It's time for me to come clean. I did not move to [location]. I lied. But for a good reason, to prove a point that is! People lie all the time online, and they can do it in ways that are very clever to gain your trust. Take this page for example:
Notice the about section. This guy says he's in East Greenwich, RI. Wow! I know where that is, he lives pretty close to me so I can trust him right?
No! You see that's a simple javascript and he's trying to gain my trust. He probably realizes that I don't live in East Greenwich RI, but he doesn't care right? All he cares is that the location is close enough to me that I'll recognize the name. And I did!
I almost fell for it too, I was about to email the guy and say hey neighbor, spam isn't the way to go! But then I came to my senses and thought, hmm.. If he is mass spamming my blog, he's probably not from that location. I viewed the source, and sure enough he faked it with a javascript.
So if he lied about where he lives, what about his name? Could that be a lie too? If that's a lie, then that check from Google would be a lie too because it's to Mike Smithson. But if he faked that, could he have faked the dollar amount on that check? You bet - it's super easy to do..
The moral of the story is to use common sense, and if you don't have it, ask someone who does. I know we all want to trust others, we want to believe that it's our neighbor and we're helping him provide for his wife and daughter. But it's all made up, to get you to join and pay him money.
So if you keep falling for scams, or joining programs that seem to mysteriously fail all the time, maybe it's time to ask someone else you know & trust to screen the programs before you join. It can sound silly, but some people are really good at spotting lies, and others aren't.
Oh, by the way.. That wasn't my house either.. It was a $500,000 house I found a listing for online. You can find photos of ANYTHING online. Someone posts photos of their family? Oh wait, you can goto Flickr and find countless photos of families. Take your pick!
If they do post photos, tell them it's great and you're happy for them. But don't think for one second that boosts their credability. It should have no bearing on your decision whether they live close to you, or have a family, or look friendly. Look at their track record, look at what they are selling you, look at what matters!
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PS. I feel bad making that stuff up, especially on how many offers I had to go over people’s houses for dinner, or help with the area, etc. BUT it just proves that a simple script like that can in fact gain trust.
HI Tim!
LOL No wonder I could not get your phone number from Directory Assistance! It is just a block away from me, here in Charlottetown, PEI For the ones that do not know, it is off the Eastern Coast of Canada, PEI that is.
silveroses
Hi Tim,
…bujt I thought you were trust worthy :) A good lesson for all of us. Things are not always as they appear. I fell for it hook, line and sinker.:)
Cheers!
Tony
Tony Tezaks lastest blog post..Four Traffic Exchanges Team Up for a HUGE Contest – Incredible Prizes!
As a relative “newbie” I really appreciate the lesson.
But you know, at least I’m in the Northeast, no really, it’s not a lie, yeah that’s the ticket, I live in New Bostadelphia, yeah…..
hahaha. Bartow still is a great place to live though. Just ask me. lol
just went back to look at the older comments and found that was very clever. And you are right about the scammers out there.
Well..I have to admit the one thing that kept going thru my mind yesterday was that Morehead KY is where my ISP is located. And you did make an awfully quick move for such a distance!
But, I really did think it was a nice coincidence that you chose KY to move to, though!
Thanks for the lesson, Tim.
(And, you’d be welcome here anytime, just the same.)
Cat Melton
You are the rock star of bloggers. I loved this blog! I am the most gullible person in the world even though I pretend I’m all worldly and street smart. There’s not an MLM I haven’t signed up for, or an ebook I can’t live without, but I’m getting better! Thanks.
I have seen these pages as well. They might tell how they started out and what they went through before they made it. The funny thing is that I searched some of the text of these stories and found that many people had the same story word for word. So now any time I see something interesting I am searching for full sentences on Google to see if these people are legit.
Dean
Dean Kagans lastest blog post..Setting Up A Traffic Exchange System
I don’t know to many people who work from home who would purposely move to Kansas, Tim. Besides, would you really want to live in tornado alley?
Oh I am so glad that its not PA, but then now how do I ever believe you again? Sometimes things do backfire. :) :) :)
Wow ! That’s amazing…
I trust in you and I was fooled !
I think one of the best question one have to make when see a huge cash making product is : “If this product make so much money, why it sells that to me ?”.
And you have discovered one of the best secrets to become a good internet marketer :)
Thanks again Tim !
Greetings, by Alessandro
Alessandro Zambonis lastest blog post..The Best Website Directory Submission ever !
I wonder if the line of us wiping the cake from our faces and admitting how gullible we are will be as long as the line of us talking about coming over? ;)
And to add to your point a bit, in the ‘feel good’ state, we usually even miss more obvious signs: the email you sent about your initial blog entry included the script text, not its location replacement. I didn’t do a double take on that till after leaving my comment. Guess I need to work on my ‘scam’ sniffer a little more like everyone else here.
