That's me! But not me.

When you look above, you see a picture of me.  What you probably might not notice is the sentence above the picture that reads,

“Hi there my name’s Michael Vincent and yes that’s a picture of me below.”

Confused yet?  Let me explain.   So that you understand, I have to tell the story in two parts for it to all tie in.

First Story

My best friend is a photographer and has taken several “business professional” pics of myself to be used for marketing purposes. You’ve seen much of his work on my blog.  I figure he’s saved me thousands for all the work he has done.  The trade off for him not charging me is that he is able to submit my pictures on stock photography sites such as I Stock Photo. If you are not familiar, these are sites where photographers can submit pictures that anyone can purchase from across the globe to use for their business marketing purposes.  Most anytime that you have seen ad with people in it, most likely the picture was purchased through a stock photography website.  Fast forward to modern day.

Second Story

Several days ago an unemployed friend of mine was looking for a job on the Internet.  He simply typed the word “Job” into Google and in the right hand column a Google Ad appeared that read “2009 Top 10 Work At Home”.  Curious, he clicked on the ad and came to a site www.best10workathome.org. (I have taken out the link because I did not want to have any affiliation with the site.  Just copy and paste into your browser if you are curious). This is where it gets good.

On this site, Robert Corum claims to have reviewed several work from home programs and these are the ones that have made him money. (Uh-huh. Sure…..Robert)  The number one that he recommends is UCS (Underground Cash Secrets) having the big “#1 Best Pick by Robert himself”.  So it has to be legit, right?

Update: I just revisited this page and they changed the #1 Best pick now.

When you click on the site, it takes you to www.undergroundcashsecret.com. Once there you instantly here a voice that says, “Hi there.  My name’s Michael Vincent and yes that’s a picture of me.”  Wait, I’m confused. That’s not Michael Vincent, because that’s a picture of me!  That’s not Michael Vincent who is making $150,000k per year working one hour from home on his computer (that’s his claim, by the way).  That’s Jeff Rose, a Certified Financial Planner out of Southern Illinois.

Underground Cash Secrets is a Scam

Obviously, the whole thing is a scam.  “For only $49.95 you can unlock the secrets to making millions.”  Ha!  The best part is when you try and leave the site, they reduce the price to $17.00 for a “family and friends” benefit.  What a deal!

I was going to contact them directly to talk to Michael Vincent and ask him about his military background (Hence the American flag on the his bookshelf-which I received for serving in Iraq).  I didn’t because I did not want them to change the picture yet.

Seriously, Enough is Enough

To top it off, my wife got an e-mail just by coincidence shortly thereafter.  I couldn’t believe it.   Here’s the email she received:

Hey

Michael Vincent here, and yes I wanted to let you in on a very special money earning secret of mine.

First of all, I used to work a very bad paying job and I could hardly pay my bills. I was feeling really sad and down.

It was at this point where I was looking for any way possible to earn money. Luckily, a guy named Jason came to my call.

Jason was already rich with a huge mansion and tennis court. I asked him if what he did to earn money was legal.

Jason excitingly answered yes, and if I can earn money then you can too. Jason didn’t feel bad for me, he doesn’t like handouts.

Jason taught me how to not only how to earn money but how to have life more relaxing by working smarter instead of harder.

I asked Jason to help me create a website that would help others in the same type of situation earn money.

Below I would like you to check it out.

For more information follow this link (I have removed permalink)

Your Friend In Success,

Michael Vincent.

I mean seriously?  I was appalled.  I went searching on the net trying to find others that had encountered this scam and I found some good info at Work at Home Blog. They shared some experiences where others got scammed from the Underground Cash Secret program.  And the best thing I learned is that they have the program plastered over many different sites.  Here’s the list of them all:

• The Underground Cash Secret | Theundergroundcashsecret.org
• The Work From Home Program | Theworkfromhomeprogram.com
• U Cash Program | www.Ucashprogram.com
• U Cash Programs | www.Ucashprograms.com
• U Cash System | www.Ucashsystem.com
• U Cash Systems | www.Ucashsystems.com
• UCS System | www.Ucssystem.com
• UCSSystem | www.Ucssystem.net
• UCS Work At Home | www.Ucsworkathome.com
• UCS Work From Home | www.Ucsworkfromhome.com
• Underground Cash Info | www.Undergroundcash.info
• Underground Cash | www.Undergroundcash.net
• Underground Cash Organization | www.Undergroundcash.org
• Underground Cash Secret | www.Undergroundcashsecret.com
• Underground cash secrets info | www.Undergroundcashsecrets.info
• Underground Cash System | www.Undergroundcashsystem.net
• Underground-Cash-System | www.Undergroundcashsystem.org
• Underground Cash Systems | www.Undergroundcashsystems.com
• Underground Cash Systems Info | www.Undergroundcashsystems.info
• Underground Cash Systems Network | www.Undergroundcashsystems.net
• Underground Cash Systems Organization | www.Undergroundcashsystems.org

Initially, I thought the whole thing was kind of funny.  But now I’m ticked because the website is using my face to rip people off.   What would you do?

Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC