Search Direct Media – Scam?
Portal Response Technology – Scam?
Client Placement Services – Scam?
One Top Firm – Scam?
MySpace Guardian – Scam?
This website is devoted to educating YOU, the consumer, about a pitch you may have received from one of the above companies -- or some going by another name.
The pitch has been around a long time, and there’s been a trail of unsatisfied customers posting their experiences on the internet.
The pitch sounds deceptively simple: get a banner ad for your business placed above all results of a given search engine, plus a 100% refund if you don’t achieve a guaranteed number of hits on your website.
Remember the phrase, “ If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”?
This is a pitch that realtors, retailers, insurance agents and many other professionals are hearing from cold-calling telemarketers. The entities involved go by many names: Portal Response Technology (PRT), One Top Firm (OTF), Client Placement Services (CPS), and Search Direct Media (SDM). These are only the current iterations. There have been many others.
We’ll call them “The Pitchmen”.
How the Pitch Works
(reprinted: http://professionalwebservices.blogspot.com/2005/07/advertising-scam-search-engine-data.html)
The Setup
The first element is a Trojan Horse in the form of a TOOLBAR that the Pitchmen have created. This toolbar is meant to have alleged utility for a wide audience. One of them is called the BizformBar. The other is called the MySpace Guardian, which claims to help parents protect their children while they are on MySpace. They may claim it has been featured on Dateline, or other high-profile shows.
The Pitchmen issue a press release to raise awareness in the hopes of creating an actual base of users, and in order to get unsuspecting people to download it.
Once downloaded, if someone performs a search in the browser, the program takes over a millisecond before the actual results are displayed, the information is data merged and manipulated with other pay-for-keywords data feeds. Then, when the search results page is displayed to the user it looks like the natural results with targeted Banner Ads at the top of the leading search engines. The Pitchmen claim to have 10 to 20 million network users.
Springing the Trap
Enter any professional business looking for leads in the hot consumer market place. An agent (you) gets a cold call from a nice, sincere sales rep asking if you are interested in getting thousands of leads and website visitors guaranteed. You can get your website at the top of certain keywords searches from their alleged millions of network users! Of course with numbers like that, anyone would want to hear more information.
The sales person answers, "Let's say someone does a search for: 'San Ramon Homes For Sale’. We can place your real estate website as a banner ad above all search results or anyone looking at Homes For Sale in San Ramon. You get thousands of hits because people are using keywords you have exclusively registered with us! Imagine being number one!"
They send you to their website, and ask you to download the toolbar, or to click on the orange bar labeled “online demo”. You type in your web address and a keyword, and there you see the top portion of your webpage above the Google or other search engine results. Wow! It really works!
You choose as many keywords that you think are relevant for you, and they offer a discount if you buy in bulk. Of course, keywords that are used frequently cost a lot more. They determine which keywords are best by directing you to www.seobook.com, which lists exactly that information.
And the best part is that it’s 100% guaranteed! If you don’t get a minimum number of hits during a certain period. they will refund your money! Right?
The Blowoff
By the end of the Guarantee Period, the minimum number of hits has been achieved. But the client has received no actual leads. The ones they have received are designed not to convert into actual sales. The client receives no business whatsoever.
When the client complains, the Pitchmen gives excuses. The first is, “We said your banner ad would be viewed, not that you website would actually be visited”.
Or if you got any “leads” but somehow they never converted to sales, they’ll say, “We sent you the leads. It’s YOUR fault you couldn’t convert”.
Or they pull a log from their server “proving” that the minimum number of visitors had been achieved. But since each “hit” actually travels from the computer allegedly performing the site visit through the Pitchmen’s servers, there is no way to actually verify that a unique computer user visited the site.
You do not receive your refund. And funny…the traffic that started arriving at your website when your deal closed has dropped to almost zero now that the Guarantee Period is over.
Does this sound like a scam to you? Think it over.
Now let’s examine this scenario from beginning to end….
Questions People Should Ask…But Don’t
HOW many toolbar downloads?
1) The installed base of PC computers with internet access in the USA is about 58 million, according to the US Census. The Pitchmen’s claim of 10 – 20 million network users means that 20 – 40% of every US computer has the MySpace Guardian Toolbar (“MSG Tool”). Do you REALLY believe that? How many people do YOU know that have the MSG Tool?
2) If this toolbar is so widespread, why haven’t you heard about it before?