WOW! I didn’t even notice that! Pretty funny =P
Thank you for this blog. It really points out people can be fooled. Me especially.
Tim,
This morning I came against you for lying on your blog about your new house. I didn’t even notice that you said it was located in Lanham, MD. I just trusted that you had put up pics of your new house. And I was happy for you because I like you. I find you to have integrity in how you do things.
Well I know you were trying to teach us an important lesson about trusting things we see on the net. But I think you compromised your own integrity in the process. And to me that is unacceptable. You could have used the very illustration you used in this blog post to make the same point. So even though I appreciate the message, I fear you have compromised your own integrity in the process. I mean do I need to question everything you say now to see weather you are teaching me a lesson or not?
But on the positive side I have learned another important lesson…don’t ever let my guard down and trust anybody on the net…not even Tim Linden
Michael
I understand your view. I think that people falling for the script or the big house brings it to home more. Like the show “It takes a thief”. Most people think they won’t fall for it until they do, but usually it’s too late.
Wow, this is a very good lesson. I completely (as others did) fell for that. Definitely need to do research before joining anything online. Doing a view source as you highlighted is a great trick.
Thank you!
Your house was not a typical Florida home style… and there were no palm trees…still a nice house. Have to admit I tried to think I tried to think what area close to Cape Coral would have a house with that style. If I didn’t think of you as a trustworthy person I would have certainly been more suspicious.
Ditto all of the above! I’m redfaced. I spent time I didn’t have trying to find that house on local multilist – no such number nearby! You see, the style fits with homes built here 15-20 years ago, but most new homes (thankfully!) are not using the Victorian style. I couldn’t think of a new addition with Victorian homes.
Will we ever trust you again?
But you are absolutely correct, as far as the lesson you are teaching is concerned!
while I don’t join anything IF it costs me upfront money. I double check out everything before I join. It is a valuable lesson but could probably been taught in a different fashion. Actually it should always be buyer beware even when you are doing business face to face. Do your homework or don’t complain when you buy a pig in a poke. also always get some kind of money back guarentee
I guess from reading others comments you now have a problem of another kind for some people. As for me since it didn’t cost me monetarily it doesn’t bother me. I think on the whole you offer very valuable information 99% of the time and no one is perfect, so I hope you will continue to show us what you learn.
Well, I had to go back and look at those pics again. Guess it’s really not Victorian anyway, but closer to that than current styles. Can’t believe so many of us were so gullible, but, Tim, it comes from the trust you’d previously built up among your members. Most of us would have been more suspicious of a “cold” post or site.
Yeah I think that may have come into play. But I did get emails from people saying they just started subscribing, etc.
LOL…well I knew you didn’t move near me, but I didn’t read the posts after mine….very clever!
Although you DID get me on the house pic… :)
and here i was ready to bring you a welcome to the neighborhood gift. gooddddthing you didn’t move here to council bluffs it’s been nothing but rain. you would have gotten mud tracked all over in new house lol. but thanks for using my town for an example.
Gee, and to think I actually got a bit upset with you yesterday for this. I should have known better. Keep Rockin’ Tim. Your my Hero!
Phil ( yeah, I’m annoying ) Ames
Great point Tim. Did you know that Firefox has a flag add-on so you see country of website and the geolocate? Just enter the IP of the site and it show you on a map where it is?
Yeah, just remember that most websites are in datacenters, and those datacenters usually rent out servers so just about anyone can get a server. I use SoftLayer and they let me pick from Seatle, Dallas, and Washington DC.
Tim (If that is your name and picture):
What you did trying to prove a pint was in itself, deceitful. I would show you the picture of the cardboard box I live in but I had to hock my camera to live.
Don
I saw the picture of a nice house and because I live in the UK it never occurred to me something fishy was going on. But Tim had a lot of people jumping up and down. He created excitement and some people believed all the ‘Dare I say.’ Hype.
Ha ha “Nice one Tim” is all I say. So we all have to be more careful with internet marketing opportunities, well that’s new. I never did know that….
Well done Tim
As we say in London (Include fake cockney accent) “You did me a wrong un good’n proper like.”
Wow.. that was indeed a really good lesson. I do agree with everyone above, you being a trustworthy person, we would believe everything you say. But I guess, that teaches us to be more careful, even with someone whom we trust. =)
Thanks!
Hi Tim,
You got me as well on this, I live near the place you mention and it is a very small town and believe me when someone new moves here we usually know about it and furthermore none of the houses that have been sold in the last year looks like the one you showed us.
