Acai Optimum is a website that offers acai weight loss supplements through a free trial offer.  It is also one of the last acai websites still allowing its affiliates to market their product through deceptive advertising.  If you heard about this company chances are it was through one of the many advertisements plastered all over the internet.

The ad that you probably saw is one of the sneakiest marketing strategies developed to date, and frankly I would not be surprised to find out if it was technically illegal.  When you click the advertisement you’re taken to what looks like a newspaper article profiling the Acai berry and making it out to be the miracle cure of the future.

The site is designed to look like a professional news outlet using everything from weather charts to videos and other tricks to make you feel like you’re at a legitimate news source.  However this is not the case; the site has only one page on it and contains no real reports or articles, it’s strictly created to sell you Acai Optimum.

Click the image on the right to see an example of such an article.  You can see that at the very top it even says “Advertorial” and you can be sure that none of the links work, they simply take you to the acai trial offer.

So is Acai Optimum a Scam?

The claim made by Acai Optimum is that taking their supplement will help you increase stamina and help your body minimize fat storage of foods that you eat.  They imply that this will help you lose weight, but at the bottom of the page they do stipulate that none of the claims they make are evaluated by the FDA.

Now, I’m not a dietitian that has studied the acai berry, so it’s not my place to debate the health benefits of these products.  I can tell you my opinion is that the whole Acai berry craze has been completely blown out of proportion with so many baseless claims being made you’d think it’s the next miracle cure.  It may very well be healthy for you but I can almost assure you it’s no miracle cure-all.

The other aspect to Acai Optimum that causes many people to call it a scam is in their business model.  Their whole purposes is to get you signed up for the trial period, however the trials is immediately followed by continual monthly billing.

It’s called a “negative option billing”, meaning you have to take action to stop being charged, and it’s pretty heavily frowned upon by the FTC.  If you don’t read the terms and conditions you might miss this information which states that,

If you do not cancel your order within the 14 Day Trial Period and return the Product to us within 30 days after you cancel your order, your credit card on file will be charged $79.98. If after your 14 Day Trial Period you wish to continue to receive AcaiOptimum, simply do nothing, and in approximately 30 days and continuing every 60 days thereafter (a Recurring Order), you’ll be shipped out a fresh new 60 day supply of AcaiOptimum for the low price of just $49.00 per bottle with FREE shipping. For your convenience, we will bill the credit card you provided us for your initial order.” Remember, you can cancel at any time by contacting our Customer Care Department at 1-877-825-1528 or online at acoptimumcs.com.

From what people are saying, canceling the Acai Optimum trial seems like a nightmarish headache since they want you to first contact them for a Return Merchandise Authorization RMA number and then ship the product back to them.  Many customers have complained of telephone numbers not working and staff being unresponsive.  If you need more canceling instructions call them at the above number.

Acai berry products are in really high demand right now and their price reflects that.  No one is giving them away for free and if you have signed up for a seemingly “free trial” I can assure you that you’ve just signed up for an overpriced continual billing plan and that you will have a heck of a time trying to cancel it.

After doing a fair bit of research, I’ve found only one legitimate business that sells acai supplements online.  They’re certified by the BBB with zero complaints, sell 100% pure freeze dried Acai (highest form available), and offer their products cheaper than the scam sites and with no sneaky re-bills.

AcaiBerrySite.com is by far the most reputable retailer of Acai products so if you do decide to try it, I would definitely advise you to purchase it there.

My Cash Printer by James Jordan is the latest quick money guide to hit the internet marketing community.  These types of sites are a dime a dozen and I’m certain I’ve seen several different versions of this site with different names and graphics.

The creators of these types of sites follow a simple method where they recycle and repackage basic information into shiny new courses with cute names like My Cash Printer.  In reality this is just a simple explanation of internet marketing.

They will tell you to sign up for a ClickBank affiliate account, which by the way is free to do.  This will give you access to thousands of digital info products, the owners of which allow affiliates to promote the products in exchange for a commission.

