Fake Employment News Websites Increase – As Does The Scam

Fake news websites have increased to the point that I think the FTC needs to get involved in controlling their appearance with a stronger hand – possibly a sledgehammer. Believe me, I have no love for the FTC, but I have even less for the scam news websites.

It must have been about 3 years ago when I stumbled upon the first fake news website, while surfing the Internet. I have to admit, it took me a couple of minutes to figure out that it was a fake. OK, maybe a minute, as I spent the first minute wondering why a news website would do a story about Google hiring people and the fact that I had never heard of Google hiring and paying people for simply posting links. While I am familiar with Google Adsense, which awards a webmaster with a few pennies if someone actually clicks an ad they offer, I had never heard of Google “hiring” people to work for them and simply posting links.

I thought when I first noticed them that they would eventually die off. I mean, obviously, people would get wise to them and recognize them as fakes when they had news stories that were preposterous on their face. I was wrong.

They are going strong and are, in fact, often getting more traffic (visitors) to them than the FTC website that is supposed to oversee them. In the case of the fake news website, DailyNews7.com, they received 1,614,779 unique visitors in July of this year, while ftc.gov received only 1,101,670.

They are increasing in sophistication.

These fake news websites are now employing script coding that uses your ISP to determine your local city. It gives the further appearance that it is some news website that is local to your area, by displaying your local city in the title of the website and in the presentation article. In my case, my ISP is in Lehighton, PA. I see the website as having “originated” from Lehighton. It will display your city if you were to visit the site.

The fact is that these fake news sites are nothing more than blogs made to look like an official news website and they certainly look real – both in appearance and their domain names. Many have a real news story or video embedded on the landing page, but the top story is always about how somebody made thousands of dollars in a day, week, or month working for Google.

And, of course, there are the links to filling out an “application.” Virtually every item that can be clicked is linked to the scam. If you click on any tab, whether it be “Local News,” “National News,” “Editorials,” or whatever heading a real newspaper offers, you are sent to a page telling you that for a small fee (which may only be a few dollars) you can work for Google.

While $3 may seem insignificant to people for a chance to “earn thousands” working for a giant company like Google, that $3 is only a hook to steal hundreds more from you.

The fact is you are signing up for a membership to a program – not associated with Google – that will simply steal money from your bank account each month when your $2.97 trial period ends. Few people ever read the fine print when they give their banking information during the “enrollment” process. When your trial ends (often, very quickly) you will be charged obscene amounts every month.

Depending on the program running the fake news website, it could be as much as $90. If you actually catch it on your first bank statement, don’t expect the bank to refund your money. You agreed to the terms. Want out quick, so you write to the program charging you? Fugettaboutit. These programs do not act quickly, if at all. Expect to be charged again and again as each month passes. Most people have to close their bank accounts to stop the automatic payments.

In the fake news website example, pictured below, the links lead to HomeWealthAcademy. If you don’t bother reading the “Terms and Conditions,” linked at the very bottom of the website, you will miss this:

By placing your order for Home Wealth Academy you agree to be bound by the following Terms and Conditions. You also agree that by submitting an order this will serve as your digital signature and that you agree to the below terms. When you order the Risk Free Trial of the Home Wealth Academy you will be charged only $2.97 (non-refundable) for access to the The Home Wealth Academy training program. You will have a full 4-day trial period from your original purchase date to decide if the Home Wealth Academy program is right for you. By placing my order I agree to the Terms of Offer, which explain this order includes the above for just $2.97 activation and processing fees. If you enjoy the trial and continue your path to making money, you will be billed a monthly $68.73 maintenance fee (from the day your trial ends) that will maintain your full access to our entire money making program.

Most of these vile marketers using fake blogs seem to believe that placing the word “Advertorial” (is that even a word?) or “Advertisement” at the top of a page means that they can then do whatever the heck they want…including:

• Lots of fake comments in a comments section. (Further comments are always “closed.”)
• Claiming that their fake story was seen on ABC, CNBC, CNN and other major media outlets. (These images are also linked to the sales program, rather than the media outlet.)

Of course many of them just don’t use an advertorial disclaimer at all. One thing is certain. You should AVOID any “job opportunity” news website that you might arrive at.

These types of marketers give all legitimate affiliate marketers a bad reputation. No wonder people who get burned are angry, as they should be! The people running these websites cross the line.