"Listen, we want you to be a success story. if we can turn you into a success story, and you appear on our infomercials, we'll sell more programs. It's in our best interest to make you rich. If we could turn you into one, would you be interested in being our next major success story?"

That's one popular sales pitch by a well known real estate investment company that promises to teach others to make millions in real estate.

The customer buys a book, course, or program from a company to learn about a specific strategy. A few weeks later, the company calls Mr. Customer to see how everything is going. After speaking for a few minutes, the sales pitch begins: "Mr Customer, it sounds like you have the potential to be a huge success. How would you like it if we mentored you and helped you become a millionaire?"

What a wonderful way to rip off the American public.

How do I know?

Because it happened to me.

When I was young and naive, I was taken for a ride by one of these companies, and I was ripped off for $3,500. At the time, that was my life savings.

They seemed so sincere. They sounded so genuine. After all, I wasn't yet twenty years old; if they made me into a success story, it would be a great selling point for their business. This company was going to pour their lives and resources into me, weren't they? They promised me that I had been hand selected to be mentored by them, and they only worked with about twenty people each year. This was everything that I had been waiting for!

Years later, I'm waiting to hear from the company. I got what I paid for... but I paid for nothing.

So, what does $3,500 buy from one of these mentoring programs? Usually, it buys less than ten half hour phone conversations with an "expert" who reads off of a script. Truth is, however, that these "experts" are nothing more than hired high school dropouts who don't know a thing about what they are talking about.

The mentoring programs get you one other way, as well; they keep your credit card number. When your "mentoring" sessions are over, they enroll customers in monthly phone support, hot lines, "ask an expert" lines, or whatever they can charge money for. They allow time to build, and then charge your credit card for services that were never used. Ouch.

The shame is that none of it is illegal. There's nothing illegal about their sales pitches; however, they are scams.

There are better things to do with your $3,500 than to give it to an unethical business guru.

If I had only done some due diligence on the company, I would have known better. Unfortunately, they played on my weaknesses, made big promises, and I trusted them. Don't be like me, folks; hang up the phone.