The next step is to sign up for Google AdWords which is also free and will allow you to create online advertisements that appear in the Google’s search engine.  Your job will be to write enticing ads that convince people to click thru and eventually purchase a product.

On MyCashPrinter.com “James Jordan” makes this process sound like an automated cinch, something that you just have to do once and forget about it.  In reality this can’t be further from the truth, when you work with AdWords you have to be very careful and meticulous about what you do.

They don’t tell you upfront but AdWords charges you whenever someone clicks your ad, furthermore this amount is determined by the competition level of the keywords that you’re bidding on.  So essentially this should be a course in keyword research and conversions but a lot of this serious information is lacking from this course.

What always happens with courses like My Cash Printer is that inexperienced newcomers fire up their AdWords accounts bid on some generic keywords and overnight lose all the money in their account without generating any sales.

This is because they’re completely unprepared and are essentially gambling with their money in hopes of creating some kind of miracle campaign.

I think that you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who’s succeeded at earning a solid online income just by following the instructions in My Cash Printer.  On the other hand there are a lot of complaints online from people who feel like they’ve been ripped off.

In addition to complaints about the quality of info found in the product there are also many disgruntled customers who claim that the advertised 24/7 support is in fact non-existent.  This is just another reason to stay away from MyCashPrinter.com.

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Google Profusion has been advertising their work at home kit worldwide for several months now.  They use highly enticing ads like, “Make $5,000 a Month Posting Links on Google,” to get people’s attention. Moreover, this company uses focused advertising to target single parents, the recently unemployed, and those desperate for additional money.

This may be news to some people but the truth is that Google Profusion is not offering a new concept or opportunity.  In fact they’re simply trying to cash in on the latest work at home craze by offering their own Google Kit.

For the past several years law enforcement, government authorities, and most recently even Google themselves have been battling a plague of scammers using the Google name to rip-off the public.  This is not just a simple scam but a complex web of lies that’s been used to fleece millions of dollars from honest people.

The Google Profusion scam works is in two separate stages.  In the first you are sold the idea that this is an amazing product that can make you thousands of dollars with very little effort.  Now this is done via one of two methods, in the first the ad you click takes you to a fake blog that details how a person from your hometown has been using this product to make money.

In the second method the ad you click takes you to a fake news article that profiles a work at home parent who’s been using Google Profusion to make a full time income from home.  In both scenarios this company makes use of bogus testimonials, fake positive comments, unauthorized use of trademarked logos, and other tactics of deception.

Now keep in mind this is all done just to get you to the order page, once there things get even worse for you.  The way that companies like Google Profusion make their money is not by adhering to traditional business models, i.e. create a good product and earn income from satisfied customers.

No, they’ve figured out that it’s much easier to make money by taking advantage of people’s trust and negligence.  Basically, if you don’t read the fine print you’re going to be out a lot of cash.  At the bottom of GoogleProfusion.com in their terms and conditions you’ll find this paragraph…

The initial handling charge of three dollars and eighty eight cents, includes the Google profusion kit as well as three days worth of access to the profitprofusion.com website. After three days, if you choose not to cancel, your first monthly membership fee of fifty nine dollars and ninety five cents will not be refunded. Membership fees will be charged to the credit card used by you to complete the transaction. Prior charges for all programs are non-refundable but bonus subscriptions can be cancelled and future charges stopped at any time by calling toll-free 800-934-0785 Anytime.

If you choose to sign up for this product and pay the recurring monthly charges using a debit card you hereby provide pre-authorization and consent that profitprofusion.com may charge sixty dollars on a monthly basis.

You will also receive a free 7-day trial to Rebate Millionaire and a free 14-day trial to Network Agenda. After the trial period, you will be charged $19.95 and $9.95 a month thereafter, if you choose not to cancel. Cancel any time by calling 800-934-0785.

