AdExhibitJason

FTC cracks down on get-rich-quick scams - Consumer news- msnbc.com

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productionhead

okay.

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parrot head

“If they want money up-front, then they’re up to no good,” said Cooper. .... Ahhh Shit

papajohn56

bye bye bizopps

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mediastar100

whats next on the list boys and girls...

papajohn56

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


google biz ops specifically mentioned by the FTC

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papajohn56

Google Money Tree, its principals, and related entities allegedly misrepresented that they were affiliated with Google and lured consumers into divulging their financial account information by advertising a low-cost kit that they said would enable consumers to earn $100,000 in six months. They then failed to adequately disclose that the fee for the kit would trigger monthly charges of $72.21, the complaint states. This case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

Grants For You Now and its affiliates and principals operated Web sites such as
grantsforyounow.com, grantoneday.org, and easygrantaccess.com that deceived consumers by promising them free government grant money to use for personal expenses or to pay off debt. According to the FTC complaint, after obtaining consumers’ credit or debit account information to process a $1.99 fee for grant information, the defendants failed to adequately disclose that consumers would be enrolled in a membership program that cost as much as $94.89 a month. Some consumers also were charged a one-time fee of $19.12 for a third-party “Google Profit” program. All the defendants’ Web sites falsely offered a “100% No Hassle Money Back Guarantee.” This case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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johu

Here's the moral of this for advertisers:
1. Disclose any rebill fees perperly.
2. Honor refund policies.

The FTC isn't coming down on biz opps necessarily, just biz opps that flagrantly flaunt the law with their billing policies. Sure, it's not as profitable, but it's probably better for longevity than getting shut down by the FTC.

ItsYoBuddy

yeah, didn't we already know about google money tree being jerk offs and getting in trouble?

papajohn56

yeah but it appears they might be coming after the entire thing. that John beck free and clear thing was a legit rebill with a product (can find it on demonoid even, it's got some good info), just people think they're being dicked by rebills

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cdc

LOL at the ads on that MSN page.

mediasup

^^^Good point so hypocritical Nytimes,tmz, and MSN all make tons of money from the same advertisers they bash.

Seperate point how does Netflix get away with Free Trial Rebills if thats the issue?

Pancho Lefty

lol .

papajohn56

i don't think it's the rebill, i think it's the product behind the rebill, and the ease of cancellation. you can have high pressure people trying to stop you from canceling, but at least it's still a person to talk to and cancel through, not a busy signal in india

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parrot head

I lol'ed

Danc1122

“In the down economy,” said Cooper, “the scam artists crawl out from under rocks.” His number-one rule: never pay money up-front.


“If they want money up-front, then they’re up to no good,” said Cooper.



^^^ LMFAO. I'm LOL'ing so hard right you have no idea!

mediasup

“If they want money up-front, then they’re up to no good,” said Cooper.

^^^^Thats why you get a Free* Trial 100% money back guarntee

Roundabout

I dont think theres any need to panic here... the FTC is doing this to force the Advertisers to properly disclose rebill info, which they should be doing anyway. From what I've read a lot of these guys were being incredibly shady, not sending anything after somebody paid cash, not offering refunds, etc. If you're going to pull that crap you deserve it IMO.

Nobody can ever take away an Advertiser's right to promote "get rich quick" concepts as long as theyre being truthful. Which is the real problem.

papajohn56

as long as they don't come down the chain to the affiliates, because we have no idea how their cancellation practices are. for all intents and purposes, they're duping us as well

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Roundabout

I don't see it going that far. It's kind of like a drug bust.. they sometimes pinch the guy on the street selling, but they mostly want the supplier. It's the Advertiser who really needs to stay in check here.

We're pulling offers from a major network. We have no idea what's authentic or not, that is the Network's job (and their attorneys) and their own due diligence. If a network and their lawyers approve an offer, and it becomes PUBLIC DOMAIN for the using, we can't be held responsible.

Not that an aggressive AG may TRY and pin it on a more prominent affiliate, like most idiots do just to test the courts, but it would/should ultimately lose.

kushoffer

Ummm... it says nothing about John Beck and affiliates, this wasnt a rebill model this was a infomercial to call center operation. 2 greedy Jews from California decided to go the call center route with ticket sales up to 20k for coaching. Coaches read out of a manual and students couldn't cancel. The call floor was ordered to have permanent security present when last year 4 people overdosed on GHB while working. It was a pretty crazy operation, cant believe they stayed around as long as they did.

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-FUCK IT GRAB A BOTTLE-

machinecontrol

What you should be concerned about is conversions going way down after this gets spread all over the news. The Google brand will probably be significantly damaged, you can forget about any Google bizopps gaining traction.

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Nefig

^^machinecontrol - what about them ebay/myspace/etc bizopps, one can always switch to them and blame google for fucking people over и всё такое (i mean claim that they don't work and google offers are a scam, play on fear etc)

Bombastic

Now motherfucking Google is shutting down Adwords accounts over Google Bizopps?

I just got this from Kiersten at Neverblue:

Hello,

I want to let you know that Google is shutting down people’s Adwords accounts for promoting Google Buisness Opportunity offesr. A few Neverblue Affiliates have had their Adwords accounts permanently banned today for promoting Google Biz Opps. I would definitely advize not running any Google Biz Opps on Google right now.

Have a great weekend!
Kiersten

ruins411

Yeah sorry I just put a post up without seeing this. We've just had a bunch of pubs get banned for misrepresenting Google and their notice mentioned to not bother trying to make new accounts as they will be banned as well. It's not just the re-bill it's the misrepresentation of Google in this case. I would expect al ot more from the FTC in the next little while. Make sure you know what you're promoting. Ignorance is not going to save you from the FTC.

Bombastic

It's lovely how Google gives warnings and a chance to comply with the policies they pull out of their ass, isn't it?

gopher

These offers have been banned for two years, at least.

envision

Well frankly, the Google name and logo are registered trademarks, hence protected by law. Google doesn't need to pull policies out of their ass.

samii

AHH FUCK!

Lol true.

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unfadable858

that whole google biz opp was a scam? i saw it in a legitimate newspaper.

=(