Triple Clicks

Friday, May 16, 2014

Beware The "Prelaunch" Specials: The Newest Scams

I've been reflecting on my online progress over the past few years, and naturally some patterns have stood out. There is one in particular that I fell for twice, and lately I've been seeing ads for several similar types of programs. What eye-catcher is this? The all-new, completely revolutionary earning system... _________ now in prelaunch! Join now and be on top of everyone else when it starts!

Yeah, it's tempting. That's why I fell for it twice. You see a short video or read some info on this brand new program, and it looks remarkable. On top of that, you can have the "privilege" of being one of the original members, practically one of the founders.... It's too good to be true. And yeah, it is.

So what's wrong with joining a pre-launch? Isn't everything brand new at some point or another? Every trend has to start somewhere. Well, yes. But unless you were seriously a founding member of Google or Amazon, you've probably noticed that you've really never been involved with the beginning of a trend. Trends start with a very small group of people, often only one person, who has a great idea and who gets it starting, eventually making it public. There is no in-between. Either it's in development or it's already out, and if it's something you can already join... it's out. You're not one of the first; you're one of the many.

Rippln was my biggest mistake in this area. I joined Rippln just over a year ago and was, as I remember, very excited about this new social network. I sent Facebook messages to people telling them about it (sorry to any of you who are reading this!) and chatted with the other members about how great this was going to be. Apparently, people were signing up on the pre-launch left and right, and it was no wonder: this was going to be a social network that pays you! But, as the days to the official "launch" drew nearer, Rippln started to change. It wasn't a friendly new social networking site... it was an expensive pyramid scheme. They began to email me, asking for hundreds of dollars so that I would attend special "training" webinars, and the fun games that they promised were just gimmicks in the end. There wasn't even a decent product with Rippln, just a promise and a feeling of being a part of the beginning of something big. No one joined under me, but as I saw the true nature of the scam, I was relieved and decided to quit before they took any of my money away. My question was, "Since when have social network media required hundreds of dollars just for basic training?" Yeah, I failed big.

My Perfect Inter.net was another pre-launch that I joined. It was not an all-out scam like Rippln, but the quality fell very far from the ideals that it projected beforehand. It was supposed to be the perfect "Internet," with everything you wanted all on one page--emails, games, sales from your favorite stores, latest messages and updates from friends, and news. Oh, and it also pays you to refer people. I joined and made an account when it was still "WazzUb" and didn't think much about it. After it officially launched I visited my page, looked around and played a game of solitaire, and then left. I've only returned two or three times since then. Yeah, it has what it was promising... but the layout is awful! Brightly flashing colors, more ads than features, and an overall headache of an experience was what I found.

Moral of the story? Don't fall for the pre-launch. It's an illusion, a way for people to profit off of you without having to give you anything at all right away. If you're seeing ads for it, it's too late to be one of the first members anyway. Look for something established and proven, something that has both positive reviews and positive results. Clixsense, Amazon Turk and SFI may not be fast earning opportunities and they may not look exciting compared to others, but they have a track record.

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