Why I thought CTWT or Changing the World Together was a SCAM!

Have you heard about www.changingtheworld2gether.com? They use something call attraction marketing and help you succeed in any MLM business. What they really do is this: They promise you that if you join their website, they will build a downline for you i.e. you won't have to go looking for people. The reason they are able to do it is because they all work together as a team and whenever a new member joins, regardless of who brings the new members, it is placed based on their pre-defined structure.
I used to think that MLM sucks in general and so is this program, because you purchase the product for $125 minimum per month and you only get about $5 from each person in your downline. They said that I would be able to make over $1000 per month as soon they decided to "officially launch". It all sounded like a scam when I was first introduced to the idea by somebody who sent me a junk email.
But then I thought, what if it really works out. It's much better to have someone work for you than do it all by yourself. And if you want to be rich fast, then MLM is the best way to do it, next to stock or currency trading. At least the risk is less

.They already have about 300 members. So I decided to join. Let's see where it's going to take me, but there are some quite talented team members that are working as volunteers to bring traffic to the website. They also have a "donation fund" to which people can donate and the money can go towards paying for a new person's expenses of joining the MLM they promote (which is Xango - the juice making company) or for advertising.
Neat idea - but is it really going to work? The best thing about it is that if Xango goes down, then the team can literally drop Xango and choose another company that does MLM (Multi Level Marketing) within 24 hours because they are using Xango as a vehicle. So the success of the actual MLM business doesn't even matter. The success is based on the team efforts. I wish I could come up with this kind of idea first than the guy who started all this - Rick Meywes or something like that - who is now sitting at the top of it all. More updates to follow later.

A Review of Forexautopilot.com

Let me show you something very interesting. There is a website - forexautopilot.com that sells a customized software that automatically trades forex and apparently makes  you tons of money automatically.

Many of you are going to say right away: "That's not possible", however there are many who still fall for the gimmick and buy this software. This software in fact is one of the top selling products in clickbank and this company probably has made hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Now here is the interesting part:

Go to this website: www.forexautopilot.com

Within a few seconds, you will see the face of a man at the bottom right, who will start a speech: "Hi, I'm Marcus and I make a great living letting my robots make money for me while I sleep..."

 

Now, go to this website:

https://www.livefaceonweb.com/order.aspx and then click on "Male models" and you will find a photo of a guy by the name of "Doug" in their list.

What do you think? Yes, it is the same person who was paid by the owner of forexautopilot.com to act as Marcus.

Do I need to tell you more?

Interac in Canada - A direct attack on Paypal

This is a little off-subject, however I decided to post this topic here because it is quite interesting.

Interac has started a service in Canada whereby you can now send a payment to anyone by just sending an email to the recipient. This is easier than using paypal for making payments and also more convenient. The payment is considered as a cash payment and that means once made it can't be reversed. Here are some details:

Interac Email Money Transfers are a simple, convenient, and secure way to send and receive money directly from one bank account to another. All you need is access to online banking through a participating financial institution, and you can send money to anyone with an email address and a bank account in Canada — without sharing any personal or financial information. It's a great alternative to cheques and cash.

How your Interac Email Money Transfer is protected

With Interac Email Money Transfers, your money never actually travels by email. Email is only used to notify the recipient and to provide them with instructions on how to deposit money. Your financial institution and your recipient’s financial institution transfer funds using established and secure banking procedures.

Interac Email Money Transfers rely on several security measures

• Encryption technology
• Confidential user IDs and passwords issued by financial institutions
• A secure login process
• A security question and answer to ensure only the intended recipient receives the money
• 128-bit browser encryption

Always be careful when sending money

An Interac Email Money Transfer transaction cannot be reversed, since it’s just like sending cash. If the recipient of the funds has already deposited the transfer, you must obtain a refund directly from the recipient.

The benefits of Interac Email Money Transfer

• Send and receive money directly from and to your existing bank account
• The money can be accessed immediately after the transfer is accepted
• There's no need to share personal or financial information, allowing you to keep your address, phone number and account information private
• The security question protects your transfer from being deposited by unintended recipients
• No need to set up new accounts, user ID or passwords — you're already in online banking
• Email carries the notification, so no need to get stamps or to find a mailbox

Tracking your transfer

As a sender - Interac Email Money Transfer confirmation numbers are saved in your online banking history. In addition, you will receive an email notification once the intended recipient has accepted the transfer.

