Avoid Scams
The best way to avoid being scammed by a business opportunity is to create your own business. If a business opportunity is the way you want to go then here are some resources for checking out the company before you invest your money.
The BBB is a private organization comprised of member companies. The BBB keeps records of complaints filed by consumers about businesses consisting of the nature of the complaint and if the complaint has been resolved. Some business reports are online and there are links to these from this site. There is a directory of BBB around the country with contact information for those communities which do not have their database online.
The FTC maintains a website full of good information about scams, both online and offline. Here you will find the companies that are currently under investigation by the FTC as well as reports from past investigations.
The Postal Inspectors is one of the oldest investigative agencies of the United States Government, established in 1772 by Benjamin Franklin. The USPS website has online reports about many different types of mail fraud. If you receive a solicitation in the mail be sure to check out this site.
This link lists the mailing address for the Attorney General in each of the 50 states and their website, if available. If a complaint has been made to the Attorney General about a company they will have it on file. Some offices have published useful information for the consumer and have put these documents on their websites.
Security and Exchange Commission
At this site you can search EDGAR, the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system.. This database contains documents filed by public domestic companies.
This site will allow you to search for Chambers of Commerce but will only list those that have a web address. For other Chambers use the online phone books to search for the Chamber in a specific city. The chamber maintains information on the businesses in their local area and may be able to help you with your search. (Yahoo’s Yellow Pages)
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