Internet Business Opportunity Scams | TV Infomercial Pitches
Part Two: TV Infomercials Pitches
Are You A Statistic?
A report by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a joint enterprise of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, on 2006 Internet crimes finds that Americans lost a 
record high of $198.4 million to Internet fraud schemes last year, up eight percent from 2005 levels of $183 million and up 191 percent from 2004 levels of $68 million. Internet auction fraud accounted for the greatest volume with 44.9% of complaints. The median loss per complaint was $724. To see details click the image on the left to enlarge.
Law enforcement officials believe that actual losses are higher, as many victims don’t report the crimes. Of the Internet criminals who could be traced to their location, 61 percent resided in the United States, followed by 16 percent living in the United Kingdom and six percent in Nigeria. The statistics also show that victims of the Nigerian 419 scam had an average loss of $5,100 in 2006, an increase of $100 per incident compared with 2005 and an increase of $2,100 per incident compared with 2004. 86,279 fraud complaints in 2006 were referred to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies for investigation.
Why is the above information important to you as an Internet Business Opportunity owner?
Because the past fraudulent acts of others’ will affect your online business. If you already own an online business get involved with one of the dozens of sites that monitor ecommerce to keep the site owners honest.
Big $$$ Fast, Internet Millions, Make BIG Money, EBay Millionaires
The above slogans are from TV Infomercials. Those TV shows that have the TV station placing a disclaimer, “the following is a paid program” at the beginning and end of the show.
A show I’ve seen lately is Jeff Paul’s Shortcuts to Internet Millions; which to me makes outrageous claims. The show has mostly interviews with Internet business owners stating how they make money online; $10,000, $20,000, even $130,000 per month. The Infomercial pitch is that their methods will be revealed in the product. A set of CDs. The Jeff Paul’s “Shortcuts to Internet Millions” is just $49.95 + $14.50 Shipping and Handling. Wow! I’ll be checking my postal box every day, as it also says allow five or more days to receive the CD set. Maybe I should put John Paul in touch with Netflix as they can get a CD to me the next day!
To me, and my 20 years of online/Internet experience, the claims about making money online were so outrageous I 
had to investigate more. So first, I did a Google search for it, which returned 304,000 web pages containing the search term. I checked Google against Yahoo which showed 1,200, and MSN which showed 1,107,272. In the Google SERP (search engine results page), a sponsored result is a link to what is touted as: Jeff Paul’s Official Site Shortcuts to Internet Millions Start Making Money Now!
However, closer investigation indicates that the product is not owned by Permission Interactive, Inc., the site that claims to be the Official Site. The web site has a disclaimer stating, All products and services you have ordered are shipped and billed to you directly from each product or service provider. On the Terms and Conditions page of the site it again states that Permission Interactive, Inc. is not the owner of the Jeff Paul’s “Shortcuts to Internet Millions”, We allow access to or advertise for Merchants from which you may purchase certain goods or services. You understand that we do not operate or control the products or services offered by Merchants. Our sole involvement is to submit order forms completed by users of through our Site to Merchants for processing.
A bit more checking discloses that the Official Site company has had some complaints. I found this out by checking one of the resources I wrote about in Part One of this series on Internet Business Opportunity Scams.
Better Business Bureau of San Diego
The BBB processed a total of 21 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total of 21 complaints closed in 36 months, 6 were closed in the last year.
I then investigated another of the top links from the SERP. Arriving at the following web site… SeenOnTVExpress.com – which appears to be owned by Steven Langley, travis@seenontvexpress.com, 17108 Bedford 
Drive, Edmond, Oklahoma 73003, 405-562-7777. Click the image to the right to enlarge.
The web site is a collection of over 400 products that have been advertised through TV Infomercials. Checking the date of the domain registration it appears that Jim Langley, or a predecessor, has been online since 03-May-01. Further checking through the web site you will find that many of his pages, beyond his home page, have Google Page Ranks. If you look under the hood at the source code for his pages you will find that he has optimized quite well. If I would venture a cursory opinion the owner of this site is making a six figure income. The site has what are called micro sites. Meaning single pages focused on a single product.
Another web site I reviewed was jeffpaul.tv. The owner’s name appears to be Jim Fleck, support@instantprofitssupport.com, 630-736-1237, Fax: 956 S. Bartlett Rd. St. 264, Bartlett, IL 60103. I noted the domain name expires in less than 30 days if the annual fee is not paid. The web site does have a corporate name, Shortcuts to Millions, L.L.C. The site also plays the TV Infomercial, but does not have a stop play button. The video goes on and on and on.
