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Business scams that failed miserably

cnn.com — As many aspiring scam artists quickly learn, when a business scam fails, it tends to fail in rather grand fashion. Just ask any of these four teams of not-so-smooth operators.

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  • dsa202, on 06/13/2008, -22/+0Notice how they're all white. Always keeping us down. Really they're should be some law put in place.
    • serif69, on 06/13/2008, -2/+1Yeah, we're get right on that.
    • mjamesa, on 06/13/2008, -3/+2Darker races are great at scams, just not the business part.
    • brstilson, on 06/13/2008, -0/+6I guess you've never heard of a little place called Nigeria.
    • dsa202, on 06/13/2008, -1/+0Look at this already. The white man is singling me out.
  • Twan2649, on 06/13/2008, -1/+31I'm waiting for 'Business scams that succeeded greatly'.
    • benologist, on 06/13/2008, -1/+4Organized crime?
    • Darqfallen, on 06/13/2008, -15/+16Its called Microsoft
    • marksism, on 06/13/2008, -9/+5George Bush, President
      • mjamesa, on 06/13/2008, -2/+3George Bush is a business??
      • HentaiJeff, on 06/13/2008, -1/+4He said succeeded, not failed.
        • zip000, on 06/13/2008, -1/+7Well, it depends on how you define success. Success in the economy, war, etc - then no. But if you define success as making all of his cronies even richer than they were before, then he succeeded greatly.
        • diecastbeatdown, on 06/13/2008, -0/+2correct, quite simple isn't it? employ those around you, it works that way for everyone. that's how mc hammer became broke! (after ripping off utah saints and making mad cash).
    • republicker, on 06/13/2008, -7/+4Federal Government? united stated of america INC.
    • arkaycee, on 06/13/2008, -2/+3Every TV channel has them on between 2am and 8am ... oh wait "results not typical." Just like the weight loss infomercials in between them.
    • dycc07, on 06/13/2008, -5/+2The Federal Reserve System
    • Blitzwing84, on 06/13/2008, -4/+34Scientology.
      • kpwells, on 06/13/2008, -2/+10When i saw this comment first, it was at -1 diggs. what the ***** is that *****? Scientology is one of the biggest, most evil scams out there; dont you digg this guy down.
        • hendrixiloveyou, on 06/13/2008, -0/+11it was dugg down by scientologists.
    • serif69, on 06/13/2008, -2/+23Bottled water.

      "How dumb do I think the Americans are? I bet you we can sell those idiots water."
      • billizm, on 06/13/2008, -0/+4The monkeys digging you down obviously don't know where this quote is from: Jim Gaffigan
        • serif69, on 06/13/2008, -0/+6This tastes more watery than water. It's got a water kick to it.
      • diecastbeatdown, on 06/13/2008, -0/+2'ehm, so lewis black stole that bit?
    • halspuppet, on 06/13/2008, -2/+6Corn ethanol?
      • HentaiJeff, on 06/13/2008, -2/+1why the hell are you being dug down? You speak much truth.
    • brstilson, on 06/13/2008, -0/+10Amway?
      • noisician, on 06/13/2008, -0/+5yep, i had a friend fall victim to that cult
    • zydeco, on 06/13/2008, -0/+8AdSense. You *really* think billions of people are actually clicking on those ads?
      • webkami, on 06/13/2008, -0/+2"Billions of *pigeons* are actually clicking on those ads."

        Fixed it for you.

        Before you ask these are same pigeons involved in early success of Google.
    • Deejster, on 06/13/2008, -1/+1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Foster

      "fraudulently claiming that the product could result in weight loss.. Foster expanded to South Africa, England and throughout Europe where he reportedly made over $20 million in the mid 1980s selling the dieter's dream"
    • CoMpUtErITGuY, on 06/13/2008, -5/+5Obama '08.
    • zmigliozzi, on 06/13/2008, -6/+2Global warming
    • ggbs, on 06/13/2008, -1/+1Making international calls from airports. See http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/295/RipOff02 ... for more details.
  • ragingbull7, on 06/13/2008, -1/+55Count Victor Lustig TWICE sold the Eiffel tower to scrap metal companies after explaining to them that the government was looking to rid Paris of the tower. The bidders felt so dumb afterward that they didn't bother going to the police and Lustig got to keep the money. Now thats how you do it.
    • forcedfx, on 06/13/2008, -2/+5That would be a successful scam though.
  • diggality, on 06/13/2008, -10/+1History is chock full of scamers, geat articl!
  • orangecoins, on 06/13/2008, -0/+5Bre-X Minerals, one of my favorite stories.
    • jason4188, on 06/13/2008, -1/+2AOL should be in there, what were they thinking, if they sent me so many disc they covered every square inch of site I might use them?
      • PabloMac, on 06/13/2008, -0/+5The school you attended was a scam.
  • unknamed, on 06/13/2008, -5/+14What? No mention of big oil companies gouging profits?
    Oh... wait, these are scams that failed.
  • spatty, on 06/13/2008, -7/+1fail
  • BeforeSputnik, on 06/13/2008, -1/+13I hate people who just try to leach off of productive members of society. Brings us all down.
    • mjamesa, on 06/13/2008, -14/+0That's a racist comment
      • wTheOnew, on 06/13/2008, -0/+1I don't see any races mentioned in his comment? Anyone?
  • Ljay90, on 06/13/2008, -4/+3(In reference to to 'A corny sea story')

    Step 1. Take cash advance for shipping materials.
    Step 2. Take out insurance policy on the actual boat.
    Step 3. Take empty boat out to see and scuttle it with crew on board.
    Step 4. Death and Lawsuit.