3) If there have been millions of downloads, why is it that the number of downloads at popular 3rd party websites like download.com and windowsmarketplace.com show less than 10,000?
4) The MSG Tool was announced in May of 2006. How could they have reached 10 – 20 million MSG Tool downloads in just under 18 months?
5) Alexa.com’s toolbar, which shows website traffic for selected sites, is one of the most popular toolbar downloads EVER. It’s only been downloaded 10 million times.
6) Alexa.com’s traffic information shows that all sites associated with MSG Toolbar and BizFormBar have almost nil traffic.
7) What counts as a “download”? Downloads to UNIQUE computers? Downloads to bogus, Pitchmen-owned computers?
8) How many VERIFIED INSTALLATIONS of the toolbar exist? And most importantly…
9) How can the Pitchmen PROVE TO YOU that their claims are real?
If they can’t prove it, then you can’t verify it. If you can’t verify it, why should you believe it? Because they said so? Because they “sound sincere”?
What exactly is a “guaranteed hit” to my website?
1) Are they fake, inorganic hits that the Pitchmen create using ‘bots, low-paid foreign shills who are paid by the click, and/or hits generated by the Pitchmen’s own employees?
2) Are the leads auto-generated or entered by the Pitchmen’s employees?
3) How can the Pitchmen PROVE TO YOU that their claim is real?
If they can’t prove it, then you can’t verify it. If you can’t verify it, why should you believe it? Because they said so? Because they “sound sincere”?
Why does the Pitchmen’s website look almost exactly like others?
Have a look at all of these websites. Funny how they all look the same. Is that because the same person is behind them?
www.toppg1.com
www.onetopfirm.com
www.clients1.com
www.searchdirectmedia.com
www.surfspeak.com
Where are all the testimonials?
With the “millions” of network users and all the clients PRT has, where are all the testimonials? With an alleged network of millions, you’d think many businesses would be falling over themselves to sign up with PRT. If that’s so, why haven’t they sent in testimonials? Is it possible that they were so unsatisfied with the results that there is no way in Hell they would send in a testimonial?
Why is it that, as of 9/26/07, PRT only has one testimonial (“Priority Moving”). Who is this company? Were they paid to write a testimonial? Are the writers in any way connected to PRT? Could Priority Moving VERIFY that any leads they got came from MSG Toolbar searches? Why trust a testimonial from a company you’ve never heard of?
Where’s all the “Hot News” on the webpage?
10 – 20 million networks users and yet media stories about the MSG Tool itself are practically non-existent. When you click on the links they list on their “Hot News” webpage, most of them take you to exactly the same press release issued by the creators of the MSG Tool. These aren’t individual stories about it, just different networks that posted the release on their websites.
And the real kicker: The top link reads like this:
“Microsoft add BizForm Bar to IE Add-On site - Microsoft has added BizForm Bar to it's IE Add-Ons website (http://www.IEAddOns.com/) for Internet Explorer 7”
Well, Microsoft did no such thing. ANYONE can add their product to the Windows Marketplace. If you don’t know how the Marketplace works, you might believe that Microsoft has somehow endorsed their product with this headline.
Are there any actual “Partners & Clients”?
That webpage cleverly says, “These are a few of the companies who are branding themselves through exclusive keywords”. Notice that the webpage does NOT say, “These are a few of the companies who are branding themselves through exclusive keywords. . .THROUGH US”.
Is it possible that this might be designed to trick people into believing that these top companies are somehow clients or partners with the Pitchmen?
Why do all the above listed companies have “F” ratings from the Better Business Bureau?
1) Go to www.bbbsouthland.org
2) Click on “Company Reports”
3) Look up all these names: One Top Firm, Simply Voice, GoDotLess, Client Placement Services, Portal Response Technology (well, as of 9/26/07, they’re at “B”. Just wait.)
The Press Release contains an unwelcome surprise
Several names are mentioned in the press release about the MSG Tool. One of them is Charles Lloyd, President of IP Marketing, which “Jointly developed the MSG Tool”.
An informed consumer would search, and find, this information on Charles Lloyd from the website of the Federal Trade Commission. Looks like Mr. Lloyd had a little problem with them:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/08/meddata3.shtm
FTC’s “Project Busted Opportunity” Sweep
Charles Lloyd and his company, Healthcare Claims Network, Inc., doing business as Med Data Solutions, are banned from promoting or selling medical billing work-at-home opportunities, as a result of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The complaint against the defendants was filed in June 2002 as part of the “Project Busted Opportunity” sweep, and alleged that the defendants violated the FTC Act in the marketing of medical billing work-at-home opportunities to consumers. The settlement requires that the company be liquidated and that Lloyd pay $10,000. In addition, the settlement prohibits the defendants from making any deceptive claims in connection with the sale of any goods or services.