I investigated three more links on the Google first SERP. In each case the web site for the Jeff Paul product is a micro site. Succinctly stated, this is your clue that you are investigating what is most likely a product seeking to separate you from your money. Thousands of micro sites promoting the purchase of an ebook, for anywhere from $39.95 to $59.95. Most likely when one of these sites makes a sale they get 50% to 70% of the price. I would suspect that the Jeff Paul program seeks to extract more than just the initial payment. Once they have hooked a new customer they certainly will have upselling.
The information below is from the other three web sites:
- instantprofitssupport.com – Instant Profits Marketing, Inc., Web Master (jaf23@comcast.net), 866-492-2987, Fax: 630-604-0090, 956 S. Bartlett Rd. St. 264, Bartlett, IL 60103
- shortcutstomillions.com – Family Products, LLC, MJ OConnell (moconnell@familyproductsllc.com), 818-464-1609 Fax: 818-464-1601, 7030 Hayvenhurst Ave, Van Nuys, CA 91406
- jeff-paul.com – is a “private” registration, meaning the Registrant information is hidden, but this much can be determined -Domain Name: JEFF-PAUL.COM, Created on: 03-Aug-05, Expires on: 03-Aug-09, Last Updated on: 27-Feb-07
The tenth link on the first page of the SERP was to The Ripoff Report. Which lists the company contact information as: Jeff paul shortcut to Internet millions – big league players club: 800-434-5426, 7030 Hayvenhurst Ave Van Nuys, California 91406. Given by a poster who 
purports to be a disgruntled customer of the Jeff Paul CD package. Using the handy Map Quest tool I discover the address is next to the Van Nuys Airport. Hmm. Makes sense if he travels a lot and has a private jet. Using InfoSpace my preferred reverse address lookup did not return a name for the address. My backup is the Netscape White Pages reverse address lookup. Still no name, but enough information to determine that the address is most likely a private residence.
The next time you’re watching an Infomercial about how to make money online with an Internet Business Opportunity apply what you’ve learned here to discover through your due diligence was it true, or was it a true lie. I would place Jeff Paul’s Shortcuts to Internet Millions to be nothing more than a detour, not a shortcut to your making money online.
In Part Three of this article series about Internet Business Opportunity Scams I’ll write about email scams. Including the CAN-SPAM Act which has driven this type of scam overseas. The most famous of these is the Nigerian 419 Scam, where customers have collectively lost more than $5B. Yes, $5,000,000,000.
Articles of This Series:
Part One: Internet Business Opportunity or Scam?
Part Two: Internet Business Opportunity Scams | TV Infomercial Pitches
Part Three: Internet Business Opportunity Scams | Email Pitches
Part Four: Home Based Internet Business | Plays, Puffs, Profits
Start Online Business:
Online Money Making Business
How To Start An eBay Business
Wrinkle Reviews Making Money Online
Sborg!
For information on more than 400 Internet Business Opportunities, contact Business Broker Don Janke. With over 20 years Online/Internet experience I can guide you to your ideal acquisition.
To obtain Business Profiles please complete your Confidentiality Agreement; if it is not already on file with the Internet Business Guide.
Have you identified the category of Internet Business acquisition that you desire, yet have not located it? Are you uncertain of the Internet Business that is your ideal candidate? Then consider an Acquisition Search. Learn more
Daniel: An Internet scam can happen to anybody. A couple years back I spoke with a buyer from Colorado. He called looking for another Internet business. The first business he bought without a Broker. It turned out that the Seller had more than “cooked the books”. The Seller had created totally bogus books. The Buyer lost $50,000.
The sources today to report and read about these scams is much better than it was before 2000. If you use the sites I recommend in this, and the other, articles in this series you will avoid 99% of the scammers.
September 4th, 2007 at 1:11 amNo, not just ANYBODY can get scammed. Only people who do not think are in danger.
If you take even a second to think about it, this pops out as an obvious scam. If the information he has is so “powerful”, then why doesn’t everyone know it? DUH.
If you have ever even considered anything like this (sold via an infomercial), then you are a sucker and you WILL be scammed eventually.
Read, learn, know. Knowledge is power, and knowledge is free. You just have to WANT it.
November 26th, 2007 at 7:50 amthank you for information
January 6th, 2008 at 11:47 amThe BBB keeps getting reports of this guy and his programs. Its all over RipoffReport, Scam.com and other independent blogs and websites..
But..
He’s selling it on tv. Lots of people who don’t do their research first are going to get caught. Its sad that we can talk about it on the internet and then next week the infomercial is on again.
