A couple weeks ago we got a call from this lady saying she was a assistant producer to the Economic Report TV show. She went on to talk about how the show is syndicated on CNN, /MSNBC, FOX News, and other major cable news outlets. She asked if I would be interested in being a contributor on these programs. Specifically she said they were looking for someone to come on when they had topics about making money on the internet.
I said sure… Actually I was pretty excited about it. She said her producer would call me back. While on the phone with her a few things stuck out in my mind. She had a accent that was like part french part Nigerian and it was pretty clear she was a on VOIP system in a call center because I could hear tons of other people in the background pitching the same thing. Fishy…
A couple days later this “producer” for the Economic Report contacts me and he sounds pretty legit. He asks me my thoughts on various topics and I get all excited cause I am trying to blow his doors off with answers showing him how much I know. Then he gets to the payment part and says its $20,000.00 per episode. Now there have been several times I have been paid to speak in public but DAMN 20 large everytime I go on this show as a contributor? Thats hot!
Well in a very uncomfortable turn of events he says that I will be the one paying 20k per episode! WTF?????. I am helping you out Jack!
Anyway I talked to a friend who works for the local cable company and he dove into it a bit. Come to find out it looks like they are just buying commercial time. (I have never seen the show and have looked for it) I guess its a localized market thing.
What a scam this is though. Be careful of this Economic Report. They are going after online marketers.
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Yeah, these guys are a total scam. And, they’ve been around for years under a bunch of different names.
I’ve been in PR for more than 12 years, and I average a couple of calls per year from these clowns.
And, I’ve noticed, that they all seem to be based in South Florida.
I wish I had Googled “The Economic Report” BEFORE I got all excited about being on this slick TV show to talk about the importance of advanced biofuels to the future of transportation. The price was only $19,000 for our nonprofit. I, too, thought I was being asked for my expertise. I had even lined up potential photo shoots at companies working on advanced biofuels development. I realized too late that this is infomercial country. I think they call this a teaching moment. I can see that $20,000 for a slick newsesque promotional piece is probably a decent value for some. Advanced Biofuels USA doesn’t have that kind of advertising budget, however. And, yes, I felt a bit foolish falling for the flattery and knowledgeable interest. It is kind of nice to know that the image we project implies a substantial budget. There some value in that vote of confidence.
That is crazy, I agree with the comment “WTF?????. I am helping you out Jack!” If someone came up to me with the same scenarior I would look at them funny and ask “what did you say?” then laugh in their face and be like why should I pay you, you are the one asking me to talk for you. Then I would hang up or walk off.
Thanks
Mr. School Fundraiseing Ideas
Wow, this happened to me just last week. I’m a PR person here in the US representing a UK-based software company. I was so excited about the prospect of such broad media coverage and Greg Gumbel and mentions of CNN, MSNBC, and Discovery all made it sound quite legit. I was quite embarrassed the following week when the president of the company I work for told me about the price tag, mentioned by the so-called associate producer after a lengthy phone interview. I felt like an idiot. Amazing how desperate media outlets have gotten for revenue! And, apparently Greg Gumbel has gotten pretty hard up himself.
Here is a sample of the Greg Gumble Show “The Economic Report”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKv135MJIvs
Sadly, people like this make bank because there are people that fall for these things everyday.
As much as I hate getting nailed my scam artists like this, I have to admit sometimes I’m impressed by their abilities. Are people born with the gift or do they have to develop it? When a moron tries to scam me, I am usually disgusted. But when somebody with talent *almost* gets me, I generally look back in wonder.
Agree: Its time to get into TV production
It is amazing how people just keep coming up with new scams.
I died when I saw this! I got a call awhile back from these people under the ruse they wanted to interview us for a Health I.T. article. They actually had their game on – something sounded scammy to me as well when I got it… I can’t remember what it was now, it was probably 6 months ago… I never called them back. I probably did a search and saw that it was a scam…. we periodically get these “interview” calls from companies or “stations” that seemingly fall out of the sky. It sounds great, “oh yea, stroke my ego… boost my PR!”… SCAM!!