As a recipient - You will receive an email notification when the transfer is sent, indicating the amount as well as instructions for depositing it.

Visit our Interac Email Money Transfer Frequently Asked Questions

Sending Money to India

This is the most important subject for people of Indian origin or otherwise living outside India. So you have relatives in India that you want to send the money to or when you visit India, you want to have access to funds in Indian currency i.e. INR. I am going to share the secrets of sending money to India with you.

1. INDIAN CURRENCY EXCHANGE COMPANIES: If you live in North America, the easiest way to send money to your relatives in India is by approaching a Currency Exchange company in Canada/U.S.A. You can find their contact information on the South Asian Yellow pages like eastwestdirectory.com. These companies are usually owned by Indians and they can either send the money in cash or by a bank draft. Usually people send the money by cash. This is usually how the process works:

You deposit money in the company's bank account and within 2 business days the money equivalent to INR is delivered to an address in India personally in cash. This process is not really legal and is also called 'hawala'. However, it is probably the most convenient. For people who are not familiar with this process may feel a little skeptic since there is no paperwork involved, however there are companies that have been doing it for years and have good reputation in the Indian communities. Usually they won't accept any transaction less than 100,000 INR and there are no transaction fees. The exchange rate that is quoted by them the day you deposit the money is the one that is applied even if the money in India is delivered a couple of days after. So you don't get affected by the currency price fluctuation and their exchange rates are better than bank's or companies like Western Union.

2. WESTERN UNION: There are companies like Western Union and Moneygram that provide a similar service however you won't good exchange rates and they also charge you a fee for their services.

3. Xoom: Xoom is a new service that handles currency transactions in many different countries including India. It is a better option in that:

- Money is transferred legally.

- Better rates

- Easy process

- Low exchange rates - sometimes free. You can even use your credit card to make a payment.

4. www.remit2india.com : This is also a good option to transfer money to india. The only disadvantage with this company is that if you request a transfer today, they will take 2 to 3 business days to transfer the money and the exchange rate will be applied on the day the money is transferred. So you are taking a chance because in 2 or 3 days, the rates may go down.

5. Traveller's cheque and cash: These are the easiest options. Just bring traveller's cheque or cash and then go to bank like HDFC or ICICI and exchange the money. With traveller's cheque you will get better rate.

6. Wire Transfer: If you have a bank account in India, you can also wire transfer the money from your local bank. If you decide to do that, there is one important point to remember:

Do not transfer the money in INR. Don't ask your bank to convert the money in INR and then wire it. Instead ask them to wire it in your currency i.e. CAD or USD etc. The advantage is that when your money goes to an Indian bank in a foreign currency, they will automatically convert it to INR but will provide a better exchange rate than your local bank. I will write another post about which bank is better in India for exchanging the currencies.

7. ICICI Bank: If you have an ICICI bank in North America, you can transfer money directly from your bank account to any bank in India.

Well, not really, but most of the banks. The exchange rates are not that good but it is an easy process.

- If you have a savings account with them, just call their 24 hour call center and ask them to transfer money to a bank in India. They charge usually $10 each transaction. A better option is to have a savings and chequings account both. Ask them to transfer money to your chequing account from savings account (or do that thru internet banking). This way you won't have to pay $10 because there is no charge to transfer money from a chequing account, although you need to maintain a minimum of $100 balance in your chequing account. Also, the chequing account has to be opened by visiting an ICICI branch and you may or may not have it in your area.

- If you were to transfer money to an ICICI bank in India, then you can do it thru the internet banking and the money is transferred instantly, however it takes a day first to register an Indian bank account with their services. There is no charge for the transfer.

- ICICI bank transfers money only in INR through their Indian banks. That creates a problem for people who have NRE accounts because NRE accounts do not accept a deposit in INR. I will discuss it more in another post.

So these are all your options. Which one is the best one? Depends on your preference. If there isn't much currency fluctuation, then I would go with remit2india.com or Xoom because I already have a bank account in India. If you don't have one, then you will need to consider other options. Carrying the cash is the easiest, but make sure to exchange it at a bank instead of at the airport or Thomas Cook because banks usually offer better rates.