Suckers!

What do you think is the saddest/most outrageous scam out there that people have fallen for? You don't have to admit if you were one of those who fell for it. Think quack diets, weird exercise equipment, whatever. Maybe I'll learn something.

I keep seeing this commercial disguised as an interview with this guy Kevin Trudeau, selling his book "The Weight Loss Secret 'They' Don't Want You to Know About," maybe the 3rd or 4th in his series of books. The guy is a career criminal and scam artist, his book is full of complete horsesh*t (I've read about it at Amazon and other places), and his commercial is even banned in some states. Why do people like that get to continue to do business?!

I think we'd all be better off if we stayed away from all infomercials.

Fri. Jul 13, 11:22pm

I have a friend who has fallen for every work from home scam possible. First there was the post office, send $50 to get and exam and you are almost assured a job. Didn't happen. Then some sewing duffle bags together but you have to send money up front to purchases the peices of the bags and then sell them bag once they are completed. Didn't make much money there, she wasted tons of time though. Then there was the herbal products that she bought to resale, that no one wanted. Poor gal she means well, she has a young son she wants to stay home with and her hubby is in the Army. I feel so bad for her because she hasn't landed anything that might make some money and every story just gets worse.

Friday, July 13, 2007, 11:28 PM

My mom fell for a work from home scam. It was something along the lines of doing money transfers before receiving the actual position in an office. They had a really professional looking website and everything, kept in constant contact with her. Anyway, they scammed her out of $4300. She called the police, they contacted the FBI, but the FBI refused to do anything, saying that because it was a relatively low amount of money and the money was sent to another country that it was out of their hands.

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 7:53 AM

this post is making me sad already. 11:28, maybe your friend could babysit other kids at her house so she could make some $ and stay w/ her son. 7:53, $4300 is a lot of money to a regular person! and OP, i BOUGHT THAT BOOK. it was around $30 at the time and i so desperately wanted to read it (and you couldn't check it out of the library at that time, hmmm). actually i really liked the book b/c i agreed w/ a lot of it - but there were no studies to back anything up. about half way through the book, the guy starts talking about a certain way of thinking/religion that raises a red flag for many people so i just threw it away at that point.

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 8:05 AM

8:05 from 11:28
She can't babysit without the proper certifications because she lives on a military base. They have strict regulations. She has tried almost everything though.

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 8:27 AM

Kevin Trudeau is amazing. I have lost over 90 pounds since I read his book. Have you even read any of his books, OP? It sounds like you haven't.

As far as scams, I am not the type to fall for scams. Although I do get a long of emails along the lines of "Please help me, my husband died and I don't want his fortune going to the government. I will give you 30% of of it, 20,000,000, if you agree to do this. Let me transfer it to you overseas and you can claim you are his relative..." They say they are from England, and the number they tell you to call is so obviously not English, it is like from Ghana or something. And there are so many of them!!! I don't know how they got my email address, but once I had the audacity to answer one, saying "F--K OFF!!!" Actually, the letters started flooding in faster. Oops, haha.

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 8:41 AM

Where do I get in the "sucker" line?

OH man, I'm glad this is anonymous coz I'd never admit to this if you knew me. Years back there was this informercial by a gal named Greer Childress who claimecd you could lose weight by "areobic breathing". She had a video that explained "how to" and I bought the stupid thing!! What an idiot I felt like. And while I'm confessing, I also bought Keven Trudeau's book. Those are the only two things I've ever been scammed on and I HAVE learned my lesson.

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 10:19 AM

I once bought 12 batteries for $1 from some guy working the subway trains. Later, I had a good look at the bottom of the batteries - no ridges, they were fake. I'm still trying to figure out how you make money on fake batteries. I mean, surely even the fakes cost more than 8 cents apiece to make and package?

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 10:37 AM

8:41

It's true, I would never read Mr. Trudeau's books after looking up information on him online, and reading many, many reviews on Amazon giving his book one star and saying they wish they could have given 0 stars. From what I've read, he is a career scam artist, his infomercials have been banned in several states and he has been banned from certain business practices due to fraudulent practices. He recommends daily colonics and injections of human growth hormone, which is illegal in this country. There are many people who have also been "taken" by his website and operators who continue to bill while never sending anything out or returning requests to cancel/return. I'm glad you found success through whatever parts of his program you have chosen to follow, but I can't believe it would be a good thing for most people.

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 7:35 PM

Is HGH illegal?

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 9:17 PM

There is no free ride

If your dumb enough to keep sending money to someone you deserve what you get the FBI does not have time for idiots like your mom who was just trying to make a quick buck. You should be able to arrest stupid people.

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 9:28 PM

sorry... i misspoke. he recommends human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) injections.

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 9:30 PM

what the heck does he say hcG injections are supposed to do? That's the hormone your body produces when you're pregnant.

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 9:56 PM

I think people who choose to be mean, self-righteus and compassionless are far more deserving of arrest than so-called "stupid" people, if we were going to start arresting people for personality traits. Mean is *always* a choice; stupid isn't.

Saturday, July 14, 2007, 11:50 PM

Did any of you notice the ad at the bottom of the screen? It's how to find Kevin Trudeau on Google. Ironic, isn't it?

Sunday, July 15, 2007, 10:57 AM

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