January 12th, 2008 at 2:28 amThis is difinitly a scam. 6 months ago I ordered the package and found out nothing on how to “make millions”. I sent the package back 1 week after reviewing the nonsense CDs they provided and tried 3 of their free websites. It didn’t work. Furthermore I have been harrassed by this company once a month (each time a different person has called) on asking about the package I purchased. Supposedly even Jeff Paul himself has called, or so he claimed to be. Now I am thinking about contacting a lawyer for phone and email harrassment. This is a scam don’t fall prey to them like I did. If I can spread any type of negative response to warn others I will.
Thanks, for reading my email.
Helen Merz
February 16th, 2008 at 5:26 pmGettysburg PA
what is the key to starting an online distribution business.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:14 pmBryan: In simple form… You will want relationships with Chinese manufacturers to start an online distribution business. Although there is a trend for these manufacturers to set up their own distribution house in the US.
Where Chinese manufacturers are flattening the channel by setting up shop in the US, and other countries, to provide fulfillment. Chinese manufacturers that ship to the US to a wholesaler typically receive only 20% of the final retail price. Continue Reading This Article
A second alternative is to become a fulfillment house. There are thousands of people that want to start an online business without the hassle of inventory and shipping products. Rather than distribution, which is a crowded online business category, cater to new online business owners by starting a fulfillment house to make money online!
February 27th, 2008 at 7:13 pmthis is an email my husband just received on my computer. saw your website and thought you might would like to see this. it was from noreply@bigleagueplayersclub.com. I deleted the sign on code for fear of something being charged to us or getting is signed up without our permission.
Teleseminar millionaires Jim Fleck, Shawn Casey and I
are holding a private Teleseminar this Wednesday
at 2:00 pm CST! We will spill our guts about
how we?ve made a fortune with teleseminars…and how you can too!
On this teleseminar you’ll get all the details about how you can
use a “private label” version of our teleseminars…
selling our products, keeping 100noreply@bigleague% of the cash for yourself!
Here’s a slice of what you’ll hear:
How you can make a fortune for yourself with teleseminars…even
if you have no products or no customers! How you can get your
own “private label” version of our teleseminars, selling our
products…keeping all of the money you collect for yourself!
And Much, Much More!
This groundbreaking teleseminar will get filled up, and it’s only
happening once. You must ACT NOW and get registered at:
http://bigleagueplayersclub.com/teleseminar/tsm/
Yours in success,
Jeff Paul
March 4th, 2008 at 7:28 pmThe sites you found were probably the sites made/given to his customers. on certain sites, whenever someone visits that site, the registered owner makes money, it’s called traffic. For every person that visits these sites and every sale that these sites make, the owner is paid a commission. Which pretty much sums up what this Jeff Paul program is.
As far as people losing there money, they need to do more research before they buy. If you sign up for a merchant account…you have an agreement in writing for 36 months. If you break that agreement…you are in bad graces with almost all of the credit companies for probably the rest of your life. You are now screwed.
Some people may have been sucked in to Jeff Paul’s copywriting, but that is his job. He should be more explicit in his details about his money back offer. That is bad. But Jeff Paul is a very successful direct/internet marketer. He is not a ripoff artist. I have no connection at all with him.
If you want to be a self employed direct/internet marketer, you better be prepared for the long haul, have enough seed money for ads, copy, printing, mailing house, etc. Direct marketing is not a get rich quick scam by any means. You can create a very good to great income. But you have to be willing to be all that you can be, spend some money on materials, and the sort.
His program is not guaranteed to work for everybody and it DOES say “Results May Vary”. So next time you order something like this, before you start complaining that you didn’t receive exact results, keep in mind, results arn’t promised and be sure to slap yourself for not reading the fine print.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:43 amNot an add, just thought you’d like to see Jim Fleck’s latest seminar push.
April 19th, 2008 at 1:36 pmI watched jeff paul,s commercial. It seamed pertty good,SO Ibought it it came just yesterday ,I haven,t had much time to review it yet. BUT after seeing all this I,m starting to feel really SCRSWED ! Just like JOHN BECKS Realistate Millions,I Suckered up and bought it Too !What A Sucker ! My Wife took my (our) check book away from me I
July 9th, 2008 at 8:58 pmreally can,t blame her. SCREWED IN NEWLEXINGTON!
I like how so many people think they are getting screwed by buying these products. They are pretty much buying information that could be found online, given enough time/know how. I’ve bought into a few things myself and they have the possibility to work, with a LOT of time, money, and effort.
