Secret Investigation reveals the truth behind The Rich Pom – Is it a scam?

A three week long private investigation by 12 members of the public have today revealed the truth behind The Rich Pom Website which is vital information for anyone with concerns about its legitimacy and to whether this “Rich Pom” is a scam or not.

TheRichPom.com has been promising to help make Australians extra cash working from home using advanced strategies to do with online affiliate marketing. His website was only launched in October 2006 and within a couple of months had already been featured on prime-time national Australian television and his website was being discussed by major celebrities on Sydney’s number one hit music station, 2DAYFM.

Indeed, The Rich Pom website continues to go from strength to strength and is now in the top seven websites listed across the whole of Australia with ClixGalore, the number one affiliate marketing company in Australia. Undeniable success.

All this sounds very encouraging, but there were still concerns from growing members of the public that The Rich Pom’s methods for earning money online were less than ethical. Some even question the legality of the set up. This promoted a team of 12 online business professionals to investigate The Rich Pom Website to find out if it was really possible to earn extra cash listening to his ideas, and also to finally put the question to rest – Is The Rich Pom a Scam or not?

The findings of this undercover investigation were interesting to say the least and the report makes some thoughtful recommendations to anyone interested in starting their own online business.

    The number one question that had to be answered was the following:


    “Are the methods used by this ‘rich pom’ to earn money online legal?”

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To answer that, it was imperative to find out what The Rich Pom does. It’s called ‘affiliate marketing’, and put in it’s simplest terms, it is a way of sending visitors on the Internet to other websites and earning referral fees and commission for the activity of those people when they arrive at the destination websites.

For example, when you apply for a credit card online, you will click on certain offers, wording or banners. These details are all tracked, usually by an independent third party, and a commission will be paid by the likes of American Express to the company or website that sent them that lead. It’s not ingenious, but a very powerful and effective method of online marketing.

Do not think for one moment that The Rich Pom invented these ideas. Affiliate marketing has been used for many years by major International companies to grow their online businesses. He should not be credited in the slightest with the actual invention of affiliate marketing.

What TheRichPom.com offers and his ways to earn money online in Australia is completely legal and above board – make no mistake about it. Major financial institutions like ANZ Bank, ING Direct, Westpac all use this method of online marketing in Australia. Travel agencies and airlines (including Qantas, JetStar, Virgin and British Airways to name but three) all utilise ‘affiliate marketing’ and will pay a commission for flights and holidays booked via a third party.

Companies spend millions of dollars a year and put aside budgets for this type of online marketing – The Rich Pom simply helps you earn ‘a slice of the marketing pie’, so to speak.

So, an answer to the first question addressed by the team of investigators - “Are the methods used by this ‘rich pom’ to earn money online legal?” the answer is “Yes, absolutely 100% legal both in Australia and in hundreds of other countries around the world”.

The team moved onto the security for The Rich Pom website and the second question that needed to be addressed was

"How safe or secure is it to purchase from The Rich Pom website?"

Purchasing anything online with a credit (or now VISA debit) card carries some kind of risk, but with the levels of encryption and security used by companies these days, it is far safer to conduct a transaction at a safe website than, for example, hand your credit card to a waiter in a restaurant or give card details over the telephone.  

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TheRichPom.com uses a company called PayPal to process the credit card transactions – the same company that manage ebay’s worldwide, not to mention Dell Computers and Virgin Mobile. There are strong rumours linking The Rich Pom website with a switch to a more recognised Australian merchant such as eGate by ANZ Bank, but at the time of publishing this report, PayPal was the facility chosen by TheRichPom.com.

PayPal offers a very high standard of encryption for all card transactions. They also offer protection for buyers in the case of goods not received or unauthorised transactions, so PayPal is essentially, a good choice by The Rich Pom and buyers should rest assured of its integrity and safety.

In addition to the security offered by PayPal, The Rich Pom is also now awarded with the Scan Alert logo to help prevent online fraud. This is an international logo that is only displayed on websites that passes daily security tests, so this is an obvious bonus if anyone is concerned about buying the product online. The Scan Alert recognition can be verified here: https://www.scanalert.com/RatingVerify?ref=www.therichpom.com

The next question that needed addressing was the claims or fears about The Rich Pom being a scam, and the obvious question asked by the investigation team is

“Is The Rich Pom a Scam?”

To answer this question in a thorough way, it is important to firstly define the term “scam”.

“A fraudulent business scheme” or “a deception deliberately practised in order to secure an unfair or unlawful gain” are two of the most popular, respected definitions of the terms “scam”.

The team decided to address both definitions in order to provide the best possible answer.

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Does The Rich Pom operate a “fraudulent business scheme”? Well, the answer is undeniably ‘No’. There is no way that the rich pom website could possibly be deemed as a scam in this sense of the term because his business scheme is perfectly legal. Many people get confused and assume that it could be a ‘pyramid’ scheme or some kind of MLM scam – it clearly isn’t: both of these are illegal in many countries and The Rich Pom website is nothing like this whatsoever. Do not get confused between affiliate marketing and pyramid or MLM scams – they are vastly different.

As mentioned earlier in the report, his methods of online marketing (‘affiliate marketing’) are practiced by thousands of companies across not just Australia, but the world as a whole, on a daily basis. The problem it seems arises when people assume that it has to be a scam, because they don’t understand the concept, or have simply not heard of it before – that is understandable. However, TheRichPom.com is no more fraudulent that American Express paying a commission to a third party website for sending a lead for a credit card application – or for that matter, Qantas paying a travel agent a commission for booking a flight on their behalf. It’s common business practice.

Ok, so The Rich Pom does not operate a fraudulent business scheme – that is clear
to see. But, does the website fall into the second definition - “a deception deliberately practiced in order to secure an unfair or unlawful gain”?

Well, it is easy to question the tactics used by “The Rich Pom” to encourage sales. It may be slightly unethical to say the least – his website, like his advertisements on the radio, are very much aggressive and do indeed annoy some people. He implores you to leave his website if you believe it to be a scam – he actually asks you to leave. Some say that this cocky, arrogant, obnoxious tone is clever marketing, some say that has the opposite effect, but whatever anyone’s thoughts, the actual website is not a deception deliberately practised in order to secure an unfair or unlawful gain. If you are unhappy with his methods of sales or marketing, then we recommend that you forget the website.

In addition to The Rich Pom ‘Scam’ theory, there is also the question of legitimacy of his video with proof of earnings. In this world today, it is fairly easy to muddle together a video and ‘doctor’ hard copies of earnings, but The Rich Pom has actually done his video in a clever way – as a live example so to speak, including the Yahoo website to verify the actual date. It’s underlining The Rich Pom’s clever strategies. Is the video real? Are the earnings real? It is impossible for us to comment, however, it looks about as genuine as anything could possibly be.

In summary, The Rich Pom website may have questionable tactics. His ethics may be wrong and the way he goes about his marketing, whilst some experts say it’s ingenious, it does ruffle the feathers of a few. But, that is the choice this “Rich Pom” makes.

Does The Rich Pom operate a legal way to make money online? Absolutely. His methods are used across the world by many major International companies.

Is The Rich Pom a Scam? Not at all. We’ve tested the website, his marketing methods and read his ebook thoroughly and it is all above board. The only question is regarding his marketing and advertising methods, but that is his choice. The actual website, the ebook and the ways to earn money online listening to The Rich Pom is perfectly legal and not a scam in the slightest.

Note: The opinions in this report should not alter or change your views or opinions of The Rich Pom Website. This information should not encourage or dissuade you in relation to any potential purchase you are thinking of making.

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