Also beware of a company called Goldline Research. they do the same thing but with magazine specifically Inc. magazine.
It brings a whole new twist to 419 Nigerian scam.
I wish there was a central website or something that was common knowledge so that people don’t get ripped off by nigerian scammers – ugh – I saw this post on a website forum once of how the guy played with the nigerian scammer, and got him to send ridiculous picutres holding watermelons and balancing things on his head as “security verifications” before he would send the scammer any money
IT WAS HILARIOUS I will see if I can dig up a link
I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I read this! I bet the technique works though! If just 1 person a month says yes, that’s a nice payday.
That is how spam works. They send to millions each day and even if 1% buy something they make a ton of money.
reminds me of this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181984/
what will those scammers think of next?
I really “like” the invoices that you get in the mail, telling you to re-register your domain name, for like $80 a year!
you just exposted my secret company! just kidding lol but nothing makes me laugh more than people who do that, only in america!
Very interesting… $20k is a lot of money… Since I don’t get anywhere near 20k visitors per day, I’m not expecting that call…:-)
LOL what a moron scam … I don’t get how these scammers find new suckers … how many people actually fall for this stuff all the way to the point of a money exchange
This same company called me about 7 years ago with the EXACT same pitch. I had a financial services site. They only asked me for $10,000 though for their commercial. I wonder if it means things are better or worse for them now that they are charging $20,000. Also, I used to be a rabid CNBC, CNN, etc watcher and I have never seen these infomercials.
They wanted to cheat.. haha
I first read of this about 5 years ago. It is a very common scam. Surprised you had not heard of it before. They are basically salesmen using shady tactics to sell their product.
Wow.. $20,000.00 per episode..
Will that be before or after the episode?
Thanks for alerting us to this. The old adage is true: nothing in life (at least when it comes to money) is free. What a scam!
thanks for nice posting….big money bos!
Scumbags and scammers are working hard around the clock to rob people of their hard earned dollars. It amazes me all the time what people will do their souls for some filthy money.
I had this “show” contact me as well. I was very excited as they setup a phone interview with the “producer” He did sound legit and asked questions related to the topic. We chatted for about 15 minutes then told me about the $20,000 cost…..what a scam, sucks because I was really excited as well.
lol, nice catch there…
20k is too much..
Beware of scammers!!!
wow $ 20 k …
$20,000 per episode, they are shooting Lost or something
Yeah, I had the same thing done before at my previous work, they were selling airplane TV shows, they are all pretty much good as scammers who’s gonna take your money and run.
Tthank you for your article
Spending power of people has gone down in this last 6 months
My company publishes content for women. I get calls like this about every 8 weeks. Mostly from a firm in Los Angeles. It is interesting, it is typically the same firm, just a new rep. Always the same line, we produce a TV show called “XYZ” and we want to feature your site. The person claims they are a scout for the producer and our company was recommended. This time of year, we often get calls from real firms that want to take a story, recipe or something like a Christmas Craft Project from a site we own like http://www.FaveCrafts.com; so we always take the calls, return the e-mails, etc. Most are legit. But, the TV show always cracks me up. When you ask for more details, they don’t back off, but as you detected, it is a paid informercial.
That is ridiculous. That would p me off something serious. Thanks for the heads up. 20 thousand ha
20 K is a lot!
Same company called me not too long ago. Like Scott mentioned, they pitched the host being Greg Gumbel to add authenticity. Same deal, someone called to schedule an appointment, then assistant producer spoke to ‘qualify us’. Very smooth, he asked questions about us, the industry and let me talk for a while, making you think it was a mock interview. Then came the explanation of how the process works and their fee to cover production costs. For us, it was $19,700. So I must not have been as “valuable” to to them as you Shoe, but I’m working on it. And oh yeah, fee was due before any production would be started.
With further research, it appears they had Greg Gumbel record some generic intros and closing segments then simply stuff your production between those two canned pieces. The videos of the companies they’ve posted on their site seem fairly professional, but it’s obvious it’s not a news segment, but rather a 5 minute long infomercial. I’ve yet to see “The Economic Report” on TV anywhere nor have I ever heard of it. The media distribution aspect of the pitch is likely the most bogus part. So you’re basically paying $20K for them to make a 5 minute video for your marketing department.