The FTC’s complaint named Charles Lloyd, Healthcare Claims Network, Inc., d/b/a Med Data Solutions and Southern California Billing Services, Anne Miller, and Stanford Miller. The Commission approved a settlement with Anne and Stanford Miller in February 2003. The proposed settlement announced today resolves the case against the only remaining defendants.
“Project Busted Opportunity” was a law enforcement sweep launched by the FTC, the Department of Justice, and 17 state law enforcement agencies targeting fraudulent work-at-home business opportunities. The FTC’s complaint alleged that the defendants promised that, for $485, they would provide consumers with everything necessary to perform medical billing services from home, including training, a list of doctors in need of home-based medical billers, and the software to perform the work. Instead, the FTC alleged, the defendants provided consumers with inadequate training and medical billing software that many consumers were unable to use. In addition, consumers allegedly found that the doctors on the defendants’ list had no need for at-home billing services. As a result, the FTC alleged, consumers were unable to earn any income using the defendants’ medical billing packages.
In addition to the ban against the defendants, the settlement announced today prohibits Med Data from misrepresenting:
- the earnings potential of the business opportunity;
- that they will provide consumers with a list of doctors who are likely to use the consumers’ medical billing services; and
- any material fact regarding any item, product, good, or service sold or offered for sale.
In addition, the settlement prohibits the defendants from selling their customer lists and seeking to collect payment from their customers for any work-at-home opportunity. The settlement includes a suspended judgment of $2.7 million if it is found that the defendants misrepresented their financial conditions. Finally, the settlement contains various recordkeeping provisions to assist the FTC in monitoring the defendants’ compliance with the final order.
The Commission vote to authorize staff to file the proposed stipulated final judgment and order was 5-0. It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division, and requires the court’s approval.
Copies of the stipulated final judgment and order are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint, or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1 877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at http://www.ftc.gov. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
Media Contact:
Brenda Mack,
Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2182
Staff Contact:
Steven Baker
FTC Midwest Region - Chicago
312-960-5634
(FTC Matter No. X020072)
(Civil Action No. 2:02 CV 4569 MMM (AJWx))
Does PRT or any of these companies actually have any satisfied clients?
This blogger has now spoken to seven clients, with more waiting in the wings. Here’s how much they spent, and here’s how many sales they got (nobody got a refund, either):
Client #1: $100,000 – ZERO SALES
Client #2: $ 60,000 - ZERO SALES
Client #3: $ 38,000 - ZERO SALES
Client #4: $ 25,000 - ZERO SALES
Client #5: $ 5,000 - ZERO SALES
Client #6: $ 4,000 - ZERO SALES
Client #7: $ 3,000 - ZERO SALES
So why don’t people sue?
There are four main reasons why people who are unsatisfied with this service do not sue:
1) Time and expense
2) Amount lost is usually under $5000, and not worth the hassle
3) They are intimidated by the concept of a lawsuit
4) They are ashamed to admit that they may have been scammed.
Links – Check them out
A lot of people have discussed this concept of selling exclusive keywords to take advantage of an alleged base of millions. Here’s a few quotes from some websites, and the links to those threads:
This first one involves John Griffin, who identifies himself as being the business account manager at Portal Reponse. His replies demonstrate two regular tactics used to defend the company. The first is to accuse those asking legitimate questions of a “smear campaign”. The second is to dodge many direct questions.
One great example of this is how Mr. Griffin replies when confronted with Mr. Lloyd’s past. His reply is “The mere suggestion that any principal or affiliate of our company has ever been convicted of a felony is the most base of fictions and represents to us the lengths to which the perpetrators of this campaign will go to smear our company’s reputation.”
Nobody suggests any felony conviction. All that was posted was the same info about the FTC lawsuit. So Mr. Griffin avoids discussing the FTC case by answering a question that was never asked.
