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Knowing Scam / Misleading Sites
How were these sites created?
Since the beginning of the web, people have always come up with unique ways to make money. It began innocently as an information resource which was soon followed by companies with sites trying to reach more customers. Then came advertising soon followed by individually owned sites. Soon anyone could have a site, including anyone who wanted to make money. Individuals with sites quickly found ways to advertise on their site pages which included pop up ads or advertising banners that linked people to other sites. Then came the ultimate idea of charging people just to view their site and links. They would then call it an exclusive membership, and that all the professionals and experts use and endorse them.
What do membership sites generally do?
Someone in the beginning got an idea that they could make money by having people join there site. The site would provide some general information and include links to other sites so people could find whatever they needed. First came sites such as Net Detective and Web Detective. Soon after a few years, dozens of these sites appeared such license plate search, reverse license plate lookup, government records, unlimited searches, instant backgrounds, reverse phone, and so on and so on (just about anything with reverse, unlimited, instant, or government in their web address).
What is the problem with these sites?
First, its the way they advertise.
They fool customers into buying a membership by making them believe they deliver the information the customer is seeking. The may state they have unlimited access to records, or they may provide an instant search menu where a person enters phone number, license plate number, or name, and then they state they have a record or the information your seeking. Regardless what these sites state, they do not have the information nor do they deliver the record. What ends up happening is that either they provide a list of links for members to choose to go to, or they automatically link the member to another site. In the end, the customer pays money for a middleman to direct them to sites or a site that was already searchable through search engines for free.
Second, they flood the internet with dishonest sites?
What happens when you flood the internet with sites that dont deliver what they state? The honest companies get pushed down in search engine rankings, and people just wont trust any site, regardless if the site is legitimate or not.
Each day we receive dozens of calls in reference to whether we are legitimate or not. It does not matter how many warnings we post about the member sites, we still get calls from customers complaining that they paid membership fees to 3 different web sites and they did not get what they were promised.
How do I recognize the honest from the dishonest sites?
Very easy - if the site does not provide a phone number to call them, then stay away from that site.
How do I get my money back from these sites?
The best way to attain a refund is to call the phone number associated with the charge. That number should be posted on your paper or online payment card statement. Then state you were misled and you want a full refund.
You will be surprised, when these companies receive the call, how fast they process your refund request. Its like they anticipate that your call is about attaining a refund. See, they know what their doing is wrong. There hoping, or better yet, counting on the fact that your are too busy to get your refund.
If calling and asking for a refund does not help, then I would advise disputing the charge with your payment card company. Now, I do not advise doing this initially. Many of these sites have fine print at the bottom page of their site that state what membership covers, and that fine print may be enough for the customer to lose a dispute if the site decides to respond to the chargeback. Plus there is a reason why credit card fees are going way up and more and more internet providers are going to paypal. There are just too many chargebacks being made and lost by customers which take up time and money.
Dont you make money if your site is one of the links posted by these membership sites?
Of course we get the business if a customer purchases something as result of the link, but I can tell you that we have no association with these sites, no contracts with these companies, and we make no money off the membership fees they collect. A matter of fact, it probably cost us money in the long run to be a link. See, being part of a misleading site that uses us as a link is bad for business. People use us because of our good reputation, but misleading sites that use us as their link, gives us a bad reputation.
If you should have any questions or concerns please contact me:
Ken Burbridge - Owner / Licensed Detective
219-629-3260
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