An online marketer that falsely claimed ties to Google Inc. has been forced to stop operations
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had charged the defendants with marketing a bogus work-at-home scheme and charging hidden monthly fees to consumers' credit card and bank accounts. Under a settlement agreement with the FTC, the defendants are banned from selling products through "negative option" transactions in which the seller interprets consumers' silence or inaction as permission to charge them.
The defendants also are barred from making misleading or unsupported claims while marketing or selling any product or service, and will give up cash and other assets exceeding $3.5 million.
Fast and loose
As part of "Operation Short Change" -- a crackdown on
scammers taking advantage of the economic downturn to bilk vulnerable consumers
through a variety of schemes -- the FTC announced a complaint in July 2009
against several defendants that allegedly sold a bogus work-at-home product
under names including "Google Money Tree," "Google Pro," and "Google Treasure
Chest."
By using the name and logo of the Internet search company Google and falsely promising that consumers could earn $100,000 in six months, the defendants lured consumers into divulging their financial account information to pay a modest shipping fee for a work-at-home kit.
The defendants failed to disclose adequately, however, that buying the product would trigger automatic monthly charges of $72.21 for another product, and that those charges would continue until the consumer took steps to cancel, according to the FTC complaint.
The complaint charged that the defendants violated the FTC Act by failing to adequately disclose that consumers would be subjected to monthly charges; by making false or unsupported claims that consumers were likely to earn substantial income; and by falsely claiming that they were affiliated with Google Inc.
The defendants also violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E by debiting consumers' bank accounts on a recurring basis without obtaining written authorization, according to the complaint.
Got scammed
"They took more than $200 out of my debit card," Mohamed of Willmar, MN, writes ConsumerAffairs.com. "I didn't agree on anything. I called and they said they are going to pay me back but they never did. Whenever I call there is this new customer rep. who gives some fake number or hung up on me."
Aaron of Lexington, NC, was a little luckier. "I to fell victim to the Google Treasure Chest, but fortunately I caught it in time," he tells ConsumerAffairs.com. I found a $72.00 charge on against my bank account and informed my bank immediately and they emailed me a fraudulent charge claims form to fill out which I did and faxed it back to them all in one day and had my money credited back to my account the very next day."
Paying up
The settlement includes a $29.5 million judgment against defendants Jonathan Eborn; Michael McLain Miller; Tony Norton; Infusion Media, Inc.; West Coast Internet Media, Inc.; Two Warnings, LLC; Two Part Investments, LLC; and Platinum Teleservices, Inc. A fourth defendant, Stephanie Burnside, is subject to a judgment of $741,900.
The defendants will give up cash and other assets that include two cars, interests in a Harley Davidson motorcycle and a boat, and a gun collection -- which total approximately $3.5 million, in partial satisfaction of the judgment. The unpaid portions of these judgments are suspended based on the defendants' inability to pay, but the full amounts will become due if the defendants have misrepresented their financial condition.
