The Miami Gazette News Scam

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Wow, if you thought the fake work at home for Google blog was sneaky, check out MiamiNewsGazette.com.  I have to be honest, even I had to look twice at this one and read for a bit just to make sure it was fake.  It appears to be an article about what a great business opportunity the Easy Google Profit kit is, how much money people make off it, how they can now work at home part time and make $5000-$9000 a month.

Let’s take a closer look at why it’s scam in my opinion:

• First, click on any of the links (and there are a LOT of them) and you are brought to our old friends securecartcenter.com and the Easy Google Profit scam.  Every single link on the page, all the tags, all the ads take you to the same place
• At least at the top of the page they are honest enough to put the words “This publication is an article advertisement for Easy Google Profit.”  It’s in gray and in a smaller font, but at least it’s there.
• Lots of talk and “interviews” about how people are making hundreds of dollars a day “posting links to Google”.

Alright, I have to admin that this site is pretty damn well put together.  From the ad placement to the little weather report to the random video about the recession, the site REALLY looks like a random local newspaper.

All that being said, they can dress up the pig in fancy clothes (I hate the lipstick expression), but it’s still a pig.  Securecartcenter.com and the Easy Google Profit folks are trying to trick and scam you out of your money.  The site makes it appear that it will cost you only $1.97 to “work at home for Google”.  But check out the fine print that is hidden in the Terms and Conditions and not anywhere near the page where you actually put in your credit card info:

You have also subscribed to a fifteen-day trial to Grant Spring for just $24.87 a month and every month thereafter should you chose not to cancel…

AND

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 blazingkeywords.com may charge $77.82 on a monthly basis. You may stop payment on any pre-authorized charge by notifying blazingkeywords.com at least three business days prior to the scheduled charge date. You agree your pre-authorization and written consent to charge your debit card is given in electronic form by submitting the request for the membership, and that an electronic signature is sufficient to authenticate your authorization to charge the debit card. You further agree that these terms and conditions shall be your copy of your pre-authorization for the debit card.

So buried in some fine print that you’ll never ever read, they’re going to hit your credit card for $100 after 7 days, then again every month until you manage to get hold of them on the phone and cancel.

What do you get for that $100 a month? Does it matter?  Obviously if it was worth more than $1.97 they would not need to trick you into “buying” it.  Most people we’ve heard from say it’s a collection of old money making eBooks that will take you over 7 days to read through all of and realize are generally worthless.

I Was Taken By The Miami Gazette News! What Do I Do?

1. Don’t feel bad! Seems like hundreds if not thousands of people have been taken in by these sort of “negative option” offers that trick you by not clearly disclosing you are signing up for monthly charges. You were tricked, it happens to the best of us.
2. Call the number provided on the website that took you in IMMEDIATELY. Have more than one witness listen when you call and/or record the conversation if possible. Unfortunately many people have complained that they can never get anyone to talk to when they call. Finding that number is up to you, they seem to keep changing.
3. Call/write your credit card company and dispute the charges or better yet, report the card lost or stolen. They never clearly disclosed the charges you were signing up for, so you have a case here.
4. Monitor your credit accounts! You just gave some shady characters your name, address, phone number, credit card and secret 3 digit card number. Click here to sign up for Experian ID Protection monitoring. Unlike the Google Biz Kits, Experian clearly states that it’s actually free for a full 30 days, then only $9.95 a month to monitor your credit accounts for fraud and identity theft. I’d suggest signing up for AT LEAST the free month to make sure no one tries to change your address or open a new card using the current cards details you gave away.

I Didn’t Get Taken, But What Can I Do To Help?

1. Click Here to Share this on Facebook! Hit “Post to Profile” to warn your friends.
2. Use the “Share This” links below to Digg or Twitter or Stumble or Reddit or Email or whatever service you use to share this so that other people might see it before they get scammed too!
3. Email this link to your friends.

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