Online Business Systems Scam

Those of you who have a liking for both online business and trashy reality television cannot help but have noticed “teenage tycoon” Liam Young make an appearance on Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack earlier this week.

We were all enthralled at how this youngster had set up his own online company when he was just eight and employed up to 12 full time staff to help run an eBusiness empire which included web design and hosting services. How we looked on in awe at his Big Brother VT as he tapped away feverishly at a laptop in a trendy cafe. It seems, Liam Young, was living the dream.

However, this is where the story began to fall apart. Liam claimed to have 250,000 customers around the world and hosted two million websites. Quite impressive, until he said his turnover was just £200,000.

Not profit. Turnover.

Unless Liam is offering annual web hosting for 10p then something just doesn’t ring true and it seems numerous others online are rather sceptical about his claims. Much credit should go to the DigitalSpy crowd who have been relentless in their quest to uncover the truth about Liam Young and his business.

For a start, his main website uses a Homestead template, hardly the actions of a global web company responsible for the uptime of millions of websites? Further digging suggested his web hosting empire was limited to a reseller account and a check on his IP address showed he may manage around 100 websites, most of which he owns himself.

His company’s registered address happens to be a building which provides virtual offices for £50. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s hardly a bustling epicentre for a multi-staffed coporation?

If he had the staff he claimed, surely the company would be continue as normal during his absence in January? Unsurprisingly, at the same time he is giving it the “Big I Am” in the Big Brother house, the company is “expanding its network”, “not accepting new orders” and will “relaunch on the 1/2/08″, around the same time the show finishes and Liam is back home.

An impressive online business claim now appears to amount to little more than a tinpot back bedroom hosting reseller seeing just how far he can push his luck. Liam is the only listed director for his company, his mum is the registered secretary and the staff, if any, are freelancers completing projects as and when required.

Liam peddled the two million customers claim as far back as three years ago and has left a damning electronic paper trail on various forums ever since. The worst being last October when he must have known he was going to appear on Big Brother and went online to ask how he could embellish on his actual turnover figures.

So there you have it, a classic example of an online business systems scam which has ruined any credibility the young entrepreneur may have had before appearing on television.

It appears Liam cannot avoid controversy and another string to his bow, a rather dubious acting career, has seen him play Garvin Arvizo in a reenactment on Tonight With Trevor McDonald. You may remember Arvizo as one of the young “regular visitors” to Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch at the dawn of the new millennium.