Remember the old saying that moms and pops would preach anytime you would ask for some ridiculously priced toy or sneaker? "What do you think money grows on trees?" You already knew the answer was no. So it amazes me that I've been getting a lot of questions regarding this whole Google Money Tree opportunity. The name alone should make you skeptical.
Here are the facts.
1. Yes Google is a great company that makes billions of dollars a year.
2. Google can make you money directly with their Adsense program or indirectly as an advertiser promoting other companies with their Adwords program or just because of search engine optimization (Preferred by yours truly).
By the way, you can research this on your own searching for these terms in Google.com or visit WealthyAffiliate.com.
Google Money Tree Claims:
You could be making $107,389 in just six months by filling out forms and doing searches on Google and Yahoo. All you need to do is pay a shipping and handling fee of $3.88 for some kit that you can use for 7 days. If you've recently read my grant scam article, you already know this sounds very familiar & how it will to turn out in the end. But shhhh, don't ruin it for the new people here.
Now back to the conclusion of our scam soap opera which is already in progress… What the "kind" folks at Google Money Tree fail to make abundantly clear on their sign up page is the fact that immediately after the 7 days is up, you will be charged $72.21 per month for access to their Google Money Tree system if you fail to cancel. Excuse you? I didn't sign up for this. Oh yes you did! But you probably failed to realize it when you agreed to the terms and conditions. Unless you read it carefully, you'll totally miss the mention of the fee. This is very easy to do because Google Money Tree mentions the fees in words rather than numbers. So your eye will probably glance right over it as just a block of usual text to be ignored. Sneaky right?
You're almost guaranteed to be charged that exorbitant monthly fee because these shady folks start the clock right when you've ordered the kit not when you actually receive it. Or the kit is never sent. Either way you can't really evaluate it within the allocated 7 days. This is what they're literally banking on. When you call to cancel, that's when you discover that your credit card has already been charged this ridiculous fee. To make matters worst, you no longer qualify for a refund. Needless to say this is why folks are running around calling Google Money Tree a big fat scam!
How is Google.com Involved?
"They ain't!" But it's still tarnishing their "good" name to the unwitting victims. Many are under the false assumption that Google is behind this company because of the name. However this is far from the truth. If you actually look at the bottom of the Google Money Tree sign up page it states: "Internet Money Tree is not affiliated with, endorsed by or in any way associated with Google." I guess that's why Google has failed set it's corporate pitbull lawyers on them. But strangely they do provide you a way to report these companies. You can snitch on these companies by clicking here!
Ultimately these scam artist are offering to teach you about internet / affiliate marketing which are legitimate and great ways of making money. But when you have people duping you into learning about this opportunity you can't help but conclude that it has to be shady since dishonest folks are promoting it.
But the fact of the matter is you can make money with internet marketing if you're being taught by honest successful people (ie. Wealthy Affiliate). In fact these guys played of this & used the picture of a successful straight shooter Internet Marketer Jeremy Schoemaker (Owner of ShoeMoney.com ) who has a picture of himself holding a substantial paycheck from Google which he made with Adsense. Jeremy wasn't having any of that and set his lawyers on the company and that stopped that nonsense! My kind of dude! (Totally in a straight way.)
Forced Continuity
Just so you know, the strategy of charging you a small shipping fee or nothing, then being slammed with recurring higher monthly fees is called "forced continuity". Sadly a lot of internet marketers do this with their products. Now there is a debate about the ethics of this practice. Personally I think it's a bit shady when you bury the fact that you're going to do this. Some marketers argue, it's in the terms and conditions and you're responsible for reading it. But seriously how many of us do that? (And they know this!) I think established companies like Netflix & Blockbuster do a great job of "transparent forced continuity" (Yeah I just made that up). They flat out tell you during the sign up process: "Hey we're going to charge your credit card $14.95 after the 30 day trial period". They even send you an email to remind you of this just in case you missed it on the site. If more marketers followed suit, then I think people would be less likely to label them a scam. So keep this in mind when you run into these type of offers. If they're transparent about it then I'd be more inclined to work with them. But if you see that they're burying their forced continuity practices, then chances are they'll probably make it really difficult for you to cancel and you'll end up losing more money than you anticipated. If marketers don't clean up their act I think forced continuity will be dead. There is already some recent talk that it is. Ultimately it's going to be harder to use this tactic as people wise up. None of us want to feel like we're being suckered.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, I don't recommend Google Money Tree! Yes you can make money with Google using affiliate/internet marketing but you don't want to learn it from people that are using shady marketing tactics to line their pockets.
Internet Marketing requires the proper training, guidance, support and unwavering dedication to succeed. It's not as simple as just filling out forms as many of these products will have you believe. It's not easy work! But it does pay very handsomely if you're willing to put in the time & effort into making it work for you. After all I was able to quit my full time job in Corporate America a year ago because of my affiliate marketing career. So I know you folks can become successful too.