September 1st, 2008 at 8:53 amI jus bought that damn jeff Paul stuff , thought it’d be worth a try. But gah damn
January 14th, 2009 at 9:39 amI just saw the Jeff Paul infomercial for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It’s designed to get you all excited and hyped up about the prospect of making millions by doing very little work. “…A couple of hours a day – one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon, and the money just rolls in…” as one supposed customer put it on the infomercial. All paid actors. I’ll bet even the dissenters on all these blogs reporting this scam are paid employees of Jeff Paul’s. He probably has a department of people who just look for negative stuff on the internet so they can write a bunch of lies about how great the program is. The interenstion thing about the infomercial, it gets you all hyped up so you keep waiting for the “money shot” where they at least give you an idea of exactly what this program is and how it works. But the “reveal” never comes. They just very quickly throw up a few very small images of what some of the websites look like that you can’t even tell what they are because you CAN’T SEE THE PICTURE. This guy is a real jerk. Even the actors are jerks for doing this stupid infomercial. As a matter of fact, there is a very special place in hell for anyone involved in this very obvious scam. I just don’t know how some people sleep at night.
February 17th, 2009 at 12:33 pmThank you people for saving me.
February 22nd, 2009 at 10:17 amI’m at the end of my rope as far as finances are
concerned. I almost fell for MR. Jeff Paul’s
ripoff scam. Why can’t the authorities round him
up as well as all those people the are helping
him perpetrate this swindle?? It’s almost like
he’s got a licence to steal!!!
I’m surprised this activity is legal.
February 26th, 2009 at 2:59 amLegal? What’s legal about T.V. stations letting this crap air for profit. Thats called “aiding and abetting”.
When you see a program that guaranteed to make you money. Think! If its so guaranteed, why would you have to pay upfront? You should be able to pay the $40-$200 they ask for with the million$$$ you are so *guaranteed* to make.
I mean what’s the problem? they want you to trust them and send money? but they cant trust you to pay them the price of there package with millions you are **guaranteed** to make after?
and they are already millionaires?
hmmmm!!!!
***WAKE THE F*** UP SHEEPLE***
risk free ???? money back ???? guarantees??? LOL
GOD BLESS AMERICA !!!!!
March 6th, 2009 at 4:47 amWe bought the stuff in Sept of 2008 and have not made a dime. They tell you that you will have a coach and even tell you to call to hotline anytime. What they don’t tell you is that if you want a “personal” coach it will cost you $500.00 per half hour. We have tried and tried and tried but to now avail AND they want 100.oo per month for hosting and maintaining your website. I found out through a reliable source that you can create a website and hae it hosted and maintained for that amount aor more A YEAR. Can this A*****E be reported to the BBB?
May 4th, 2009 at 12:20 pmI, like any idiot out there, thought I would give jeff paul a try, much to my suprise I started searching blog comlaints about Mr. F*$K NUTS, or excuse me, I mean Sir Jeff Paul, there were a lot of complaints, so I searched the B.B.B. Report on Jeff Paul and found out he is connected with a company called “MUSTANG MARKETING”, in sunny Van Nuys California, the B.B.B. Rating was an absolute -F- go figure, I called and talked with my so called specialist not going to mention names, Mark Leger, WHOOPS did I say that out loud, oh well, to get to the long part of the short story, I asked for an R.M.A. # Which means RETURN MERCHANDISE AUTHORISATION NUMBER, which those of you who have the package will find on your paper work, no reply, go figure, one month later I got a call from once again not mentioning any names, Andrea Miller, WHOOPS did I say that out loud, wanted me to pay an additional thirty nine dollars so that jeffry paul could show me more extensive ways to make millions, I no the reason I got this last call was because they tried to pull more money out of my bank account but because I changed all of the information, they could’nt, so Ha! HA! Mr, F*$K NUTS, excuse me I mean Jeff Paul, I dont know why I can never remember his name, OH! Thats right I find it hard to keep low life scum like jeffy paul in mind, I would like to find a way to file a class action suit against jeffy, as well the “MUSTANG MARKETING” Company as well, I hope I was not to graffic, as I would not want to hurt poor jeffy’s feelings, very truly, one of jeffy’s customers, Robert. P.S. Show some BACK BONE against this low life scum…
May 15th, 2009 at 1:04 pmI forgot to mention that the paper work that Jeff “jeffy” Paul, or rather Mr. F*$K NUTS, has on his paper work is something called an R.M.A.#, this means for those of you who dont know it means [RETURN MERCHANDISE AUTHORISATION] Number, you will call them for an R.M.A.# and heres the suprise, no one will ever call you back with that number, do not mail your package back to Mr. F*$K NUTS, or his two hookers with store bought boobs, change your account information, or cancel your credit card so “jeffy” cant take any more money from you, I know its a lot of B.S. To have to go through, but I am sure that “jeffys” owm mother is glad that she changed her account information, please look up “jeffys” B.B.B. Report and see it for your self, I’m comming for you “jeffy” Oh “jeffy”. Robert. P.S. Look at blogs on line before you trust low life scum, punks, people who are dumb enough to wipe before they poop like, “jeffy” “jeffy” “jeffy” “jeffy” “jeffy”, that sounds so “GAY”, Robert.