Note how they purposely write out the numbers instead of printing them as numerals, another deceptive tactic to get you to overlook how much this is actually going to cost you.  Oh, and they also take the liberty of signing you up for additional programs with monthly charges.  If you signed up and need to cancel use the numbers above to do so, make sure to cancel everything.

Again this is nothing new and in fact Google Profusion is late in the game because these deceptive “negative option” offers are now under heavy fire in the US and Google is currently suing the creators of a similar site.  However, these people are still finding plenty of targets outside the US.

As far as the actual course material is concerned the info that they sell is readily available for free online.  They simply instruct you on how to use Google Adwords to advertise products, using tutorials which can be found in Google’s own help pages and forums for free.

Bottom line is that companies like Profusion are clearly in this to make money from people who agree to terms that they never would have if not for the deception and highly exaggerated profit claims.  Beware this scam also goes by the name of “Profit Profusion.”

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In the latest work from home trend, marketing companies are focusing on selling the dream of Google work from home opportunities.  There are hundreds of these websites claiming that if you sign up for their kit they’ll show you how to make $200 – $600 a day posting links on Google.

The most egregious of these offenders go out of their way to make you believe that you’ll be working directly for Google Inc.  They post pictures of Google headquarters in CA and will even use buzzwords like “hiring,” “employment,” and “work at home jobs.”

What’s even worse is how low they’ve stooped to market these Google work from home kits.  The most common method is to use a fake online newspaper.  They create a website that mimics the home page of popular online news portals; they even include minute details like a weather forecast.

These fake newspapers feature one article with a variation of one of the following headlines:

How a Stay At Home Mom Makes $7359/ Month on Google

Is Working Online At Home The Next Gold Rush?

Breaking News: Google Hiring Americans to Work from Home

These articles profile a successful work at home Mom or Dad who are using one of these kits to not only survive these hard times, but make a killing working from home.  At the bottom of the article there’s a procession of comments, which are also fake, followed by pictures of checks and more links to purchase a start-up kit.
Here are some examples of what these sites look like…

Google Work at Home Kits the Biggest Scams to Date?

Aside from the deception used to get you to click through to one of these kits, the worst part is still to come.  These kits are practically given away for nominal shipping and handling fees of around 2 bucks; however you need to read the terms and conditions to get the full story.

What you are really signing up for is a trial period of the product; depending on which kit you purchase you have between 3 – 7 days to cancel.  If you fail to do so, they will begin to charge you a high monthly fee for the continual use of the product.  To make matters worse, often times they take the liberty of signing you up for additional trials for products you never even heard off, much less requested.

This is completely unethical and these Google work from home opportunities have fleeced customers for hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Since these billing stipulations are hidden in the fine print most people fail to see them until it’s far too late.

If you already fell for one of these scams there are several things you can do:

1) If you still have the link to the original offer, follow it and read the Terms and Conditions page to get a cancellation number.  What makes this difficult is that these kits are hosted on complicated domains like “https://secure3.on1inetrack.com/goph/?offer=go_qg…”

Almost no one remembers them and to further complicate matters these sites are always changing names and numbers.

Here’s a list of some of the more popular ones at the time of writing this article:

2) The easier option is to call your bank or credit card and report these fraudulent charges.  In most cases your credit card company will have a phone number for you to call and cancel the monthly charges.  Still, this doesn’t always work and in many cases people have resorted to reporting their cards stolen and are not taking responsibility for the purchase.

It’s pretty clear that you should stay away from any offers that resemble anything mentioned in this article.  The information in these Google work from home scams is outdated and definitely not worth the monthly fees.

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Kevin Hoeffer is a name synonymous with internet spam; his site KevinsMoneyTree.org has been advertised on almost every popular outlet on the net.  His “make money from Google” ad has plagued Facebook, MySpace, News sites, and countless others leading him to internet infamy.

