Beware of business opportunity companies that uses the name of Google — e.g. Google Money Tree, Google Cash Kit, Google Quick Cash, or whatever the other names are. They are all running a scam using Google’s name. And I must say that they are succeeding pretty well, convincing a lot of people with snapshots of checks supposedly earned from the “business opportunity.”
The scammers are spinning the money making opportunities provided by Google’s contextual advertising program, Adsense. Unlike Adsense which is free, the main difference of these scammers is that they charge shipping fees of either $1.98 – $3.88 for a CD that will supposedly provide you with a way to earn money from home. They will also ask for your bank information as you enroll in this “free trial.”
Once you get suckered into the promise of easy money (they even have photos of checks received from Google typically around $5,000), you will then realize that you will be billed anywhere from $69.90 – $72.21 on a monthly basis if you do not call to cancel your “free membership.” The fun part is that the CD contains nothing but information on how to sell on ebay, where to supposedly find drop shippers and suppliers etc.
Here’s the FINE PRINT from the Google Kit website:
By submitting this form I authorize Google ATM (DRI*GoogleATM) to immediately charge my credit card $1.95 USD for the setup of the Google ATM Home Business Kit. I hereby request that Google ATM (DRI*GoogleATM) activate my account and authorize them to advance funds as indicated. Monthly Service fees will commence seven days from the date of this purchase, and will be billed monthly thereafter. After the seven day trial you will be billed Sixty nine dollars and ninety cents USD monthly for the continued access to the Google Money Making System. No refunds will be given for failure to use the requested and provided services.
It is very important to read the fine print. The above is at the very bottom of a very long page where the reader may be enticed with all the promises of income from the program, further bolstered by the various so-called “testimonials.”
The worst part for me was their presentation of a “Google” check thereby giving potential suckers (err, buyers) the confidence that this is indeed a program by Google. But, in the fine print they admit that Google has NOTHING to do with this program — which begs the question: what’s the point of showing a “Google” check other than to deceive the people and misrepresent the program as that of Google.
Google does not endorse or sponsor this site and is in no way affiliated with this site The trademarks of Google, MSN, CNBC, USAToday, ABC, CNN and Yahoo! are the properties of their respective companies. These organizations do not specifically endorse or sponsor this site. The Google work job kit is free to try for a limited amount of time only.
There are a number of variations to the scam, such as the blog supposedly by a Scott who was able to wipe out his debts by using the Google Cash Kit system, or the Earn Cash from Google or the Money Making Story with Google. I’m not sure how they actually work, but here’s what Google in their official Adsense blog says
We’d like to take this opportunity to state that we’re not affiliated with any third-parties that solicit payment to join the AdSense program or that sell CDs with money-back guarantee offers. AdSense is a free product offered to publishers by Google Inc., and there’s no cost or obligation involved. As a result, we recommend that prospective publishers exercise caution when presented with such offers
If you want to earn money from Google, the ONLY way is to apply to Google Adsense http://www.google.com/adsense . Read the fine print always with these “money making programs.” Search the Web for complaints from other people — and actually listen to their complaints.
Remember that there are no scammers if there are no suckers. Don’t be one.
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UPDATE: On July 1, the Federal Trade Commission filed a case against Google Money Tree and its principals for the scam. Here’s what FTC had to say
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.
I agree with you! There are so many scams on the internet! My advice is to check out who you are going to deal with and read the fine print. A lot of these get rich schemes are outside of the USA, and I would be very leary of giving my credit card number to these folks. Just be careful out there!
Hi,
It is really useful information provided in this article. We can make a long list of such a companies that are strongly involved in fraud. I hope people should be well aware now about these scammers that how they attract via offering opportunities and creating greed in viewer`s mind to buy their offers. But the good thing is that now we all have come to know that what are the basics to catch them at initial level of this misguidance. These people also want to create a bad impression of Google in user`s mind but it`s not easy to hit Google by such an activity.
Was just about to sign up for the googles quick cash kit and decide to look it up on snoops but couldnt find anything so I came across this site and boy was I greatful! It’s true, when something sounds to good to be true, it must be!
i was going to sign up for google quick cash, but this article saved me.Thanks a million!
True True True.I was going to use Google quick cash ,but hopefully i found this article.I fell sorry for all u people who lost your money.I hope u will get back your $$$$.Thanks very much for this blog
best regards
That was a sweet tip, thanks for sharing your knowledge
I guess I also got scammed. I normaly wouldn’t look at these type of scheme’s but I guess I was having a moment. I signed up for the quick cash scheme that was supposed to cost $1 for a day trial period. I was informed that I would get a comfirmation email with user name and password, but that did not show up. The next day I got curious and decided to check my credit card transactions. I noticed that they had withdrawn $1.10 plus another $48.92USD the same day. I immediatelty tried to contact them mostly to cancel but was put on hold as soon as I gave them my email address. I tried several other times but was always placed on hold. I’m thinking they make it impossible to contact them until your trial period has expired. Anyways to make a long story short they did bill me an additional $79.86USD. I was billed this amount one day before my 2 day trial period was to end. They probably messed up here (I may have got them in there own game) because my CC company agrees and they are in the process of sending me the necessary documentation to have all of these charges reversed. I am also having my card replaced and will likely never do this again. Advise to everyone about these schemes is check the transaction dates of the charges and make certain that they did in fact give the promised trial time before charges were applied. Most CC companies will honor your request for a charge back if they can see that the scammers did not fulfill there end of the deal.
