Being in the position I am in I get to see a lot of affiliate websites when they apply into our programs. I see a lot of bad affiliate sites but what pisses me off is when I see people getting scammed. I can usually tell when these “Make money online” events happen the minute they are over.
The latest variation of scammers have infomercials on late at night where they will not only give you 1 website they will give you 3 if you call right away. Well I can tell you that these programs can give you a million sites for free but none of them will ever make you the money the infomercials promise you. Multiply anything by 0 and you still get 0. Doesn't sound like sending them $27 for a DVD course is a good idea.
There are a few guys (Ben and Dave) that really get on my nerves because they are hurting good honest people. These guys hold actual seminars where they bring in a few people that are plants and they sit next to the new people and tell them things like “Yes we make good money”. While they are up in front of the room being all sincere and showing how to make money online with stuff that doesn't work but sounds good.
They promise that for $27 a month they will give you the blogging software that made them millions and gets ranked on Google better than the rest. The first problem here is they register the web site for you so you don't really own it. They string you along for about 6 months promising that you will make money soon. All that time you are paying web hosting fees to a company they recommend. Hmm I wonder if they get a cut of that.
By the time the average person realizes it is a scam they made like $150. They move on to the next guy and don't care if you ever made money, which of course you haven't. Oh and don't try asking for a refund.
They also seem to change their name every six months. Always in a variation of the same name, just to start over again. After about 6 months people start going online in mass and post about how their system is a fraud. Most of the time while they are running these “Get rich quick” schemes they actually have the top 10 spots for the searches with their name + scam this way it looks legit. There will be videos from others that took the class and in the video they say it is not a scam. There is no way that after you watch the 3rd or 4th video you think it is a scam. It just sounds so good. After 6 months they can no longer rank in the top 10 in the search engines due to all the people complaining and they switch their business name. Sixfigurekit – Sixfigureprogram – Now its called BenandDavesprogram and I will not link to it. They just switched it last month and I don't want to help them with a backlink.
Anytime you think this is a good thing just check with the Better Business Bureau. Just looking at the amount of complaints you can see you shouldn't waste your money.
While their website looks very professional and has a video of them sounding sincere and they show a lot of things like “As seen on Fox news” and some other bullshit that makes them look credible. It is all a bunch of bullshit. Their “As seen on” was because they ran an infomercial at 3am. They were never featured as “news” if they were don't you think they would have videos of that on their website.
On their site they show a picture of them being interviewed by “An International company” at an affiliate event. They don't even mention the name of the company that interviewed them. Sad just sad! I also saw the company interviewing people at this event. It was set up in a hallway outside the event and guess what they also wanted to interview me but I turned them down. They were just grabbing people as they walked by for interviews.
Oh and the blogging software they give you has been recognized by Google and the new site is usually penalized for it. As soon as Google sees Sixfigureprogram in the css it knows that the site isn't nothing but a thin affiliate site. So even if you did the work they say odds are you won't make a dime. At least not through the search engines. The name in the blogging software changes every 6 months also.
As I was doing research for this scam I accidentally found a page that features their whole program without having to log in. What I found was they recommend what programs to run and odds are they are all second tier so if you do accidentally sell something they get a profit. I read their PDF and it has old information and is as basic as you can get. I wouldn't even waste paper to print it out.
The nice people that fall for this usually get an email from me after I decline them out of the program they applied to. I explain to them what is actually happening and every single one of them sends me back an email saying they guys are so sincere! Yes they are sincere, they have probably both had classes on body movement also. What cracks me up is the guys claim to make millions on the internet but every video you see of them they are wearing the same clothes.
UPDATE April 2nd 2014
FTC has settled the case against these guys. Read about it here.
I would love to have you on the Affiliate Buzz to discuss this. I will say now that I see this post, that if the legitimate people in the industry will take the same stance and start talking frankly about these BS offers that we can begin to have a major effect on the industry.
Good on ya for jumping out and speaking up.
James
Nice post, you gotta a nose at uncovering some BS! Remember me asking you about the one below? I can not say enough good about finding some honest people and to ask them before doing some money wasting.
Just last week someone wanted to scam me also! igottahavethat.tv/ their site is and I got excited at first because I do get offers like this once in a while and I was due, so I though. 🙂
It turns out these people promise you to be shown on national TV to 70 millions viewers and more crap. At one point I have actually interrupted the chick who called and told her that is had to be free because I could not possible afford what they are offering.
I think that they only make video for you and write a PR which I can do for 100 myself and ask for $6900, so called scheduling fees.
Weird thing is that I really get some adrenaline going when I know someone is trying to screw me. So when the owner called me to find out what prompted me to send him a pasted post about their company scamming someone else and that there was nothing on the internet about them. He had they guts to tell me that he does not know about the Google but I can go to their site to find out about them. 🙂 Thank GOD I have learned how to check traffic that goes to a website with alexa.com which may not be accurate but it works.
Some people have no shame and odds are they will end up bad! How can you wake up in the morning and say “Today I am going scam few more dummies” But I guess that is what gets them excited, form of accomplishment, scamming someone. They could use that same energy and actually be helpful though…
Hi Vinny,
I’m very interested in affiliate marketing as a way to help get myself out of debt, so I can become more able to do the things I love to do, like helping others to lead a better life.
Thank goodness I found your site and post you wrote on affiliate marketing scams! Search engines, and how all that works is sort of a mystery to me, but I signed up for a free Google course (I hopw that is not the wolf in the henhouse), so I can learn more, and I signed up for your news letter so I can get some tips on where to study and learn how to do it. The flaws and scam you point out shows me that you really know what you are talking about. Thanks for sharing it!
As I was signing up for your news letter I happened across the video on the walk for breast cancer. It was very touching and showed the genuineness and compassion and caring of people. Very refreshing in this cinical world.
Thank you for caring so much about others, and being willing to share your wisdome. I’m looking forward to reading your news letters!
Tony Berka