Seven To Ten

Frauds, from embezzlement, identity theft, patent infringement, and product counterfeiting - is increasing. The median loss from embezzlement cost small companies $190,000 in 2006, up from $98,000 in 2004, according to the latest numbers from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

The number of patent-infringement lawsuits rose 6% last year. New research has found that counterfeit goods account for an estimated 15% to 20% of all products manufactured in China. The advance of technology has made it easier than ever for the unscrupulous to victimize your business. Consider that hundreds of pages of sensitive financial information can be stored on a USB drive the size of a thumb - or that millions of dollars can disappear with the flick of a computer key.

In March the regional supermarket chain Hannaford Bros., headquartered in Portland, Maine, discovered that hackers had broken into its database and rerouted customers’ credit card information to accounts overseas.

In another case, an accountant who had electronic access to the books of 15 small companies diverted $1 million meant to pay taxes to his own account. In another case, a thief set up a phony website that mirrored that of a small business, ordered thousands of dollars of supplies from Office Depot, and then had the bills sent to the real business owner.

Given all the day-to-day challenges small-business owners face, most feel they don’t have the time, patience, or money to protect themselves. This helps explain why small businesses are nearly twice as likely to be victims of fraud as are big corporations.

After trying for a few days, I will discount this as a money making opportunity. Every site will pay us varying amounts per email or ad read. Some are pennies per email read while pay HUNDREDS of dollars per read.

Common sense will tell us that this kind of hundred dollars sites are scams, who else has the financial muscle to pay us so much just to click and view a site for a few seconds?

You need to read the fine print of the contract to prevent your account from being terminated. That includes creating only one account and not using auto-clickers. If you want more details on the Paid To Read industry, there are plenty of threads on the Internet.

Just be careful that many such programs shut down as the admin finds it too much work to maintain the site, cannot find advertisers or simply pocket whatever funds it receive without making payments.

However, if you find programs that are reliable, your earning potential is about a couple hundred dollars a month. Could be more provided you are good at promoting and getting referrals. You will never get rich off of Paid to Read programs though.

This is another method of making money online which I am trying. Actually, many advertisers are willing to pay us for reading their ads and viewing their websites. As such, there are many PTR and PTC websites around.

PTR stands for Paid To Read and PTC stands for Paid To Click. After you sign up for an account in one of those websites, they will send you e-mailed ads or you will be able to click on ads at their website.

Either way you must click on links, in order to get paid. Usually those links lead you to pages that have timers of 10-30 seconds. Your account is credited once the timer expires. Membership to those websites is FREE and it is very easy and fun for anyone to participate and make some money.

PPC SEs stands for Pay Per Click Search Engines. In Pay Per Click Search Engines, advertisers pay only for the click through to their site. In order to make money, you need to send them traffic.

The problem is that many sites which disappear and then appear with a different name, it is important to differentiate the honest sites from the scams.

Researching online programs can be a risky business. It seems that no matter which way I turn, there are contradictory advice or making money opportunities best described as scams.

These programs offer very little, if anything, in return. Unfortunately, for newbies like me or those who are desperate or greedy, we can be lured by the beautiful promises and waste our time and money.

They become discouraged and in turn give up their dreams of online income after joining a “good” program but it falls short of expectations in terms of reward and support.

“Too good to be true” and it often is.