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Very good points. One of the first things you should do is search the company name on Google and look for reviews or complaints. After that, ask about it in your favorite discussion forum and get some feedback.
If it seems to good to be true, it probably is!
Also see: How to Find Legitimate Online Business Information
That's why it's best to focus on building your own business and not looking for "opportunities" to join someone elses.
There is a business model that will suit you - it may be blogging, ebay, whatever.
Alex
This is the main reason I like forums like this. Getting familiar with a forum by introducing yourself, reading the posts of some (if not all) of the moderators, owner and contributing members - helps to know that these people are committed to helping us understand what they've either studied or experienced themselves.
The internet is full of scams yes HOWEVER, it's also filled with great opportunities. Doing your due diligence (homework) is the key to making an informed decision before jumping into seemingly 'great' opportunities ;)
Also, test clicking on any security seals on a sales page to make sure they go to the listing for the site or company that owns the site. Security seals should always be clickable.
Also using the phrase "As seen on" claiming to be seen on major news sites or internet sites has been a favorite of scam sites. I did an interview for the New York post recently where we were discussing that.
Also, there are new tools out that make it easy to check if the photos of people giving testimonials are actually from stock photo sites like Tineye.com.
I used that tool to provide a stock photo to the FTC that they needed for one of the recent injunctions they file in the Operation Shortchange scam crackdown. I haven't figured out a decent way to get as good of results with Google similar image search.
There are other reverse image/similar image search engines like GozoPa.com and Cydral.com, but I haven't had much luck with them.
Now all of that being said, I've actually run across very good products that have these types of red flags - I think because they hire copywriters and don't really know what the copywriters are doing.
Another good place to go to spot scams is the ripoffreport.com