    No profit at all.
    • AnarkeIncarnate, on 06/13/2008, -2/+2And here I thought corn was a product of the Americas, and as such, not available to PRE B.C. Greece
  • LucerinRed, on 06/13/2008, -5/+21Are you forgetting the greatest scam of all

    Step 1: Steal Underpants
    Step 2: ???
    Step 3: Profit
  • GordonClass, on 06/13/2008, -1/+5I believe the Hunt family tried to corner the silver market too but there was just too much of it around.
  • rmxz, on 06/13/2008, -0/+13Pixelon's another noteworthy business scam story.

    These guys claimed to have a new video streaming platform; raised $35 million dollars in VC funding; spent $12 million of that on a product launch party with bands featuring The Who, Brian Setzer, and The Dixie Chicks.

    Then it came out that their CEO was a guy who had apparently skipped bail after a stock swindling conviction; and their product was rumored to be mostly a wrapper around windows media player.

    http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2000/05/36 ...
    http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-240493.html?legacy
    http://www.theindustrystandard.com/article/0,1902, ...
  • Verfel, on 06/13/2008, -0/+9Where's Enron?
  • richardpryor, on 06/13/2008, -9/+2Here's a good scam: let's make an old man run for President and get him to raise a lot of money for the Republican party.

    Ron Paul 08 LOLOLOL
    • SpookyPig, on 06/13/2008, -0/+2I'm not a Ron Paul supporter in any way shape or form, but jeez... that comment was retarded.
  • markus941, on 06/13/2008, -1/+8Anyone remember Infinium's Phantom?
  • brstilson, on 06/13/2008, -9/+1"In 360 B.C.,...To exploit this uncertainty, Xenothemis and Hegestratos devised a plan in which they would receive a cash advance to ship a load of corn from Syracuse to Athens."

    So...we have corn, a grain that is native to North America and completely unknown to Europe or Asia until the 1500's in Ancient Greece over 300 years before Christ? Yeah....these guys sure do their homework when writing fake-ass articles.
    • memper, on 06/13/2008, -0/+10The word corn, when speaking of the ancient world, is a general term for cereal crops. Sorry to rain on your parade, but corn is a word Europeans put on Maize.
    • somabc, on 06/13/2008, -0/+7The principal cereal crop of a country or region is often referred to locally as corn. For example, oats in Scotland, wheat and barley in England and Wales, and maize in the USA, Canada and Australia. But this is not fixed: almost any cereal crop, or its grains or seeds, may be referred to as corn by local custom.
  • GorfTron, on 06/13/2008, -4/+3The US federal government.
  • rebotfc, on 06/13/2008, -0/+1Steorn.
  • Jared80KA, on 06/13/2008, -6/+2***** SCAM SUCKS!
  • frosted, on 06/13/2008, -1/+2Scams:
    No money down
    Free money
    Self help
    Be your own boss
    Money for clicks
    Cure-alls
    Columbia House
    Amway
    More info this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RACEyM71R9w
  • peppino, on 06/13/2008, -0/+2Corn was called mahiz ("that which sustains us.") by the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Columbus took mahiz back to Spain and that's how it eventually spread to the rest of the world. Early Europeans in America used the name maize (maybe spelled the way Europeans may have pronounced mahiz). English and German settlers called edible grass crops "corn" but to differentiate it from other "corn" they called Mahiz "Indian corn".
  • hillkiwi, on 06/13/2008, -0/+3"Bre-X geologist Michael de Guzman died falling from a helicopter in Indonesia. His body was found four days later in the jungle, mostly eaten by animals and identified from molars and a thumbprint. (On May 12, 2005, however, the National Post published a front-page story asking if de Guzman might still be alive; one of his multiple wives claimed to have received a Brazilian money order from him, dated February 2005.)"

    It sucks to be the fall guy.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bre-X
  • taloncarde, on 06/13/2008, -0/+3Another scam this story missed. News orginizations that don't report news, and instead aquire the rights from blogs like Mental Floss

    http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15095
  • pitchblack16, on 06/13/2008, -0/+3gas prices is a scam
  • diecastbeatdown, on 06/13/2008, -0/+3wanna buy some speakers? first had this happen to me in los angeles on the 405 about 15 years ago. probably something learned in jail. of course, i knew better just by looking at the dirt bags.
  • Haoie, on 06/13/2008, -0/+4I was going to suggest the usual Nigerian scams.

    But those are actually relatively successful, because plenty of people do fall for them!!
  • birdcity, on 06/14/2008, -0/+0business is a scam !
  • newmoney08, on 07/06/2008, -0/+0I have an article about starting an internet business
    http://newbusinessmoney.com/starting-your-own-inte ...
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