I agree Tim. It was very smooth. It wasn’t like they just flat out asked you for the $20K, it was systematic AND fairly well thought out. Also, you are actually paying for something that could be considered valuable. It is not an all out scam…it just isn’t a very good deal.
I don’t consider myself a sucker but I was at least considering it for a few minutes calculating the ROI on running a 5 minute piece on FOX, MSNBC, etc. The thing that really baffles me though is why Greg Gumbel would want to associate himself with this. Could they possibly be paying him that much money?
I wonder how many people actually pay the $20k? to do the show?
Now that I think of it, producing a commercial probably costs around that much anyways… Disclaimer: I am in no way defending this type of baiting…
How wonder how shoe held his composure (if he did). I would have told them to fuck off.
So, let me get this straight…not only do you have to contribute your expertise, but you also have to pay for it. That’s nonsense.
It’s definitely a bit backwards isnt it?? It would be interesting to hear from someone that HAD done it – see what their experience was etc, as these places exist only because they work at the end of the day – by work i mean people “sign up”
Jesus, what people are doing these days. Why in the hell would you pay $20,000? It’d be the other way around haha…Your helping them out by providing useful content for their show. That is ridiculous.
Thank you for being honest about how they had you in the beginning. Any time I have been scammed it begins with appealing to something I want and then I fall for it. That’s the worse part, we rarely get scammed with something we don’t want or something we don’t want to do. Thankfully, the $20K was enough of flag to “break the spell.”
This is a good start. I think earnings will soon grow to several times.
Hmm, what a scam, but on the other hand I’m not surprised at all.
/A
Thanks for the Heads up what Jerks they are
Hey…nobody is calling and trying to get advice from me….guess i’d better step it up and become a expert in wedding photography expert in 2009
Thanx for the information.
Oh great warning at a great time but I doubt they will go after me because I don’t make 20k per month online.
One of the “benefits” of not being a top level blogger I guess right?? lol
that is correct scammers never go after the fry cook at mc donalds
“DAMN 20 large everytime I go on this show as a contributor? Thats hot!” Laughed out loud in the coffee shop over that comment.
What a scam, more proof some people just don’t get it.
Matt
this was a big deal in real estate a few years back. People from “newspapers” which were really just local rag papers, would call you asking for an interview or your opinion on the market, then they would tell you later they would publish the article for $xxx.
There was also a company from chicago that would call you to sell you advertising on “chicago subways”. It didn’t matter if you bought it or not they said they ran your ad and would send you a bill. Not living in chicago you would not know if it ran or not. Plus selling high end real estate 1,000 miles away, your target market probably isnt riding the subway
beware
Sounds like the fluffers from the movie Boiler Room. Call, get you all psyched then send in a closer a short while later
I wonder if anyone has sent money? You know the type of impulse person (just like the one in boiler room that lost everything) is still out there.
Nice scam though….wtf..
scammers!
thanks for the scoop.
there was an article in Inc or Entrepreneur magazine recently about this. The wrier made a blog post like yours shoe and ended up getting sued by the clowns. I wonder if it’s the same company
Sounds like the fluffers from the movie Boiler Room. Call, get you all psyched then send in a closer a short while later.
I remember a bit over a decade ago of this same scam, but geared as a weekly Middle Eastern niche newspaper.
The owner was actually an attorney with supposed experience as a judge. The content writers were actually family members writing in English, with really dorky information that looked stupid to people with it as their primary language.
They operated a boiler room with recording equipment and used outbound callers to pitch, with the line “I’m recording for my accountant…” at the start of EACH call. They’d call ANY business they could in the yellow pages, and say how the paper has sent them businesses, and drop local names of affluent people of the community who were Arabic.
People would actually say “yes” or give some form of confirmation, the person would get off, report it to the boss, and an ad would run the next issue. The target would be sent a bill, with failure to pay landing it in small claims court along a pile of others filed simultaneously.
