For those who know me; you know that as far as I am concerned, Any online biz op hiding behind Who Is Guard should be treated as a scam. Especially if the internet is being flooded with affiliate pages for that particular program.
Right now there is one that is in my bullseye:
Direct Pay Profits yes I know there are members here promoting it, if you aren't promoting it then you need to think twice!
You see this program claims to pay you in USD So they want you to give them your Social Security number or EIN From Their terms of service:
U.S. based members earning over $600 are required to have a taxpayer ID number of some kind linked to their account, at a minimum a social security number. If inputting a social security number, be sure to use the proper 9-digit format including dashes: 123-45-6789.
DirectPayProfits encourages U.S. based members earning over $600 a year to obtain an IRS issued Employer Identification Number (EIN) to input into your account as a taxpayer ID number. If you do not have one already, you may clickhere to get yours at the IRS web site. Note that this is a free process. The IRS will either provide your number online, or mail it to you. Once you have obtained your EIN please be sure to key it in to your DirectPayProfits account, in this 9-digit format: 12-3456789. This helps to simplify the year-end 1099 reporting requirement.
Note: The taxpayer ID number input to your account must match the payee name on the account. If you are utilizing a business payee name but reporting under an individual social security number, you will need to submit a completed IRS W-9form to us.
Second note: If you are utilizing a U.S. address but are a beneficial resident of a foreign country, you will instead need to submit a completed IRS W-8ben form to us.
Call me crazy but don't identity thieves use Social security numbers to steal identities? Now that statement above is actually factual and yes as an independent contractor they must issue you a 1099. So who exactly are you giving your social security number to? Do you know or are you simply assuming that because that statement is there this is legitimate? I'm going to tell you right now as a Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist, DO NOT GIVE YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER TO ANY PERSON, ORGANIZATION OR ENTITY THAT YOU CANNOT IDENTIFY AND REASONABLY VERIFY THAT THEY ARE WHO THEY SAY THEY ARE!
This means that you need to find out who is behind this and then be able to confirm the information. That is not possible with this 'program'. You are giving your Personally Identifying and sensitive information to an entity that you cannot identify!
Direct Pay Profits claims to be the brainchild of Derrick Van Dyke and Todd Gross. Odd that neither of these men in their own blogs mention this. As a matter of fact neither of these men is even promoting Direct Pay Profits! And Todd gross is supposed to be in charge of the promotion side of things. Does that sound like it's legitimate? Why would someone create a program and not promote it themselves? After all the more people join, the more money they stand to make. Todd Gross is even a semi-celebrity and he's not promoting something that he created??
So what happens when you try to confirm that these men are behind this? Well this is what you get from Whois.net:
Protected by Who Is Guard.
Now why is it that this is 'protected'? Maybe because these two men are not the ones behind this and someone else is? And the someone else behind it is an identity thief. That someone has created a form letter which affiliates are using to promote this and that person claims to be Derrick Van Dyke in that form letter. So what do you think an identity thief is going to do with your social security number?