A good lesson for anyone, good to double check everything online , I go to Scam.com and check every program I am interested in and even with that you are not always completely sure.
Wow, you definitely did teach us a lesson. Although most of us would have been caught off-guard, since we trusted you. But all in all, it just teaches us to be more careful even with people who know and trust, including friends.
=)
Thanks,
Thank you Tim!
It was going through my mind that it might be Java and others were seeing that you had moved near them. I know nothing about programing, just a little HTML. I see sites like that and everybody can’t live near me.
Trust is built by integrity.
You cloned yourself everywhere… :)
Judith
Hey Tim
Thanks for the post and the point you made, I delete e mails all the time because just in the subject alone can sound good but you know instantly that it is a scam or lie, So therefore it makes it more difficult on us honest advertisers that aren’t exaggerating to get people to open our ads or even believe us.
Well, you proved a very good point. It seems you can’t trust anyone on the internet, even Tim Linden. This was a VERY bold thing to do, but it proved the point. Good job on this one.
Maybe you could do a post & explain how to check up on sites to see if they’re good or not. Many people are just starting out & do not know how to find out if the site they want to join is legit.
By the way, I caught thing about where you moved to. Nobody in their right mind would want to move to Douglas, Ga. LOL.
Hi Tim,
Just want to say. personally I am not at all impressed.
Les
Les Stevenss lastest blog post..Push Button Extreme
Hello TIM
I saw yesterday that you moved to Kranj,and l thought that is joke on me.
Anyway if you want to come to Kranj,just tell me and l’ll find the house for you.
have a great day
andreas—KRANJ
andreass lastest blog post..Home changed
When at first we practice to deceive, what a wicked web we weave.
Good lesson Tim
You didn’t fool me for a minute. I live in western Kansas and there is no way you would move to Colby Ks. I figured it out right away….LOL
Great lesson if you are in large city not small town.
Amazes me,
the “negative” comments.
Good job Tim.
If anyone really followed, you they would know you would have announce a move over time.
I have always appreciated your Candor and sincerity in helping others SEE the TRUTH . “It is out There”
One needs to invest a bit of Time and Energy and stop chasing Rainbows, just create your own
Chuck Bartoks lastest blog post..Just created a quick audio
Well I really did move, just not to that spacious a house or next to every reader =P
Yep – still laughing that was a great one – I did figure out about the location when my friend looked at it and said you moved by her also – BUT never occured to me about the house.
Great job and GREAT LESSON – thanks
Nancy Radlingers lastest blog post..Complaints! (my pet peeve)
That was a great lie!
I mean great trick! Bravo.
Hey, Tim. Thanks for this post. It’s an important lesson for all of us. Unfortunately, most people do learn the hard way.
BTW, I subscribe to your photography blog, and I suddenly can’t see the photos. I get the email about new posts. However, the thumbnail images are not in the email anymore, and I can’t see any photos when I click the link in the email. All I see is the name of the photo and that’s all. I thought I should let you know.
Michelle Schneiders lastest blog post..Are You Cloaking Your Links?
Thanks! I have no idea what’s up with it.. I’ll go find out ;-)
That retard managed to post an English comment to my Norwegian wordpress blog lol. I guess he spam commented you too. And you moving to Bergen, 07 isn’t very convincing :p Ah the joys of living outside the USA, can’t convince me with an English flog :)
Ragnars lastest blog post..Doing nothing – the new alternative to market research!
Huntington Beach??? You mean Surf City USA where the weather is always wonderful?
You are too funny!
You are mean. :( I fell for the house thing, but not the other because of the Facebook post which gave it away. :)
Justins lastest blog post..The Edge of a Fog
Hi Tim,
I have too admit I fell for it, for about
5 seconds. I saw the script in the email and of course the house’s here in Anaheim all have fences and walls around them.
I still would like to come over for a beer!
Ted
Hi Tim,
I am in Kuala Lumpur. You got me there, but I was wondering where the 14 come from. LOL…
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!
Thing is, document.write(geoip_city());, document.write(geoip_region()); is really a nice place to live :P
Fool me three times…
-Jerokiah
Yeah, old Smithson gets around, but I knew something was up. You can’t live in New Jersey for the amount he stated he made. Strange this is only my blogs that I advertised on exchanges got his comment, others were unscathed.
Too bad you didn’t move to Halden, because I live in Halden :-)
That’s the town Halden in Norway, rather far from where you actually live.
I’ve actually never thought about this type of marketing even though I know that it exists. I’ve seen the use of the scripts, but to me it’s all about credibility.
-jens-
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