Those were for $30-$100 ads. I can only imagine someone using these same tactics and operation involving the money you’re talking about here. Freakin’ scary. Good post, dude. ^5
Jeez thats brutal – so without even any written consent!?? thats unbelievable!! I never trust telemarketers for anything – every time they can, I just pretend like I don’t speak english
Anyone ever see that family guy episode where they visit supermans hideout at the north pole and his mexican maid answers??? LOL too funny
telemarketers get prejudged so much. That is a career path I never wanted to go down. Nobody trusts them. Its like a timeshare salesman
Jremey Shoemacker,
Pleese pay $20,000 to come spek at my bloging evnt. It wil be a good busines oportunitie for you. I accept cash.
-The bloger reportt
hahaha I accept Paypal =) or wait wait I accept Western Union Evil Laugh Muhahahhahaa
Brutal!! Gotta wonder where they come up with this baloney!!!
Their site hosts couple pages and few feed links :confused:
Interesting! I dont understand why scammers don’t use more believable figures!
Lol they become scammers for that reason..
You said right ..lol
if it were say $50? would it be believable?
You’d think the whole scam would be more successful if they charged less… Either way though, I think online marketers would have an issue with coughing up dough to speak. It really should be the other way around…
We had the some company call us after making the Inc. 5000. One thing that you didn’t mention is that Greg Gumbel “hosts” the show, adding a level of legitimacy that makes it seem even more real. They are pretty good, getting you pretty jacked up and bringing up the $20K in a way that makes you feel almost ok about it.
I agree with Adamxcl…don’t be too quick to dismiss calls like this as we have also received legit opportunities but just do your due diligence. Also, be sure to Google the number that they give you, this is how we ultimately decided that it was a scam.
Gotta love google!! Spotting scams – another reason why google is going to the top!!
I was approached on something like this a couple years ago. It’s been around a while. I want to add that it is best to feel out these approaches a little before hanging up just to make sure of what it is. I began to think something was a scam once by the way the guy was talking and the noise in the background but then it turned into a legit Chicago Tribune article.
Yeah, these pitches are prevalent in other industries in both radio and tv. Many regional shows can’t sell enough commercial time so they let manufacturers or service providers provide content that makes them look good for a fee. I’ve had some pretty hard pitches thrown at me by US based production houses (I think 12K was the highest cost). It’s just a reminder that much of what you watch and read is about companies is developed by PR firms.
We have a local TV station that shows that kind of “programming” all day. In the evening primetime they show some ’80’s syndicated shows, but all day and evening it is Forex, real estate, and yes make money online. Cable companies don’t even carry them.
being in TV sounds good now
Not if they have to ask people to pay to be on TV. Where’s all the advertisers?!
Wow, that’s definitely a new twist to the scam…. “congrats, probably not be on TV and pay us $20k!”
The idea is certainly laughable thats for sure – almost as funny as the humor section on my blog, but not quite hehehe
I agree Taris! Not even close!
Thanks JR!!! Can’t wait to put up some more next week
I Might have just inadvertently found a nice niche for my blog lol
It’s like Brock Felt (google him) “interviewing” me for a job to make millions of dollars, but I have to pay $30K “tuition” to be worthy enough to “train” with him.
Yeah, this has been around.
I got a call from a company in Florida who does it for products. They buy a large time block and put together a ‘magazine’ type show that highlights a bunch of products. I remember finding a few companies that hosted the video spot on their site… well produced, and I think for the unsuspecting it would increase confidence.
Interesting – to be honest I never knew this kind of thing existed
and they tried good
but not professional enough
Its time to get into TV production
They seem to be legit, the fact that they’re trying to get experts to pay for being on the show is quite sucky, what kind of viewership numbers are these guys projecting though? It might not be Jeremy’s cup of tea, but some people might well find benefit from this kind of deal.
Yeah, but those types of TV programs only charge a couple thousand dollars, not $20K!
In fact I can get on late night cable for as low as $500 through AdWords.
Nice post…
Hmmm. . . . Economy is bad because people won’t start spending money YOU ACTUALLY HAVE
Yeah its a cycle.. All about demand and supply!
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