I particularly like post #17, which raises many of the questions listed here. Mr. Griffin avoids answering them.
http://blog.retailblogmarketing.com/122/myspace-guardian-toolbar/
The most interesting exchange on this next thread involves the screen name “homesnland68”. As you’ll see, she claims to be a realtor named Vicky Brink. But her posts sound so suspicious, somebody tracks down the REAL Vicky Brink, and “homesnland68” is outed as an impostor….and vanishes.
http://www.webproworld.com/marketing-strategies-discussion-forum/59100-one-top-firm-portal-responsetechnology.html
From “teamoc”:
“Here is a factual FIRST HAND experience with One Top Firm. I co own a franchise based business and was originally contacted in 2005 by Simply Voice from a guy named John about buying keywords for my business. In 2006 I was contacted again by the same person but this time he was representing One Top Firm and this time I took the bait.
We signed up in August of 2006, received leads for 3 or 4 weeks and NOT ONE single lead in the 9 months since then. I have called OTF numerous times since then with out one response from them other than "we will check into it". This was also during the peak of our season when we should have been receiving numerous internet leads, in fact our Yahoo PPC was still generating a great number of leads for us during the same period. The myspace tool bar they brag about doesn't even work.
No doubt what so ever OTF is a scam.”
From “Truthshallsetyoufree”
“After hearing the pitch, this whole deal sounded like a no brainer and so we scooped up as many words as were still available so that we could lock them in.
Suffice it to say, the campaign has been a horrible flop. Our banners are out there because I installed the MySpace Guardian toolbar, but we are getting such a small number of site visitors compared to impressions that they show, either the impressions are not legit numbers or there is some other issue. The bottom line is that for what we paid, we are NOT EVEN CLOSE to getting enough site visitors and new customers for it to make any sense. We are running pay-per-click on the same keywords and have click through rates which are normal to good. Our conversion rate is horribly low on the toolbar campaign and 0% of the customers who applied for our product got approved. Not one of them qualified.
I have no incentive for this to not work, so I've tried to engage the company to figure out how to make it better and all we have gotten is more poor results, fluff and sunshine blown up our rears, and stall/delay tactics.
For all of those considering doing a campaign like this, don't do it.”
From “myfreeforum”
“I'm really ashamed to admit it, but I got snowed by PRT too. I have a page that converts about 15% on a bad day - their salesman said he could get me thousands of visitors for a search term I picked. I figured (stupidly) it was a good deal.
They do send some traffic (A few a day), but it's like bot traffic or something. Total garbage. Yeah, I can covert. That, "you just cannot convert" is what scammers always say. I spent $900, and wish I would have used it almost anywhere else.”
From: “UltimateNYC”
I was scammed too.
This next link discusses the same type of operation from 2004, named “SearchClimbers”. Funny, they claim to have a network of 15 million users also!
http://freesitetemplates.com/apps/searchengine.forums/action::thread/forum::other-search-engines/thread::1077315528/
This link discusses the operation as it appeared on the East Coast in 2003:
http://www.inluminent.com/2002/09/12/great-sales-technique-yeah-right/
Here’s some folks discussing the topic and the company in question is “Cyberphrases”:
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/archive/index.php/t-4477.html
SearchClimbers, WindowPositions – constant name changes. But one thing never changes: some company shill always shows up to to defend the product:
http://freesitetemplates.com/apps/searchengine.forums/action::thread/forum::professionals/thread::1105480084/
Caveat Emptor
We thank fraudaid.com for providing these helpful tips that you should keep in mind before you do business with ANYBODY.
Con artists choose you very carefully. They seek out the needy. They sniff and snuffle around until they find someone who has an unfulfilled desire that even you yourself may be unaware of until the carrot is dangled in front of your face. i.e. BEING NUMBER ONE on a search engine.
A con artist will tell you everything and anything you want to hear - up to the point where you start asking pointed questions. These are the questions a con artist will not answer, or will answer with false information, or lull you with excuses, and then flee the scene.
Con artists do the following:
Locating a well-to do mark (telemarketing to realtors, etc)
Gaining your confidence (“We have a network of millions”)
Showing you how you can make a large amount of money (“Be number one in search engine results”)
Allowing you to make a substantial profit (“Think how many customers you’ll get”)
Determining exactly how much you will invest (“You should buy these keywords”)
Sending you home for this amount of money (“Act fast, before someone else takes your keywords”
Getting you out of the way as quietly as possible (“We gave you leads, you just couldn’t convert.”)
Forestalling action by the law (“Go ahead and sue. We fulfilled our contract”)
Conclusion
As with any business that solicits you by telephone or email, be extremely careful. Don’t give over any money until you have completely and totally investigated them.
