Emerald Who's Who Scam
Emerald Who's Who Scam.. Buyer Beware of this internet scam!! Read This VERY CAREFULLY, enjoy! The other day I received an email with an invitation to accept an appointment as a “biographical candidate” in the Emerald Who's Who registry of “accomplished individuals”. I checked out their website and found that it did contain a few biographies of professionals in the same industry as i am in.
So I made the effort of accepting. I thought that it must be some kind of honor. Then I received no reply and figured that I must not be that accomplished after all.
Then one day I was at my desk writing when I received a phone call from a fairly professional-sounding man. The conversation that followed went something like this:
Man: “Hello Mr..... Let me be the first to congratulate you on your acceptance into the Emerald Who's Who Registry. We want you to know that we have selected you on the merits of your work and accomplishments. After our team of researchers has reviewed your accomplishments, we find it a great honor to include you in our directory.
“First let me personally congratulate you on your fine work. After your acceptance into the Emerald Who's Who Registry, you will be part of a network of professionals and distinguished individuals who stand out in their respective fields.
“As part of your membership, you will be eligible to be published in our online registry as well as physically published directories. Your biography will be available for other professionals around the world to view. This is an excellent networking tool.”
I was now feeling very warm and fuzzy inside. Wow… they think I'm a really outstanding person!
The man then interviewed me. He asked me to explain how I became so accomplished in my field, how I became so successful, etc., etc. I took a deep breath of pride and spewed out all the things that make me so cool (and left out all the things like my success has not made me rich at all).
He asked, “Will you be using your membership for networking or credibility?”
I explained that I would probably be using it for both. “Being I high school drop-out, I have always had to struggle with public opinion on my credibility…”
I spent thirty or forty minutes talking to him, feeling very proud, when he said, “We offer two levels of membership.”
Suddenly, the whole interview changed perspective for me and I kind of zoned out while he explained the differences between their lifetime membership and lesser membership. I heard something about “eight ninety-nine” which was almost ninety times more than a ten-dollar filing fee.
He said something about plane tickets and networking opportunities and a really cool certificate of membership and media kits to share with media about my accomplishment.
I shyly interrupted, “I am not so sure about this. I was under the assumption that I was being honored with a recognition instead of being sold something.” I wondered how a certificate I paid for was going to add credibility to my name.
He said, “You are honored with being grouped with executives and professionals from around the world.”
He then started telling me more about the membership benefits.
I said, “I don't think I really want to do this. I will have to think about it.”
He seemed taken aback. “This isn't an offer that we can negotiate. We have thousands of professionals to deal with. We can't take the time to negotiate with potential membership. It's a one-time deal.”
He then said, “Will you be paying with Visa or MasterCard?”
I said, “Well, I don't think I am interested right now.”
He said, “Let me tell you what… I have the authority to place you on a list here and reserve your plane tickets.” He told me that this was too good of an opportunity to pass, and that he would lessen my membership from the lifetime membership (the one I must have agreed to spending close to a thousand dollars by saying I'm not sure if I want to join) to the short-term membership.
I tried to back away further, but he pressed harder. “Is it the cost? We don't want you to miss this opportunity because of the cost. I tell you what—I can give you the rate of a charity organization! This means that you get all the standard benefits, but pay the rate of a charity organization.”<
“No,” I said. “I don't think that I am going to join right now. I will look into it some more before I make a decision.”
He said, “If you have already looked at our website, then there is really nothing else to learn.” He sounded like Adolp Hitler's who hadn't had sleep or sex in a month.
“I'm sorry. I'm just not interested right now.”
now I had been contemplating being a little more obvious in my decision by hanging up, but she beat me to the punch.
PLEASE BEWARE OF THIS SCAM!!!