So if you have been duped by these guys, don't let it warp your opinion about Google or Internet marketing. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in the world that can taint things that were meant for good. For instance fertilizer can be used to grow crops that feed people. Or it can be used by a nut like Timothy McVeigh to make a bomb that kills people. So keep that in mind if you've concluded that Google or internet marketing isn't something worth looking into. If you are still interested in embarking in this type of career then click here to read about my recommendation of how to get involved with honest people. If you want to learn about more scams to avoid, then just head over to our scam section by clicking here.
Good luck either way. What are your thoughts about Google Money Tree or "Forced Continuity"?
Update
GoogleMoneyTree.com has been busted & fined for their deceptive practices! Click here to read more.
Although I have been to this site before, I was reminded through a link from rebuildingtori.com. I think what you are doing here is great and it’s definitely something that is needed. I know so many people that want to work from home, including myself, but there’s so much junk to sift through that it gets irritating.
Keep up the great work! 🙂
Thanks Crystal! Tori is good people and I’m feel honored that she posted a little something about my efforts that lead you here. I’m confident as you read through more of the site you’ll continue to find value. I know the garbage out there and I try to be a breath of fresh air when it comes to this industry.
Thanks. I’m not big on sugar coating stuff. People need some tough love when it comes to this industry. In any event, I’m confident as you read more of the site you’ll learn a lot:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/recommendations
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/jobs
You definitely have a way of writing…I can appreciate the bluntness 🙂 I’m reading on now…a newbie here!
Eddy,
I think more than 90 % of people reading this blog have been scammed before. The thing is – bad products/services all come from brilliant sales copy!
Ouch!
Maartin,
I think it’s actually more like 98%. That being said I don’t care how brilliant the sales copy page of many of these scams are. If you already know to always do your research or go in with a skeptical eye, it’s pretty easy to spot their nonsense. A lot of times we all get scammed because we just ignore our instincts. At the very least if you follow that you avoid so much drama. This advice has helped me stay scam free for the last few years. So it works. But to your point you don’t get this knowledge until you’ve fallen victim. But sometimes that’s the best way to learn.
I saw one such work from home link and happen to the image of a check, which “appears” to be issued from Google, Inc. THe image can be found at this link : https://news11nyc.com/finance/images/Google-Check.gif Well, i do this for a living and personally I wouldn’t deposit this check into my account even if it was made payable to me. There is more than one thing wrong with the check. The routing number for Citi Bank on the aforementioned check seems invalid. This seems like a classic example of check fraud.
Hey Banker,
Thanks for chiming in. I wouldn’t be surprised if the check is a fraud. It’s probably been digitally manipulated many times over to convince people to buy into this misleading product. That being said a check from Google would actually be legitimate assuming you could earn one following whatever this shady company is teaching. But that’s really the issue with this scam. They’re not being upfront that they’re teaching you about affiliate marketing where you can actually earn checks from Google. But the real scam for this particular product is the misrepresentation of the product and the hidden fees added on when you buy this nonsense.
The scams that are designed to get you to cash fake checks which is what I think you’re referring to is described here:
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2007/10/16/fake-checks-wire-transfer-scams-fakechecksorg-fights-back/
It’s totally different than this Google Money Tree scam listed above. That being said, I still appreciate you chiming in. Because it goes to show the scam artist are even lazy in their own craft that they couldn’t even digital alter a fake Google check properly. How sad.
I checked my SPAM today for some reason and found a plain text email that contained 2 lines:
I can show how to get rich using Google
And here it had a referral URL
I went to the site to report the SPAM (GCDetectivedotcom) and only found contact info for support, so I used that
I received an email a few hours later from support@ that stated I had been unsubscribed. The email was signed with the same name as the spammer! I couldn’t believe it.
technically then, Google AdSense can be called a SCAM because they do not pay you unless your AdSense account hits more than $100.00
Keep in mind you have to make a website and then place ads on them and then PRAY you get $100 worth of hits and/or searches….
Huh? Waiting for a minimum payout isn’t why a company is a scam. It’s a scam when they claim you’re going to get a product and then you never receive it. It’s a scam when you secretly charge people hidden fees or bury additional fees because you know your users will never find it. It’s also happens to be a scam when the FTC comes down on that ass. Last I checked Google Adsense has paid out billions of dollars to its affiliates. Adsense isn’t being labeled a scam by the feds or any other consumer protection agency. So there isn’t a comparison here.
Making money with adsense has nothing to do with praying. It’s just good old fashion hard work and applying internet marketing skills to reach the audience that will click on those ads. They’re more inclined to do that if you provide some quality content. It’s just marketing 101. If you’re not good at that, then you won’t make money. It’s not a conspiracy. Like any profession, if you’re not properly equipped or trained you’re bound for failure. You can’t make money as a lawyer if you never went to law school and don’t know the laws of your jurisdiction. So let’s not make these generalizations because it basically like comparing apples to oranges.