I first heard about Kevin Hoeffer and his “blog” almost a year ago and assumed that by now he’d faded away, but it appears that he’s back in full force.  When fake blogs first started being used, there were thousands of them; they were exactly the same down to the fake Google checks and bogus story.

Originally these blogs were used to market the Google Money Tree home business kit. This lasted up until several months ago when the FTC filed suit for a number of infractions.  Undeterred, other companies quickly stepped in to fill the place of Google Money Tree and this marketing juggernaut only grew bigger.

The problem is that these sites are too effective at convincing people to sign up for scams so marketers didn’t want to stop using them.  This led to a phenomenon known as “Flogs,” fake blogs that are used to sell bad products.

KevinsMoneyTree.org is a fine example of this marketing tool.  There’s nothing real about the site, from the fabricated persona of Kevin Hoeffer to the checks, the comments, the misrepresented corporate logos, and all the pictures.

However, what really makes this a scam and what’s led to the FTC crackdown is the actual kit that the owners of KevinsMoneyTree.org are selling.

Why the Google Cash Kits are the Biggest Scams of 2009

After reading the hype on Kevin Hoeffer’s site you’re directed to a one page site that looks something like this,

It’s difficult to nail down a name and company for each of these because due to the FTC involvement they’ve turned to fly-by-night marketing.  This means they’re always changing URLS and names for the kits and by the time one is exposed they’ve already moved on.  So while a site like KevinsMoneyTree.org may stick around the current kit that they’re marketing is always changing its appearance.

The main problem is that the entire opportunity is misrepresented.  Google is not hiring anyone and there’s no position where you get paid a wage for posting links on Google.  What they’re referring to is using Google’s search engine advertising platform to market affiliate offers.

This is a legal and recognized way of making money, however you’re still not getting paid for posting links.  The only way you make money is if someone clicks your ad and purchases the product you’re an affiliate for, earning you a small commission.

Nowhere does Kevin Hoeffer say that you’ll need an advertising budget and that you’ll be working on a commission basis; the only thing you hear about is making 5k a month posting links.

Here’s Where It Gets Worse…

What made these Google Kits such notorious scams is not just the substandard info they market but their horribly deceptive billing policies.  On Kevin Hoeffer’s site he says you can get started for $1.95 in shipping and handling fees.

However, what you aren’t being told is that after a short trial period you’ll be charged an outrageously high monthly fee.  This info is hidden in their terms and conditions…

Following your risk-free 3-day trial to MyMoneyPlan, you’ll be charged the monthly subscription fee of $59.84. You’ll have 3 days from your initial sign-up date to access and use the system. You’ll also receive 10 days free access to Search Profit System. After the initial 10 free days, you will be billed $29.71 should you choose not to cancel. After your initial risk-free trials, your subscription will automatically renew approximately every 30 days from the date you signed up. You can cancel any time after the risk-free trial period, in which case you won’t be refunded that month’s subscription charge, but you will have member access through the end of the month, and you will not be billed again. For questions or to cancel you may call 1-888-673-3212 Mon-Sat, 7am-7pm, PST.

As you can see not only do they charge you for the kit but they also sign you up for additional bogus programs that you never even requested.  This is precisely what’s landed these companies on FTC watch lists and has forced them to constantly change their image.

So is Kevin Hoeffer and KevinsMoneyTree.org a Scam…?

The answer is a resounding yes; his site alone has been responsible for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from innocent people.  Many folks never think to check the Terms and Conditions and only find out about the hidden charges after they get their credit card bill or are hit with overdraft fees.

The point is that the websites are misleading and the information is not worth the high monthly fee.  Additionally, many people complain about trouble getting support, difficulties reaching someone to get their refund or to cancel, and even getting charged without ever receiving the kit.

It’s pretty clear that if you want to avoid a massive headache and unauthorized charges you need to stay away from Kevin Hoeffer and any site that looks similar to his.  In case you missed it, here’s the number to cancel 1-888-673-3212.

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