Greetings,
Remember that SkyBiz 2000 (aka SkyBiz.com) scam?
The Internet sure has a long history of being an untamed jungle of here today, gone tomorrow, glittering “opportunities” promising mountains of wealth, dream vacations, big houses and shiny new cars.
I sure do! I do because I fell for this one back in its heyday in 1999! The Y2K bug bit me good!
What is was SkyBiz?
The Grand Scheme
SkyBiz was a pyramid scheme that promoted an “eCommerce Web Pack”. This product was sold on the premise that everyone and every business is going to need an e-commerce website. What this really was, was little more than the right to promote this scam to others and receive compensation on their sales. I think this thing used a “binary tree” structure and whoever was sucked into this was paid a small percentage down so many levels of the tree.
After I ponied up my money to get in on this, I attended a presentation held nearby. There were flip boards, chalk boards with Post-it notes diagramming somebody’s downline tree, and a dozen other folks mingling over refreshments. The plan was presented, and I thought then this looked okay.
You were supposedly able to promote the program by distributing presentations to prospects on 3.5 inch floppy disks. The diskette contained a power point intro and presentation of how SkyBiz worked.
Game Over
“shut down by the FTC”
One short year later, I did not make one cent on this. In 2001, SkyBiz was shut down by the FTC. They were ordered to cease operations and their assets were frozen.
The full FTC article can be read here.
“class action settlement”
The final last death throe from the SkyBiz ball of wax came in 2008 when I received a partial refund of the $125 or so dollars I sunk into this. It was the end result of a class action settlement where SkyBiz was ordered to refund some of the sign up fees collected to all of those affected (Which was many!). This arrived in the form of a debit card labeled “SkyBiz Redress” from the frozen assets.
Final Verdict
…and good riddance!
Now for some good news!
I hope you’ve enjoyed my brief rant on this scam. Now, if your quest though the Jungle has brought you here looking for a real business, please check out my #1 pick!
All of The Best,
I am also been conned too but I have no refund at all. I signed up the scheme on 25 May 2000 for USD110/=.
Really got burnt but I recruited no one as our local press reported on 8 June 2000 that our Government was investigating the Company.
Yes, I am sick of it too. Thank for refreshing.
Hi Lim, thanks for chiming in. The trouble one can into when they are desperate. You gotta keep your eyes on the ball at all times!
Cheers and best to you!
– Oren
Sir can you tell me about Pawan malhan’s eBaiz network business.