Complaint Review: BETTER TRADES - TV BASED Internet, Nationwide

Dear Prospective Rip-off Victim:

I don't care if you wish to make your fortune in real estate, on Wall Street, or selling trinkets at inflated prices. The rip-off scams are all the same. Some fast talking, formerly poor, individual proclaims that he has made millions using a method or system he devised and that he is now eager to show you how you too can become rich, overnight, using his unique system. The commercial then shows some individuals who claim, using the unique method, that they made a ton of money. Many of the programs are aired in the middle of the night, with a disclaimer by the TV station that they have nothing to do with the infomercial. 10,000 watt lights should come on when seeing the disclaimer. What TV station would not want to be mentioned if they assisted 1000's of people in getting rich quick?

All programs state however that you will have to learn how to do research. Either in real estate stocks, bonds, futures, options, you name it. Why not start your education by researching the very company which is offering you the opportunity of becoming rich? If you find NOTHING positive about the company in the Wall Street Journal, forget it! The absence of news in the investment world is also news. You will however find out, relative quickly, that your get rich quick company is a fraud. Think for just a minute. Who do these companies attract? Usually, it is hard working people, who lack the sophistication and education required to trade successfully on Wall Street, or individuals who have no knowledge of the real estate market as an investment tool. In addition, these programs also attract a certain type of individual, who usually wants to be successful without hard work. Wall Street does not pay highly successful traders and investment professionals 100's of thousands of dollars in commissions if these individuals could have picked up their specialized knowledge through a few seminars, or an expensive software package. NO, for every successful Wall Street professional, there are 1000's, who failed. But almost all of them went to the best Ivy League schools Daddy could afford and they usually work 60 hrs. plus a week. So, just forget the notion of getting rich FAST through one of these programs. For the everyday person, real estate is even worse these days. If I have to explain why, you should not be permitted to walk the streets with a credit card or check book. The days of the flips are over, unless, you have access to some real money, cash. Forget mortgages. Last year, your dog could get a sub-prime mortgage. Today, even with excellent credit, chances are, you will be turned down. Most people who are lured in by these programs do not have the credit to invest in the real estate market under current conditions. They also lack the financial resources to engage in high risk investments. In fact, many of the suggestions made by theses programs border on bank fraud. Overstating your assets or income on a loan application, including a brokerage account application, is a crime. With the real estate seminars, ask yourself, why are these seminars not filled with real estate professionals? The answer should be obvious. They know these programs are a fraud.

If you and your friends have some free time, I suggest you spend the time trying to stop these crooks. It won't make you rich, but you will feel like a million bucks putting these crooks out of business. If you reside in a state which requires only one party permission to secretly tape some one, I suggest you and your friends invest in a few small tape recorders and attend the next seminar in your town. Tape secretly the circus show. Halfway thru the program, I would confront the con man with a ton of detailed questions about the program he is pitching. If you do this alone, they will extract you from the seminar, but confronting them with 6-8 other people, who like you, all loudly demand detailed explanations and real evidence of success, will probably shut down the seminar for that day. If that does not work, remind them of the taping and that you will turn over the tapes to the AG in your state. I know for a fact (let's just leave it by that) that when such an ambush occurred during the last day of a seminar, the trouble makers did not only got their money back, in cash, not as a credit on their Amex and Visa cards, but also secured a little extra for leaving the seminar immediately and quietly. You know, that free gift they always advertise

Thereafter, form with your friends a small investment clubs and learn among each other in which industry to invest and how. Then ask an investment professional to meet with you as a group and discuss your investment ideas. Trust me, any stock broker or investment advisor, given the opportunity, to meet with ten people who all have about 5K to invest, will jump at the opportunity to advise you. Why 5K? The rip-off's artists would have gotten from each of you between 3K and 5K. The same with real estate. Set up a club, research the market and if possible try to buy and sell real estate without any banks or brokers. Our club consists of 4 vets. We first met each other at the VA. Weekly, after our treatment, we all used to go for some coffee. That is how our club was formed. Try to buy the real estate privately and again, if possible, sell it privately. My fellow vets and I accumulated 4 houses using this method. We paid the full asking price and therefore got the terms we desired. We purchased all houses over 60 months, just like if you were buying a luxury car. We however paid the mortgage weekly, with a 5K down payment and a 5K balloon payment at the end. Our club restored the homes. Some work we did, other work was done by contractors. We are now ready to decide if we should keep the houses, rent them out, or sell them again, privately, with us holding the paper. This is how you build wealth, not by spending your hard earned money on con artists. Hope I helped you a little bit.

Harold

BUFFALO, New York

U.S.A.

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