I got suckered however I have not seen the 1.97 come off my card yet. ( I filled out the form yesterday afternoon and something told me this morning to google the biz kit) I am currently on hold with customer service 1877-204-7404 ( I have been on hold for 16 minutes now) I guess when you call a company located in the United Kingdom its apparently hard for them to answer the phone. I guess the only positive to this all is the on hold music.
What I want to know is why does Google allow these people to miss represent who they are by leting people believe that they are Google untill they get your credit card info. Then they tell you after they got info. and your money that they are not affiliated. I feel like such a sucker. Needless to say when Google does something legit I probably wont believe it. Had to cancel credit card of 10 yrs. sucks and hate these scammers. The only way to stop these thieves is to cancel credit card. By the way you can link post by useing adverse gadgets in bloggers don't be fooled like me. Please people don't become like these evil people. It's wrong to make money this way. If you want to get these people back watch utube google scam videos. Ha Ha you'll luv it.
My husband and I fell hard on this scam, we both lost our business due to the economy, trying to find a way to make money being so desperate watching Marys money blog video convinced us. None of us have ever showed any interest nor believe most of internet business opportunity. We have a two year old and about to loose our house we decided to give it a try, thinking it has to be real if its by google,signed up gave all of our credit card info and was told that we soom receive a package with instructionS. we never received anything and my card was charged $72.21, I called immediately had everything cancelled and demanded a refund. We found all the websites in this magazine called SBO MAG. BE AWARE
I'm glad I saw this website. I was considering signing up for the google money maker kit. The offer seemed too good to be true so I read the fine print and found out that google wasn't even affiliated with that site.
I'm sorry for those of you who lost your money. I hope the word spreads quickly about this scam.
Is there anything you can do to get your money back? I called as soon as I saw the $72.21 charge on my account and it was within 30 days that I cancelled but when I recently called back because I did not get a refund, I was told that yes it was cancelled when I called but because I didn’t request a refund there was nothing I could do and now it’s too late. Is that a load of crap or what!?!?!?
I was totally misled. I will try with the Attorney General to see what can be done about scams like this even though they may argue everything is in the fine print. I was still misled by thinking that what they were saying in big print was accurate and true.
The number I called for this scam was on my bank statement 1-866-957-0020 but they are jerks and will mislead you as well as I was misled.
They say you can get a refund within 30 days but a lot of people go by mailed statements that are 30 days or beyond by the time you see the charges. even though I cancelled within 30 days they are telling me I needed to request a refund. I told the guy I wanted that $72.21 back but he was rude and I guess it will be his word against mine.
Please don’t fall for it!!! And all it is is how to sell on Ebay. Hell my kids can figure that out without paying someone to show them!!!!!!
Is there anything you can do to get your money back? I called as soon as I saw the $72.21 charge on my account and it was within 30 days that I cancelled but when I recently called back because I did not get a refund, I was told that yes it was cancelled when I called but because I didn’t request a refund there was nothing I could do and now it’s too late. Is that a load of crap or what!?!?!?
I was totally misled. I will try with the Attorney General to see what can be done about scams like this even though they may argue everything is in the fine print. I was still misled by thinking that what they were saying in big print was accurate and true.
The number I called for this scam was on my bank statement 1-866-957-0020 but they are jerks and will mislead you as well as I was misled.
They say you can get a refund within 30 days but a lot of people go by mailed statements that are 30 days or beyond by the time you see the charges. even though I cancelled within 30 days they are telling me I needed to request a refund. I told the guy I wanted that $72.21 back but he was rude and I guess it will be his word against mine.
Please don’t fall for it!!! And all it is is how to sell on Ebay. Hell my kids can figure that out without paying someone to show them!!!!!!
Thanks a lot for this!
Sarah, you need to cancel your credit card asap or you could be charged $62 or $72 dollars each month by these scammers. There are some numbers to call suggested here:
http://strangelyperfect.tv/3401/google-treasure-chest-phone-and-address-list/ and also here:
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/152771/page/9
I’ve been charged the $1.97 but haven’t been charged anything else yet. I haven’t received anything no cd or whatever its supposed to be and I can’t find a number to call and cancel.
I am sorry to hear about this Michael. I hope you will be able to get your money back from these scam artists.
And next time, read the fine print.
I made a huge mistake in sending for the CD. I did not read the small print. I thought I was giving them $1–they charged my debit card $1.98. I didn’t receive any CD or anything else. There was no phone number and no one to call so I wrote off the $1.98 charge and forgot about it. Then they charged me $72.21. When they take the money out of your account they do not leave a phone number, company name, or any way to contact them. I had to get a new debit card and the bank is now attempting to get my money back from them. This is the biggest rip-off I have ever seen.
Very true, and I think it is a very good idea to warn the public for these scammers too! And even tell them why these are scams, show people that this cannot work as they tell you: http://www.icantinternet.org/2009/02/google-scams/
Adsense really is the only true way to go to earn money via Google.