THE BIZOP NEWS

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On July 1st, 2009, the FTC brought an action under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which bans Misleading Advertising, against Google Money Tree and others, as part of their

"law enforcement crackdown on scammers trying to take advantage of the economic downturn to bilk vulnerable consumers through a variety of schemes, such as promising non-existent jobs; promoting overhyped get-rich-quick plans, bogus government grants, and phony debt-reduction services; or putting unauthorized charges on consumers' credit or debit cards."

Noticably abscent in this FTC sweep was the usual collectin of vending machine, payphone and internet kiosks frauds.

The FTC's case against Google Money Tree, which I had written about several days ago, was discussed over at the seroundtable blog.

On June 29th we reported that the Google scams were getting worse.

In short, people have been promoting fake Google payout systems, such as Google Money Kit or Money System, along with dozens of other names, to convince people that Google is giving people a way to earn quick bucks. Google does have publisher programs like AdSense and other programs, but not these get rich quick scams.

One of the better comments on the Google Money Kit thread noted:

until Attorney Generals and the FTC crack down on the affiliates and the CPA networks, rather than just the original companies or individuals behind the offers, these fraudulent deceptive and misleading ads and websites will continue - as CPA affiliates and networks just shift their focus to the next offer...

Many CPA affiliate networks often encourage their affiliates to use fake blogs (flogs) /news sites, use fake testimonials etc - so it's not just a case of a few rogue affiliates but rather widespread acceptance of unethical and illegal methods within this sector of the affiliate marketing industry as "the norm".

But, in the mid 1990's, we saw the same thing with business opportunity ads appearing in the classified sections of newspapers.  The ads were for biz op frauds, but the newspapers gladly accepted the revenue.  There was never any attempt by the FTC or the Canadian Competition Bureau to charge the third party enablers.

Google, after the FTC brought their action against Google Money Tree, then prohibited people from using adwords to direct traffic to Google Money Tree.  

But there was nothing proactive about Google's actions, which leads me to wonder how serious they are about enforcing their terms and conditions. 

Customer shall not, and shall not authorize any party to: (a) generate automated, fraudulent or otherwise invalid impressions, inquiries, conversions, clicks or other actions;

(b) use any automated means or form of scraping or data extraction to access, query or otherwise collect Google advertising related information from any Program website or property except as expressly permitted by Google;

or (c) advertise anything illegal or engage in any illegal or fraudulent business practice.

Of course, Google cannot review every ad for every business opportunity.  But, what they can do is make ensure compliance with the new FTC Business Opportunity Rule - don't accept ads for business opportunities unless the seller has a posted their compliance with the FTC.