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Infomercial scams

  2. haredx
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I am sitting at my laptop in a hotel in Portland right now on vacation. My television set is tuned in to CNBC, a broadcasting station that, at least until now, I thought was a legitimate broadcasting station. I am watching an infomercial called "John Beck's Free and Clear Real Estate System," which claims that for a small fee, Beck will send you a collection of CDs from his "personal vault" of the most up-to-date property foreclosures available.

Typing his name in on Google quickly revealed that this deal, like many other infomercials was too good to be true. Complaints ranging from people accusing him of having multiple spelling errors in his literature, to empty promises of being able to meet Mr. Beck in person if they are willing to shell over thousands of more dollars to take part in his "private classes."

The thing that irks me the most about this infomercial is that repeatedly throughout the program "actual customers" pop up on the screen saying "I know this seems to good to be true, but this is national television, HOW COULD WE LIE ON NATIONAL TELEVISION!?" What has our country come to that these scams can be aired on major national television channels? 1,000s of reports have been filed with the Better Business Bureau against this guy, yet his program is still aired freely. I am a libertarian and I am all for 1st amendment rights, but blatant lying and taking poor innocent consumers is just plain wrong and frankly I am deeply disappointed.
haredx

2 responses // Infomercial scams

  • http://current.com/items/89036689_think_you_love_shopping_it_s_the_marketing_scam_of_the_century

    blame the society that soaks it up.

    you guys have the right idea, but as a nation we cannot play role of the victim when the choice is ours to watch.

    after all "they wouldn't put it on TV if people wouldn't watch it".

    Maybe rethinking our views of education and intelligence and independent thought would change this?
    thisismattholt
  • Do you honestly think society is to blame for this? Of course the fact that overall our society is not very intelligent doesn't help much. The real problem here is that growing up, we are led to believe that the 3 major institutions we can trust are the media, the government and our education. When someone sees an infomercial on CNBC who can blame them for believing that what they are saying is true? This is a network we are supposed to be able to trust, but in the end, just like everything else, the greed for money leads to corruption. CNBC could care less if they are broadcasting blatant lies and scams, they are getting paid for it and they are protected from prosecution. People need to wake up and realize that you can't completely trust anyone or any institution in this world. Think for yourself, be skeptical of things that sound to good to be true, and do your research, because in the end, the only person you can trust is yourself.
    haredx

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