Jon

The case file cited below relates to a civil -- not a criminal -- investigation. The existence of an investigation does not constitute proof of any violation of law.

Seems like if you're not being named in these civil investigations by the Florida Attorney General's office, then you're not all that big in the industry!

Alright, but with all jokes aside, there will be more companies named shortly. I personally don't really know what these investigations are about, other than the affiliate networks named are being named because they chose the wrong advertisers to work with. The case information doesn't even say what types of services or sites they are... even though ringtones and bizopp stuff comes to mind. I'll find out as much as I can.

http://myfloridalegal.com/lit_ec.nsf/investigations/77BFA54BA863619A852572C700646F62

http://myfloridalegal.com/lit_ec.nsf/investigations/7526CB452EBE60C7852572C700620D64

http://myfloridalegal.com/lit_ec.nsf/investigations/B61E02F6BE4C44C4852572C70061AF7B

http://myfloridalegal.com/lit_ec.nsf/investigations/D7FA1FF468C36579852572C7006127CB

http://myfloridalegal.com/lit_ec.nsf/investigations/0CFE99F3FB7807F5852572C700604D31

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Andrew

All of the affiliate companies need to be more careful what advertisers they accept, a few months back there was a replica watch company on Azoogle with fake Rolexes for sale. It does raise the question, if an affiliate company carries liability for what its advertisers do, what about Google or Yahoo?

Jon

You know, that's what I've been saying all along in response to Google's announcement about getting into the affiliate marketing/CPA game. They think that it's going to be easy shmeasy because of who they are and how large they are.. bullshit. They are going to have so many new and most likely unforseen issues and problems it's going to drive them nuts or out of it. If they think click fraud (which is SO overrated and overblown) is an issue, just wait until they have to deal with lead fraud and credit card fraud from shady affiliates in other countries who use stolen credit cards to fill out offers and who use botnets to fill out lead gen offers. Click fraud doesn't even compare in terms of lost cash and the crap this will cause.

My prediction... It will take Google at least 2-3 years MINIMUM before they become a threat to the affiliate marketing industry or any of the networks.

Sure, the networks are having a lot of shit thrown their way now, but they've been in the game for years now, and they know what to expect. This stuff is just another bump in the road to doing business in our industry. I just hope that all these investigations and shakeup lawsuits and inquiries teach people a lesson so we can move forward and get on with business as usual WITHOUT the drama.

/rant

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Geordie

It was funny seeing the empty Google booth at ASE Miami. Those poor guys working it, everyone wanted answers about their Adwords campaigns and they're like "We don't know anything about Adwords! We just want to talk CPA!!!"

CPAPIMP

Google will not dent the regular CPA game, they'll create their own niche. As far as those lawsuits, it's becoming old hat. Same companies every time. Seems like more people with too much time on their hands are wasting tax dollars going after the wrong people.

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carmach

" Affiliate network using deceptive ads to enroll consumers into monthly subscription plans."
" Online marketer using deceptive co-registration paths to enroll consumers into monthly subscription plans."

I'm going to take a guess here and assume it's the sort of scam being run on sites like these:

Admirer Calculator
Swami Knows

This sort of thing seems to only have been taking place on a large scale for a couple months, so now seems about the right time for an investigation.

Of course, there could be 100 other scams similar to this...