May 15th, 2009 at 2:12 pmCalifornia residents, if you have been taken by jeff “jeffy” paul, you need to view each one of these complaints that you read as a petition against the low life bastard, you have an easier chance to go to your state attorney general but we have to stand in numbers, learn how politics work, they dont look at things like this unless you bring it to there attention, you have to view this low life scum as a resturant that you went to and it made you sick, remember he has been turned over to the B.B.B. The report was an -F- And has connected him to the mustang marketing company, the address is 7030 Havenhurst Avenue, Van Nuys, California 91406, there phone number is (1-800)-695-8149,thier fax is (949)-455-4135, you can get this information from the B.B.B. Report, I have read some of your compaints and you dont have enough back bone to make a fly walk out of your way, no less leap at your presance, if your going to take the time to complain, dont be a pussy about it, it has become apperent that some of you need a foot up your ass to put you into high gear, so lets go.
May 17th, 2009 at 10:43 pmYea thanks for the info i was about to buy it looking for surplus income, but now i know why i dont know why he is not rotting in jail.. is the question sad.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:27 pmI work for a company that takes phone calls for a variety of businesses. In other words, you dial the number on TV and it gets forwarded to me where I read the script. The products I hock are random, although if you saw it on TV I probably deal it. Today I was victimized with a Jeff Paul script. This is how it went:
1. Without saying anything, took the caller’s info. His credit card # including the three digits on the back.
2. Read a lengthy offer for this club thing where you get web sites, including the number to cancel. Tough to get through without a snicker. It was 39.95 a month after a 30 day trial and he says yes. He’s asking questions and I’m lip syncing to the air just hang up already.
3. Read an offer to send CD-ROMs for an extra 10$. Wait, what was he calling for again? Oh yeah, DVDs. He turns down the CD-ROMs. Still good.
4. Now comes an offer for a lifetime membership in Jeff Paul’s VIP Club. For $7.95 you will be notified of what Jeff Paul comes out with next. (Why would you even care if you could make money off what he has now?)
5. He asks what I’m going to sell next so I go to the info screen and look at the upsell list. audio newsletter and “how to make money in your kitchen in your underwear” (no idea what that was). What’s the audio newsletter? Well, I start reading the script for that and it’s 9.95 a month plus 2.95 shipping. Now, finally, he’s suspicious. Launches into a rant on how I’m trying to rip him off, it’s all BS, dragging him over hot coals, said 39.95 on TV, etc. Finally, thank the blessed Virgin Mary, he tells me to cancel the whole thing.
The stupid thing is, if the script had stopped in the trial membership in that club, Jeff Paul would’ve bottled another sap. By throwing more hilariously inane stuff in there, it converted a sucker into a skeptic.
The even stupider thing is, he thought I was working for Jeff Paul the whole time. If this actually worked, would I be taking calls for this schlock or would I be out boating in the Bermuda Triangle.
August 1st, 2009 at 3:52 amoh, it was “you’re trying to rake me over hot coals.” A phrase like that must be put accurately.
Also, lest any one get the wrong impression, it’s a script monkey job. Min. wage.
August 1st, 2009 at 4:58 pmWhat is very disheartening to me is that I have been unemployed for almost a year trying to get back on my feet and have applied to close to 200 jobs. Then you become concerned about where and how you are going to make the income you once had. I saw this info mercial and thought mmmm…sounds interesting, however I decided to google the Shortcut to Millions, LLC and found this website full of very eye opening info..this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are too many people in desperate situations that will pour into crap like this and think it’s their way to hit the “lottery”. BEWARE of Scammers…they prey on the desperation of people who have lost just about everything. I agree with most of all the messages I read on this site about this person. Word to parents educate ourselves so that we can educate our kids so they don’t fall prey to the shiny apple syndrome!
November 12th, 2009 at 4:28 amI got this program the more i read it it wanted me to do all the work.then all of a sudden jeff jones called to do a little interview to see if i was worth having a mentor askin family stuff and sayin they had few mentors then if he thinks he would pass me to another person i had a list to ask him then all of a sudden he hung up on me lols i sendin the package back probaly wont see any money back,but lesson learn what a punk who cares fi he has degrees.
November 16th, 2009 at 6:39 pmi wont to see pictures of the new hand bags
January 16th, 2010 at 5:25 pm