Poetry Scam…Protect Yourself

People nowadays are very intelligent! Not only that, we become more creative in each passing day! We inspire others on how we spend our knowledge, our skills, our abilities. Even though these people may not reach theirselves to you, just to thank you for what you have done to them.

It is nice to hear that, right? Just to know that you have helped others through your skills, it makes you feel something like a hero or something!

But, what do others do…

I'm sure you all have heard of these, maybe in the internet, by the mail, or even on the newspaper that we read everyday…." Our dear Aspiring Poets! Send us a copy of your own POEMS, and you could win a large amount of money and even see your poem printed out and become a famous poet like your own favorite ones! NO FEES to be collected!" Even I do receive those mails! Catchy right?!? Imagine yourself becoming famous! Or even owning a large sum amount of money! What's even interesting is that you wouldn't have to pay just to enter the contest! Now, who wouldn't want that? Even I do, I mean you could not have those in just click of the hand!

But beware of the risks! I want to ask you, do you know what a "scam" is? Have you ever heard of it? Well, let me tell you something about it…The Poetry Scam.

Something about it from an experience (without the money matters)! It really bothers me to know that someone out there who sees himself as "someone", enters their pit.

How Do This Scam Works And Gain From You

These people will do everything to attract your attention to them and then let you into their trap. They will even post these on popular magazines! High rating newspapers, and even in the internet! Believe me, these people know how to strategically locate and design their businesses just to catch an un-allarmed person, especially those aspiring new talents.

Living in these new generation, in which I'd like to call it myself "The Technology Era". With all these technology living around us it is easier for them to set up a trap. All of us know the computer, how it works, etc. We even know how to use th internet, right? We can get informations in and out of it. We even know how to use e-mails. Now here comes the tricky part of it…

We receive daily e-mails, some of it are from the people we knew and are not. Maybe you don't even notice, that even you are receiving these kind of mails. Bunch and Bunch of it. Scam after Scam.

• How does it gain from you (without the money)

Now that you know how it works, let me tell you now how do they gain from you.

After hopping in their set trap, you enter at their bogus contest. Letting them know something about you, like your name, address or e-mail, your phone number, your age, etc. After signing up, you may notice that they redirect you to another site (maybe another scam of theirs), or let you send your precious works hoping that you would win their prize.

Then, after weeks or months you will receive updates on your entry. Sometimes they even tell you that "you have been selected as a semi-finalist". Now you feel something inside you…joy…pride..etc. They will use that feeling to urge you to send them another entries. They keep on sending you mails and mails like you're really winning something. Vice versa, you also keep on sending entries, until you find out that it is just a bogus, a fake.

Now you stop sending your works to them. You think that was over. You didn't hand them even a single cent from you, no harm done.

NO it's NOT!

They knew from the very beginning that you will find it out. So they make their e-mails attractive, posting up persons who won in their contest, their testimonials. what you don't know is that these were just one of their co-workers or just an edited picture of someone you don't know. They use your work as their own, publish it as their own.

• How do they gain from you (money matters)

Just like I mentioned earlier they gain something from you. Now, it's not just your precious works it now includes money.

Same scene, the letters telling you that you were picked as a semi finalist, etc. etc.

Now as you read those letters, scroll it down, you will read a part saying "We would like to publish your poem". Yeepee…! Your hearts leaps with joy! But read it further and you will see these…  

"To have a copy of this anthology, please send $49.95 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. For an additional $20 we can add your biography to your poem."