I’m gathering you may have struggled with adsense or just internet marketing in general. That’s normal, we all did. But trust me casting blame on everyone else isn’t really the answer. You just have to hunker down and keep pushing forward. Road blocks are part of the process but it’s how you handle the road blocks is what may lead to success or failure. I’m wishing you the best Doug. Take care.
Wow, now I’m mad. I just received a phone call from the Google Money Tree people because I signed up for the kit yesterday. They are trying to get me to pay $300 for what they call “an aggressive way to make money online”. They claim this to be something they only offer to people who are truly serious about making money online. I am one of those people, but I am also a part of an elite group of people who won’t go for anything jack! LOL
Thanks to workathomenoscams.com I now have more insight about making money from home. I will not stop until I read every thing this site has to offer.:-) I am just trying to tap into this industry and carve my niche like you have Eddy. I am doing some research of my own and so far I have made money with a few sites.
This is about the time I usually start my routine in making extra money for Christmas online… (Removed by admin.)
I will not stop until I can successfully help people learn many free ways to make money online. Thanks for your help!
YES!! Google Money Tree is, in fact, a scam.
To Eddy: Hello Eddy, I recently found this site while doing research on this “google” scam to see if it was legit before actually doing anything with it. I am glad that you are one of the good people that help protect people from scams.
I am one of the people lucky enough to know how to research on my own and to find out what are scams and what aren’t (like the e-mails saying you can get $1,000,000.00 USD if you send them money)
I am also interested in fighting these kinds of sites, and helping to shut them down for good. I would like to figure out a way to do something like advertise on TVs and in advertisement areas to help protect people from these ads, or if that fails, to try to get a news team(s) to inform people of recent scams, as well as old scams, not only on the TV but on there respective websites, too. Maybe it is possible for you to help me in this goal, as well as other viewers to do this as well. Maybe it is possible to form an organization that provides these news teams of these scams. I’m sure everyone will be happier at this, and thank the news teams (and the organizations) of these discoveries and updates.
I know these achievements are very hard to accomplish, but nonetheless are accomplishable if people decided to pitch in and help.
I would like to know everyones opinion on this idea, not just Eddy’s.
@Eddy Salomon:
I think you do a good job in finding the scams around here, I’m glad someone is looking out for us little ppl. Thank you.
Thanks Shannon.
I really appreciate that.
Is quite ironic that your adsense is showing ads of “make 5k in one week”, and if I am not wrong, you are making money indirectly at the end with all these scams. Even Google is making money with the scams!
Hey Javier,
I hear you point.
However I don’t control Google’s advertisers. The code placed on this site automatically displays the ads based on the content. There are tools that Google provides us publishers to manage these ads. I have used it to remove certain advertisers. But honestly it’s too time consuming and energy intensive to be doing that every hour of the day. But Google has made efforts to clean up the advertisers listed on their site:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/2009/07/06/google-shuts-down-google-money-scams/
So I’m sure many more of these questionable ads will be removed by them in the future. Google loses more money if their users aren’t happy and keep getting scammed by these advertisers. It results in less people using Google which means less eyeballs for their legit advertisers. So yes in the short run they make money on the scammers. But they know that’s short lived and you can’t build a long term business on that. So they will continue to get rid of these advertisers. It’s just a constant battle since scammers are always adjusting their efforts. But Google does act on these complaints.
The other thing to keep in mind in terms of my site, is that I make it abundantly clear what links are sponsors and I have even added some additional text link under each sponsors area labeled “What’s This?” that further explains to the user that they should research any of the sponsors on this site. This is a common practice employed by other sites such as Careerbuilder.com, NYTimes, etc. TV networks that display questionable infomercials also have such warnings before or after these broadcasts so the public is very clear that their appearance on the network isn’t an endorsement.
At the end of the day any medium that is free is supported by ads that the owners may not agree with. It’s a necessary evil or charge the user which I’m not willing to do. But I think making it very clear that these are advertisements, not personal endorsements and that folks should do their research is fair compromise. I provide enough content on this blog teaching people how to do their research and educating folks on common scams to avoid that if used they can avoid most of the schemes out there. Knowledge is power. But it’s only as good as the person that uses it and ultimately that is the responsibility of the individual at that point. People know cigarettes kill and warnings are all over the box telling you this. But it’s up to folks to read and heed that advice.
I, a CPA, too got suckered into this, but was VERY LUCKY to have found this site and others like it.
I cancelled my card and cancelled before the trial period was up.
I then received a phone call from a friendly sounding woman at 866-311-7023; she, Roxi Minkkinen, said I wouldn’t be charged. When I called this number back, a foreign sounding man answered and when I complained about their devious practices, he laughed and told me that “you Americans are so stupid and think you can get something for nothing”. He then told me that my personal financial and identifying information was being sold to a group in NORTH KOREA!!! When I began to curse him out, he laughed as loud as possible and hung up.
So the true purpose of these scams is to get information for ID theft from U.S. Citizens and sell it to NORTH KOREAN criminal organizations.
Yes I guess we are pretty stupid…