Winding down for the weekend I thought I’d check the weather on Weather.com and while there I noticed a local ad ‘Acai Berry EXPOSED (Van Buren Twp Report)‘. I clicked the link and at first glance Channel5healthNews.net looked like an actual news site. These scammers went out of their way to deceive consumers.
Check the site out Channel5healthNews.net, it’s loaded with repeated affiliate links. Hell, even the weather links [Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar] are disguised affiliate links. I’d be very surprised if that wasn’t in violation of someone’s TOS. Unbelievable!
Speaking of violations, the site appears to be in blatant violation of the FTC’s Guides Governing Endorsements and Testimonials. They have plenty of fine print at the bottom of the page but I see no acknowledgment of affiliate links. I’m not an attorney but it looks pretty plain to me.
I found these sites, all identical or very similar:
- http://channel5healthnews.com/
- http://www.channel5healthnews.net/
- http://www.news6report.org/
- http://healthybegins.com/acaiberrydiet/
- http://www.consumerbuzzweekly.com/
- http://www.healthnews6.tv/
- http://consumershealthtips.com/
- http://www.healthybegins.com/acaiberrydiet/
What’s the big deal? Here’s what unsuspecting buyer’s are in store for:
- Acai Berry Plus – You must cancel within 10 DAYS to avoid a membership fee of $169.95 and charges of $22.95 per month.
- Vita Cleanse – Your free bottle will actually cost you $69.95 plus $4.95 s&h immediately and then a month later you pay another $74.90! Where’s your free bottle? After you have dropped almost $150, IF you qualify for their Mail-In Rebate Program you can receive a rebate of $69.95. That’s your FREE bottle of Vita Cleanse.
Your thoughts? Should these people be shut down? Is the whole Acai Berry weight loss fad a scam? Know of any other low life Acai Berry scams taking advantage of the unsuspecting consumers with deceptive tactics?
Was eBay’s Top Affiliates Indicted for Fraud?
I’m very reluctant to post on this issue because I cannot find a single legitimate news report about it. There are tons of blog and forum posts but is this even real? There are reports on sites like AuctionBytes.com and ReveNews but where are the main stream media reports?
Basically, the story is that eBay sued [allegedly] three of its top affiliates, including Shawn Hogan of Digital Point, for cookie stuffing fraud. The suit is on hold while federal charges take their course. After a FBI investigation, Shawn Hogan and Brian Dunning were [allegedly] indicted by a California grand jury for various accounts of wire fraud.
I just finished reading Shawn Hogan’s blog post on DigitalPoint. First of all, I can’t believe his attorneys let him post that, if indeed he was the actual author. It seems like it could eventually backfire, or maybe it just doesn’t matter anymore.
Click To Read: Shawn Hogan’s Post On DigitalPoint
Anyway, the entire story smells wrong. Shawn would have everyone believe he was an innocent pawn of eBays and was trying to do the right thing. Little things like him paying $50,000 for an eBay employee’s car to get them to ‘stop complaining about a car’ seem a little ridiculous. And why would someone earning a million dollars a month need to point out they had ‘a crappy TV and crappy laptop‘? Everything doesn’t seem to add up. How does a grown man say he kept saying ‘no‘ and eBay wouldn’t accept no for an answer [paraphrased]. No one was forcing him to be an affiliate. I mean, unless eBay works like the mafia of something. I suspect it would be very difficult for anyone to turn away from that kind of money.
This is all speculation on my part and I’m in the dark as much as anyone but it seems like someone smart enough to build that much money would cover their own ass. If I’m being asked to break someone’s own terms, I’m getting that request in writing. Otherwise you’re jeopardizing future earnings when they suspend or revoke your affiliate status later. If they ask me to violate the law or illegally hurt another person/company, I’m walking away, period!
If you have found any legitimate news report on this issue please share it in a comment. Feel free to link to it.
What do you think? Is the story real? Does the post on DigitalPoint ring true? Who do you believe? Go ahead and have your say.
Special Thanks to Yan Susanto and Mitch Mitchell for their Facebook conversation that led to this post.