The Magic Bracelet

I have to hand it to the snake oil salesmen of this generation; it's pretty amazing that in today's society of people with access to Google and other Internet resources a con trick company can so easily exist and prosper.

Power Balance bands, and similar wristbands have been sold for several years now, and have become so popular that you see celebrities, sports people, and maybe even people you know wearing them.  However in 2011 they were forced into bankruptcy after a class action lawsuit was brought against them and any and all claims they had made to con people were proven to be false.  Moreover they were also found to have been lying and using deceptive practices to artificially add value to what at the of the day is a silicone band with a hologram sticker attached to it.

These days their website is a lot more conservative about their claims stating that, "The thin polyester film hologram is programmed through a proprietary process, which is designed to mimic Eastern philosophies that have been around for hundreds of years."  Okay then.

The way they convince people to buy their product is through a series of impressive looking tests taken right out of the books of the old time snake oil salesman.  The mark is asked to stand on one leg and hold out their arms to the side.  Then with one finger the grifter pushes down on the mark's elbow and they topple easily.  Then a Power Balance bracelet is placed in the victim's hand and the demonstration is repeated.  But this time the con man is able to push really hard with both hands on the elbow and the mark is able to remain balanced on one leg.  Amazing right?

The bit you don't see (and there's a video at the end of this article you can watch to see the demonstration), is that the first time the con man does the demo he is pushing down but slightly away from the person's body, which easily takes them off balance.  The second time he is pushing slightly towards the body, and thus towards the center of gravity.  To the spectators and the victim it looks like he is pushing a lot harder, but in reality he is helping the mark remain in position.

This weekend, I believe I got to see the same type of con, but this time they have doubled down on gullible.  What I saw this weekend at a conference was a company called Tuning Element selling metal bracelets for as much as $215.  These bracelets which one would normally expect to pay considerably less for as a fashion bracelet are special we are told; "Every Tuning Element bracelet is individually tuned to the Earth's natural frequency of 7.83 hz, and this unique tuning allows your body to tune itself to its own natural frequency of 7-9 hz by simply coming into contact with the skin.  For this reason, our bracelets are designed to be comfortable and durable enough to be worn continuously, and come with a lifetime imprinting guarantee, which means your bracelet will never lose its tune."

Wow.  Tuned to the Earth's frequency.  What a bunch of fucktarded bullshit.

This company has a whole range of designs, some as little as $55, but those are basically just a silicone strap with a small amount of metal tuned to the Earth's frequency.  Their collections range from 'casual' to 'executive.'  And coming soon, according to their web site, they are going to make some from precious metals; which I'm guessing will be a lot more expensive.

It's all just a bit depressing to be honest.  And it certainly isn't a 'dumb American' thing.  These con men have been busy selling this shit all over the world.  Australia prosecuted Power Balance big time for what they did.  Yet still these products exist, people are still buying them.  But worse, there are still people willing to get out of bed every morning and peddle this crap, knowing full well that they are taking advantage of people and lying to their faces.

I don't know how people can live with themselves doing that kind of work.  I guess some people will do anything for a pay check.  I think I'd rather work at McDonalds.  At least that's honest work.

Anyway, here's a nice YouTube video of how the con looks, and how it is performed:

Make Money From Google?

Meet Neil Anderson and his lovely girlfriend. He's a regular guy just like you. He grew up in a small town near you, and here he is on vacation in Italy. The only reason he's not like you or me is because he makes $50,000 a month, doing almost nothing. Wow, what a dream!

The only problem with this dream is, it's a lie, from beginning to end.

This picture from NeilsMoneyBlog.com is the same picture used in countless other blog-like web sites offering to allow you to make mega bucks from home (with little or no effort).

I was recently playing Mafia Wars on Facebook when I ran out of energy and noticed an ad on the right telling me I could make thousands of dollars from my blog. Highly skeptical, I thought it would be amusing to read up on some of these claims, so I put on my investigator's hat, and went exploring.

When I arrived at the page, the right hand column had a picture of a friendly face. The story began:

"My name is Neil Anderson. I am originally from the Kingsport, TN area. Recently married. I lost my job as a boring account rep for a manufacturing company a few months back. But here is my story on how I make $50,000+ a month by just submitting small text and ads online on Google. Read my story to learn how I did it and how you can do the same."

The moment I read this claim, I found it hard to believe. First off, Kingsport is a town not far from me and only has about 55,000 people living there. Of all the places in America to be from, a place just down the road seemed unlikely.

So I took a look at the source code and found this:

document.write
(google.loader.ClientLocation.address.city)

For those of you unfamiliar with JavaScript, this is part of a tiny script that inserts the city of the viewer right into the page.

Yep, that's right. Our friend from just down the road is not our friend, and just used JavaScript to pretend to be from just down the road. Imagine that.

The page then goes on to talk about the wonderful concept of getting free money from Google. We learn how our friend Neil made thousands, we see 'proof' of his riches, including his new car, and other trappings of the successful. Then we hear from his friends in a series of comments, posted blog style at the bottom of the page. Of course the comments have conveniently been disabled due to 'spam.' So I guess we don't get to hear from any real customers.

At the bottom of the page there is the usual disclaimer, that includes:

"*INCOME CLAIM WARNING: Testimonials do not result typical result. Photographs or images are depiction of individuals and payment methods. These income examples are representative of some of the most successful participants in the program. Some individuals purchasing the program may make little or NO MONEY AT ALL."

So what does our friend Neil want in order to teach us the secret of being rich like him? Just $2.95. Actually his money making course is completely free, we just have to pay for 'shipping and handling!' Yep, our high tech millionaire in the making cannot just email you information on how to sign up for Google Adsense, he needs to send it to you in the mail!

Now I call bullshit on this program for a wide variety of reasons, not least of which are the lies and outlandish claims made, and the fact that he feels the need to lie about his identity. I found several of these sites, all under different names, all with the same pictures and 'facts' on them. Surprisingly all the people lived less than 20 minutes from me! I tell you, I had no idea there were so many millionaires in this area!

The great scheme they are referring to is the use of Google Adsense, which displays customized ads on a web page or blog. However, they pay tiny amounts of money, which can add up if you have a lot of traffic. But to reach earnings of over $1,000 a day as illustrated on Neil's blog, you would need many thousands of hits a day, if not more, to even come close to those kind of earnings.

At the end of the day, it's just another get rich quick scheme, targetting the stupid. The only people making money are those who collect the checks for $2.95 and mail you a letter telling you to sign up with Google Adsense.

However, I'm such a nice guy, I'll tell you for free: Go to Google, type in Adsense, and sign up. They will show you how to put an ad on your page, like the one I have on this blog. If you are lucky, and have plenty of readers on your web site, you may get a check for $100 every few months. But you are not going to be buying a shiny new Range Rover with the money, nor will you be making $50K while on vacation in Italy.