CJ
said:
If you go to this forum at – http://talkgold.com/forum/index.php you can read about these programs and how people are losing money left and right, programs shutting down, lawsuits filed. I was overcome by greed also and tried these for a few months. The results? Lost money every single time!
On 12th February 2006 10:50 PM, martin said:
Here’s another post from me on the same topic:
http://www.intelligentinvestorclub.com/2006/02/do-not-fall-for-ponzi-scams.html
Anyway, 12dp has since been ‘out of business’ since stormpay frozen their account.
On 12th February 2006 11:32 PM, Vincent Rich
said:
Thank you Martin for the update… I realized 12 Daily Pro just updated their web site layout. I don’t see any link to FAQs, register, that previous “trust seal” anymore?
I did get some news from Mike Filsaime about the PayDotCom.com update about StormPay policies. Seems like StormPay is cracking down on Ponzi schemes. PayDotCom.com still allows dual payment mode of PayPal and StormPay.
I am not sure if 12 Daily Pro is affected by Storm Pay’s new policy?
On 3rd March 2006 1:41 AM, Unanimous
said:
12 Daily Pro was in fact a ponzi scheme. I lost about 800$ and now the money (estimated 50 million) is frozen in a StormPay account. All of the business assets are frozen and we hope to receive some kind of refund but most members will be out 1,000’s of dollars. The other auto-surf programs will be next to go.
A lot of people don’t like ABC4 news but it seems they have uncovered the truth and the feds are involved. Go to ABC4.com for updates.
On 14th August 2006 7:42 PM, Kevin Tan
said:
I’m confused now. What you said about Storm pay is totally opposite of Felicia Harris, see what Felicia said at http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/thread/323095.aspx
Please comment as this involves money from net preuner!
regards
On 2nd September 2006 2:51 AM, KMV
said:
It absolutely amazes me that people fall for these “get rich quick” schemes. 12 Daily Pro may have been shut down, but there are other scams out there that will take its place because there 1,000’s of people that will allow themselves to me taken advantage of. If it’s too good to be true, it’s a scam. If it requires money up front, it’s a scam. If claims you will get paid for doing little or nothing, it’s a scam. I prefer to make my $$ the old-fashioned way, I earn it. I don’t feel sorry for anyone who was taken by 12 Daily Pro. If they lack basic common sense, they deserve to get ripped off.
Subscribe to Vincent's Blog by RSS
Subscribe to Vincent's Blog by Email
said:
said: