It has been a very stress filled day for me today, which means when you are diabetic there can be consequences to pay, like it affecting blood pressure, and of course blood count, and speaking generally can put everything out of whack so to speak.
I would like to just close my eyes, or wave a magic wand and have it all disappear, but in reality I can't, I have to face up to what has happened and do the best I can to limit the emotions that I am having to deal with.
When your closest friend confides in you and her story unfolds, it can be a very emotional time for both.
As if far, far away I could hear myself saying, I can't believe it, I can't believe it.
This doesn't happen to people like you.
The reality of it is, it did, and it can happen to anyone.
No one is exempt from possibly becoming involved the way it happened to her.
For nearly a year I knew my friend was trying to start up an On line Work At Home Business, and was having coaching lessons on a weekly bases, but she never talked about it, and I never asked her any questions, coming to the conclusion, it was going well.
I did know she wanted to supplement their income, and they thought this would be a good way to do it.
Now it turns out that in all this time she has not made a cent, but every time she turned around it was costing money.
Then one day out of the blue she received a phone call from a salesman that had such a good sales pitch, convincing her that their company could take her business to the next level in a very short time, also her coach would be looking after and doing all the technical aspects of the web site, but he would walk her through whatever she wanted to learn.
Making lots of money for her was his objective, and this is what he was going to teach her how to do until she learned everything he knew.
It all sounded so right that she signed up.
The salesman said her web site would be up and running within 48 hours, and she would be getting a call from her coach to set up her times.
Nearly a week went by and no call came from any coach, then in the middle of the following week he did call , but only to set up another time the following week.
Her first lesson was more of an information type, explaining what they would be doing and assured her she would be making money very soon, in the mean time he was going to set her up on a free site, where she could make friends and start building a mailing list, which she did not question, thinking at least something is being done to start bringing in money.
Not being experienced in net work marketing, she went along with what he then told her to do.
At the conclusion of her lesson they agreed on another time the following week only to have him call and say he would call again the next day as he was getting ready to do an email blast to her site.
The next day came and no call.
Several times that week she called his office, only to find the calls did not go through they were always redirected.
Also emails were sent but to no avail.
You can guess the rest.
When her credit card statement arrived it showed she had been billed twice, but by different names, in the same company to the amount of $10,000.
00.
After further looking into the situation, my friend called the telephone directory service for that area, giving them the required information, only to be told there was no such business at that address.
The credit card company is now investigating, but it will be six weeks or so until she hears from them, and in the meantime her days are filled with anxiety just having to wait it out.
When I questioned her about the web site, and when saw it for myself I can see how she was taken in, as it had the appearance of a real professional business, with all the correct type of information, even to a thirty day money back guarantee, but if you took the time to read the very fine print, all I can say is good luck if you try to get it.
My heart goes out to my dear friend, and I am so concerned for her as they can ill afford to loose any large amounts of money.
It will certainly take a toll on them.
Since this has happened I have been doing a lot of research on the subject of scams and seniors, and it is appalling, the types there are out there, and the number of seniors that get snared.
I have decided to write an EBook on the subject and my friend has given me written permission to use her story in much more detail.
A lot of scam artists are making more money than we will ever see in our lifetime, and too many get away with it.
One common thread the accounts about them is they have their own psychology, based on need and greed of an individual, and they take it and work in their sales pitch which I will elaborate on later.
To say it could not happen to you or me is not true.
If the circumstances are right I think any one could be vulnerable.
My suggestion is take care, watch carefully who you choose to do business with, don't be too trusting, it is a cruel world out there at times, and any one can be targeted and snared.