The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently settled lawsuits it had brought against Robert William Shafer and Samuel J. Smith who had operated a business opportunity scam called Blueprint To Wealth that targeted people seeking to start their own businesses.  The two scammers charged their victims fees of between $3,000 and $21,000 in addition to further administrative fees for membership in the scheme which promised its members turnkey online businesses that were represented to be operated on the members’ behalf, however, there was no business at all other than selling the same scam to other people.  According to the terms of the settlement, both defendants are banned from operating business opportunity projects in the future and are required to turn over cash and bank accounts.

TIPS

The sale of business opportunities is regulated by the FTC’s Business Opportunity Rule which requires the sellers of business opportunities to provide a one-page disclosure document outlining important facts about the offering including informing you about any legal actions in which the sellers have been involved. The disclosure also has to provide you with details as to any refund policy and provide a list of references. Additionally, as is always the case with these types of scams, if they make claims about how much money you can earn through their scheme, they must provide you with an Earnings Claim Statement that indicates in detail the specifics of those claims and the opportunity to see written proof of the claims.

Before considering any kind of business opportunity, you should have a lawyer review these required disclosures and if the person offering you the business opportunity does not provide these documents, you should consider that a red flag that this is a scam. You also should investigate the people behind the offering as well as the particular type of business opportunity.

You also can do a Google or other search engine search of any company from which you are considering making a purchase in which you type in the company’s name along with the words “scam” or “complaints” and see what you come up with.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and type in your email address on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”