Mike

FTC Cracks Down on Scammers Trying to Take Advantage of the Economic Downturn

This is just a quick excerpt

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Bofu2U

Yeah, just saw this. Dumbasses.

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jvincent

the shortcuts to internet millions guy catching a case -- he had such obvious-bs infomercials. "with these shortcuts i get rich!"

also I imagine a lot of people on here promoted google money tree (although not myself) and some of these other programs... wonder if they're going to come down the food chain after the affiliates.

neab1as

people are greedy. it's their own fault.

murphy25890

Hmmm, this thread is going to get interesting REAL fast.

erect

That wording is pure douchbaggery. Like it's ok to scam people when the economy is good.

uplinked

Yeh, from what I can see, very little [ / if any] of what they're "cracking down" upon is actually, you know, illegal. Seems like the FTC just wants to look busy.

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barman

oh no google monies

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mediasup

traders32

the one is red is HHHHHHHHHHHHHHot
So, they took 2 big boobs chicks to make a sale.
and it worked for them for a while

conv3rsion

im reading the complaint and im not really understanding what the defendants have done wrong. I'm not a lawyer but it says things like:

--------------------

Since at least November 2008 and continuing to the present, Defendants

have tricked consumers into divulging their credit and debit card information by
falsely representing that any consumer who needs money for personal expenses or
Complaint paying off debt is eligible to receive free governent money and, by purchasing Defendants' Internet-based information product, is likely to receive money in the form of a governent grant for personal expenses or paying off debt. In reality,
consumers are not eligible to receive free money from the governent for these
puroses, and Defendants' information does not make consumers more likely to
receive such a governent grant. Furhermore, consumers who purchase

Defendants' grant-related information are greeted with nearly $100 per month in
recurring charges to or debits from their accounts.


-------------------

I thought that all US citizens were eligible to apply for and receive a US Grant for whatever purpose the individual Grant itself is for. So wouldn't all programs that assist (finding, writing, whatever) in that process thus make then "more likely" to receive a grant at some level.


Now it does say

Nowhere on the home pages of

Defendants' grant-related websites is there any notice to consumers that Defendants are selling a membership program
that involves a trial period of seven days during which consumers must cancel to avoid heft monthly charges. Nor is there any disclosure that consumers who pay on grantsforyounow.com (Att. A) or grantoneday.com (Att. C) may also receive a one-time debit or charge of$19.12 for something called "Google Profit."


So maybe terms and conditions have to be included directly on (not linked from) the home page

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conv3rsion

I read more and it seems like the chief complaint is that

a) there are no grants for paying off personal debt
b) their grants were expired, sucked, and thus could not help anyone

I really don't get advertisers sometimes, you are making all this fucking money, put out a decent product and don't lie about what it does. If there are no grant programs for personal debt payoffs, don't advertise there are on your signup page.

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newjersey

Im no lawyer but while some of this stuff seems deceptive, it does not seem illegal. I don't want the government being a nanny to all the idiots who fall for a get rich quick scheme. Keep the government OUT OF BUSINESS. I'm still mourning the loss of capitalism in the US.

robfantasy

What about obama's stimulus package?

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alexb

I doubt that anything outright illegal actually happened here. This is actually the result of tens of thousands of dumbasses who didn't understand what they were paying for getting mad that free money wasn't being thrown at them.

Again, the government is just watching out for your common idiot.

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chatmasta

this

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ArtDeco

Maybe it's ALL rebills - not just bizops or just berries - that is drawing FTC attention. Truly stupid if that is the case, because many products and services (hosting, insurance, phone plans) are worthless if you only get the service for a month. I think there was a similar uproar against the "easy monthly payment plans" direct mailers offered back in the 1950s ...

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Bofu2U

seconded.

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HarveyJ

I'm sure I've seen "Tina" in some "magical" porno with Shane Diesel.
It's a really well made infomercial actually, but it so clearly falls into the too good to be true category you have to wonder how people fall for it.

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Sharksfan

That Jeff Paul guy has been around for quite some time. Long before his info-mercials that are on now he had some others that were a pre-cursor to WF/DP eBook type scams. He actually sold "real" books called "how to make money in your underwear".

Yes, I was young, impressionable, and spent $37 or so on it. Flame away.