THE MOST ASKED QUESTION I RECEIVE

In the 3+ years since I formed Eagle Research Associates, the most asked question I receive at our community seminars, radio interviews, E-mail inquiries, and from my weekly Internet radio show is this one:

If Cyber Crime is as big of a problem as you say it is: Why haven’t I heard/know more about it?

The answer is fairly simple.  Most people who have been scammed don’t tell anyone about it.

Now you would think that if they had just lost their life savings to a scam/Ponzi, they would at least report it to the authorities, but that isn’t the case.  There are many reasons why they don’t tell and don’t report it.  They are:

1.  Shame – They are ashamed they were scammed. So they won’t tell anyone or report it.

2. Embarrassment – Similar to shame, they are too embarrassed to admit they were scammed; and will not tell anyone or report it.

3.  Ego – Their ego will not allow them to admit they were scammed.

4.  Pride – Similar to their ego, their pride is hurt and they cannot bring themselves to tell or report they were scammed.

5.  Fear - This one has a dual aspect to it.  They are afraid if they do tell anyone they will be shunned, looked down upon, or worse ostracized from family and friends. The second part of this is because they have been told by the admin and mods of the program if you report it to the authorities, “you” will ruin it for everyone.  All the admin needs is a little more time and everything will be fine.  But if you go to the authorities, it will make everyone lose.  And you don’t want to be the one who ruined it for “everyone.”  It’s a lie.  Of course they don’t want you reporting it.  If you do they could end up in prison.

But if anyone has been following the headlines of late, the financial news is full of stories of scammers being charged for running multi-million dollar scams/Ponzi’s, and in some cases billions of dollar scams/Ponzi’s.  And most of those weren’t even on the Internet, but word of mouth and group presentation scams/Poniz’s.  In the offline world since the beginning of this year, there have been more scams/Ponzi’s exposed and the people running them charged than in all of 2009 and 2010 combined.  So far the year-to-date total is more than $8 Billion dollars and counting; and there are more to come – a lot more.

When I tell people that they, or someone they know, have a 1 in 10 chance of being a victim of a scam before the end of the year, they really don’t believe me.  I understand why they don’t, but sadly that is the reality today.  Between the Internet and offline investment scams/Ponzi’s, the total figure far exceeds $15 Billion dollars that has been stolen this year. What is truly scary about those numbers are they could be anywhere from 40-60% higher due to the fact most people do not report their losses to the authorities.

Let me give you an example.  In the ASD Cash Generator case, it was claimed that there were more than 130,000 members in ASD.  Now we know that a good many of them were free members, but when it came time for the true victims of ASD Cash Generator to report it to the authorities, only a little over 18,000 actually reported their loss.  We believe there were over 40,000 paying members of ASD, so you can see what I am talking about.  This means that only 45% of those who had a legal claim for a refund actually filed a claim, and the balance who didn’t were people who were going to be able to receive at least something back from their loss by merely reporting their loss.  Sadly many who did lose money never reported it, and they will not be receiving any of the refunds by Rust Consulting, who is the claims administrator to make those refunds.

The one issue that probably skewed the people reporting their loss is that many of the major promoter’s were telling the members not to report their loss, and if they did they would screw it all up for everyone.  Many not knowing what to do believed them and failed to report their loss.  Of course they claimed that by filling out the claim form they were admitting they weren’t buying advertising but investing; and they claimed this was not the case.  They also told those who were filing the claim form to add an addendum saying they were buying advertising not investing; which could have voided their claim even if they did file.  Well, they could claim it, but it was not true.  They were investing whether or not they wanted to believe it or accept it.  But that just means for those who did, they will get a larger portion of what they invested back when the refunds begin.

Another fact that most people don’t want to believe or accept is that many of you have already been scammed and you don’t even know it yet.  I would guess that out of every person, who is reading this article, has a 1 in 6 chance of already being a victim of a scam.  Wait, before you said I, or someone I know, has a 1 in 10 chance of being a victim of a scam, right?  So what changed?  Because since the beginning of the year, your odds have gone up of being in a scam between then and now; and the sad part is a family member or a good friend got you into it.  And even they don’t know it yet either.  They thought they were doing you a good deed, and just wanted to help you financially.

One of the other things that most people fail to realize is that the worse the economy is, the more scams/Ponzi’s that are brought into the marketplace.  Just the opposite of what most people would think.  They know that people are desperate, scared, afraid, nervous, and worried about their financial status or future.  Many are unemployed, and have been for some time with no job prospects in the near future.  Many are afraid they may lose their job before the end of the year.  Many do not know where their next meal is coming from, are about to lose their house, car, or both, and afraid they are going to lose it all.  You are exactly the type of person these criminals prey on, and will take what little money you have left with absolutely no remorse or guilt in doing so. They will sell you hope and a dream, and then crash it all down around you when they disappear with your money; and they will.  There are only two ways these programs end:  The admin runs with the money, or the government raids it and shuts it down.  With the latter you have a chance of getting at least a portion of your money back.  That’s why you need to report it.

I hope this helped you understand more about why this has been such a silent thief in the past, but hopefully will change in the near future.  Remember, Silence is a scammer’s best friend.  Don’t you be his friend.