Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of crappy adsense ads on websites. Ads that are totally unrelated to the content, and advertisements which often lead to scammy sites.
The classic example is “One tip of a flat belly” scam ads. These tend to lead to a single page with a video that tries to convince you to enter your email address. If you enter your email I guarantee it’s all downhill from there. Just don’t do it. Well, ok, these are not the worst of the crop. It’s just someone trying to sell you a diet course you don’t need, I mean really… are you trying to lose weight? If so, go the library and get one of the hundreds of books on diets and nutrition that are available. Go to the gym, go for a run, get some exercise. I promise you, you really don’t need to pay any money for a tip of a flat belly diet.
The next most tiresome ad is the Acai Berry and Colon cleanse scam. These are similar to the above but are much worse in that there is an inherent scam right on the landing page. They try to suck you in with what seems like a free trial, “Just pay postage and packaging of $3.95….” What they don;t tell you is that in the fine print they have given themselves the right to send you a 2nd round of acai berry and colon cleanse scam diet pills. That’s right, and you guessed it, these are charged at the normal rate, often $50+. What is worse is they will keep sending you these month after month, and they will keep charging you.
These ads make me really mad. Ads that prey on peoples insecurities, and prey on those who are not very web savy and cannot determine a scam when they see one.
The latest ad to grab my attention though is most annoying. It’s a the cent auction scam. Auction websites where you bid 1c and if you win the auction you get to buy the item for the winning bid amount. The item will often sell for some ridiculously low amount like an iPad for $20. Hang on? how can that work? you say. Well the scam is that the auction site charges you $1 for each 1 cent bid. So if we do the math on how many bids were needed to reach $20, it’s 2000 bids, 2000 x 1 cent = $20. The winner buys the iPad for $20 , but many people have spent $1 each on a total of 2000 bids. The auction site makes a cool $2000 for an iPad that is probably worth $500-600.
The worst offender I’ve seen is the swipe auctions scam. I can’t believe I see their ads everywhere within the Google network. Here is an example from a site I follow:
Swipe Bids - Swipe Auction Scam
The ad above showed for me when I visited the main page of a site I follow that covers accessories for the iPad. Now the main page of this site has iPad Accessories in the page title tag, and also in the H1 heading tag, not to mention the content is all about this topic. Google should have no trouble determining what the site is about and serving appropriate ads. Users want accessories for their iPad, not an option to win an iPad in a scam auction. Shame on you Google for not weeding these ads out, ads which are a blight on the internet.
Why does Google allow scammy diet ads, Acai berry ads, colon cleanse ads and swipe auctions scam ads? I guess it all comes down to the money… This is how much Google cares about its users.
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That add caught my eye. I was very wary but went to their web page. I then went down the slippery slope (Honeypot Scam) where to bid you are told you have to ‘Register’ (not pay a $159 joining fee or pay $159 for the right to make 300 bids).
I went to part1 of the ‘Registration’ & filled it in – no problem thus far.
Then went to ‘Part 2′ of the registration & was at a similar page to the 1st one where it said ‘Scroll Down to complete login’. The page was massive & as best as I could see crammed with colourful adds about how great Swipe Auctions is.
At the bottom are 2 panels the one on the right is PART 2 & titled
“Where Do We Send Your Winning Auctions” – STILL NO MENTION OF A $159 fee in this panel. So I completed the address & because eBay & Paypal both expect you to provide credit details I filled in that data but was hesitant. At the bottom of this panel is a button marked START BIDDING – the moment I clicked that a screen appeared and something about $159 flashed up but I couldn’t find that again.
Then I realised I had been stung. I contacted their online help & the following interaction took place (I have now read soooo many other people all saying the same sort of thing). The typos are a reflection of how stressed I had become.
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Please wait for a site operator to respond.
You are now chatting with ‘Carol’
Carol: Thank you for visiting SwipeAuctions.com Livechat Line. Our goal is to provide you with excellent customer service while assisting you with any questions or concerns you may have. We are here to help you win auctions, save money and have a great time. May we start with your name please?
you: hi i just got billed for approx 150 when i thought i was joining to view bidding – this is very annoying as i saw nothing indicating iwas about to be billed. iam very angry.
Carol: I would be happy to assist you with your concern, so in order to pull up the details of your account, can you please provide me with your full name, e-mail address and zip code?
you: d m***** – dsm*****@gmail.com nsw aust 2128
Carol: Please wait while I check your order details in our system.
you: i didn’t order anytrhing !!!
Carol: In order to further assist you, could I please have you CLICK HERE, to confirm that this is the checkout page you completed your registration from. This link will take you to the Original SignUp Page where you will see that the price of the membership is mentioned in several locations. Upon reviewing, are you able to locate where the $159.00 price is disclosed above the shipping form?
you: I saw nothing saying i had to pay 159 to join. I Do Not Want this service.
Carol: Certainly, I can help you with that. Typically we do not allow for refunds under these circumstances, as the price is very clearly disclosed. It is the consumer’s responsibility to read the page carefully before entering credit card information. Regardless, I will gladly
provide you with this simple refund form for you to complete as it is required by our bank in order for us to issue your refund. Please CLICK HERE to get a refund.
Is there anything further I can assist you with today?
you: I will report this as a scam to the Aust internet authoities.
Carol: Like most Retail Stores, we too require your original signature in order to process any refund through our Bank. As I have previously stated, the price is very clearly disclosed and we typically do not allow for refunds under these circumstances. Once again, please CLICK HERE to follow the easy steps necessary to ensure you receive your refund.
Is there anything further I may assist you with today?
you: you gave NO warning that the application was a charge rather than joining the site. I have joined many online auctions and always have been advised when a fee was about to be charged.
you: This is a blant scam to collect fees by decieving people who think they are joining.
Carol: I do not have the ability to refund you until you have completed the easy steps required for our MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Unfortunately, like most Retail Stores, without this form and an original signature, I am unable to refund you. Please take the time to follow our incredibly easy MONEY BACK GUARANTEE available by CLICKING HERE.
Is there anything further I may assist you with today?
Carol: You just need to send the refund form to us and we will refund the money back to your account.
you: I won’t let you get away with this scam.
Carol: I do not have the ability to refund you until you have completed the easy steps required for our MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Unfortunately, like most Retail Stores, without this form and an original signature, I am unable to refund you. Please take the time to follow our incredibly easy MONEY BACK GUARANTEE available by CLICKING HERE.
Is there anything further I may assist you with today?
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There was *NO* clear mention of any $159 joining fee or buying the right to bid. The panel to the left of the registration panel makes a confusing reference to how to save money $250 crossed out & $159 as the saving but this is not put in any way that a normal person (just read all the websites with people complaining ) could make sense of.
AFAICT the eCommerce aspect of the page violates common FTC regulations on how fees must be displayed. Perhaps they consider the US FTC won’t be interested in someone in Aust is misled. !.
The only positive thing is that no Visa fee has shown up in my bank acct as the moment it does I’ll be onto the local Internet fraud squad as well as filing a complaint with my Bank (who I got my Visa card from).
The se people (is it Mr Willims ?) are evil.
DSM
There was a time, the internet had to come and did a lot of good.
In the meantime there are more scam artists than infos around. Maybe time to pull the plug, sit under the Mango tree and read a good book since nobody will help or do anything about making the net a better place.
True, Exactly the same thing happened with me, I filled up the form. It requires drivers licence and lots of personel info to prove its you and they still have not refunded the money.
Complete scam which should not be allowed.
Adwords didn’t allow these sorts of ads before, but as you said they are starting to appear frequently now