How would you like to receive a 12 percent return on your money everyday? All you have to do is run an autosurf program on your computer everyday and such returns are possible. Or are they?
People should be skeptical when they hear about offers that sound too good to be true. The above example is taken from 12DailyPro, which is a classic example of a typical Ponzi scheme. People pay money to the company and are paid the promised return. However, the money they receive is only a portion of their money being returned to them. They think, though, that they are receiving interest payments and that the company is legit. Then they refer their friends, who also receive interest payments, and the cycle continues until the mastermind behind the scheme takes off with all of the money. A few people may end up ahead, but the majority loses everything.
Yet, people who have invested in 12DailyPro claim that that the secret to the return is savvy business tact. Users prove that such returns are possible by showing examples of Real Estate investments and online businesses with little overhead. I don't dispute that such returns are possible, but one also needs to remember the factor of risk that such people incur. A real estate wholesaler may make a down payment of $500 to purchase property for $150,000 (the example given on 12DailyPro's forum). He or she then turns around and sells/assigns this contract to somebody else for $165,000. That's a return of $15,000 on a $500 investment--a 3,000 percent return! But look at if from a flip side. What happens if the wholesaler can't sell the property at a profit and is forced to liquidate at $100,000? That is a $50,000 loss on a $5,000 investment--a 10,000 percent loss! High yields are possible, but come with certain risks attached.
Another point that users would like to make is that "the more members and traffic that visit an autosurf website, the more valuable its ad space becomes." This is true, which is evidenced by Google's phenomenal profits for its advertising space. However, what value is their in autosurfing a web site? In essence, advertisers are paying extra money for computers, not people, to view the web site. Eventually, smart advertisers would realize the poor return on this investment and cease the practice.
Lastly, people should be skeptical when a company requires a down payment in order to become an employee of the company. Typical companies do not pay based on the amount invested if everybody does the same thing (such as autosurfing a website). Compensation is usually based on skill, seniority, and other things of the sort.
Of course, users will discount all of these red flags and hail that 12DailyPro is different than any other business that has ever existed. I, for one, will still choose to invest in the stock market rather than investing in sketchy business practices.
