Google Cash Kit Another Credit Card Scam

"I'm happy I lost my job," read the sponsored links seemingly splattered everywhere on sports pages at the ESPN website. The enticements for this amazing money-making opportunity have links that read: Ericsgotgreen or Coreyhasmoney. You would think that upon perusing "Eric's website," and "Corey's website," that these two were twins, married to the same girl, and sitting in the same limousine dressed in wedding clothes, celebrating their new-found wealth. Chances are, the names "Eric" and "Corey" are fictitious, but rather than cast any aspersions on these aspiring young entrepreneurs who are going to help us see the light out of our dark, financial tunnel, let's examine their amazing offer on its merits.

It's interesting to note that Eric claims to have lived in the Boston area, while Corey apparently uses an RSS feed and claims to have "grown up in Riley, KS." This writer lives in Riley, KS., and has noted when doing research on the Acai Berry diet scam, that bloggers using RSS feeds can interchange their "hometown" to read whatever town you live in, based on your IP (Internet Provider) address. For example, three diet blogs on whose links I clicked, all claimed to miraculously live in Riley, KS. When I called my internet tech support guy in Hays, KS., and had him click on the same links, all three diet blogs then claimed to tell their compelling weight loss story from their "hometown" of Hays, KS. Same pictures, same stories, just different hometowns, thanks to computer technology that can alter a testimonial at the touch of a button.

But getting back to our friends, Eric and Corey, they are marketing a Google Cash Kit in which they claim to earn about "$5,500 to $7.000 per month." The formula for success seems simple enough: order a free (they emphasis "free") Google Kit and just pay $1.95 shipping and handling, and then set up a Google account and start posting links. They then make the outrageous claim that Google will send you your first check "within 48 hours" or "start wiring money directly into your checking account." They then state that your "first checks will be about $500 to $1,500 per week, depending on how many links you post online."

When contemplating placing an order for this product, one can't help but notice that the "shipping charge" is $1.95 on one page, and $1.97 on another. But if the product is truly "free," and there is instant access via the internet, then why is there any need to pay a "shipping charge?" Nothing is being mailed to you to "get started."

So let's assume you take Eric and Corey up on their opportunity to make all this money. You dutifully give out your address, phone number, e-mail address, and then you go to the order page where you are asked to give out your credit card number, along with the security code. The big mistake you just made is giving out your credit card number in order to charge $1.95 for a phony "shipping" charge, when the product was supposed to be "free."

Here's where the fun begins. Nowhere in the website advertising this money-making plan did you see anything about additional charges to your credit card. Nowhere (I'm repeating for emphasis). You're about to find out why giving out your credit card number was a mistake. If you click on the Terms and Conditions link of the website, you are about to discover a whole host of other charges to be made to your credit card. For starters, "after seven days, if you choose not to cancel, you will be billed your first monthly membership fee of seventy two dollars and twenty one cents for the membership fee for googletreasurechest.com!" I retrieved the exact phrase from their website for emphasis. Note that they spell out the $72.21, making it difficult to see what you're being charged without needing spare parts for your eyes. Since you didn't know you needed to cancel anything within seven (7) days of giving out your credit card for the $1.95 bogus shipping charge, your card gets hit for $72.21!

But Eric and Corey are not through, just yet. The Terms and Conditions section continues to state that "you have also unlocked a fourteen day trial and a twenty one day trial to Fraud SafeLock ID and Grant Spring for just $19.95 and $14.95 a month thereafter should you choose not to cancel." So between the $72.21 charge in seven (7) days, the $19.95 for Fraud SafeLock ID in 14 days, and for $14.95 for Grant Spring, in 21 days, you now have $107.11 being charged to your credit card EVERY MONTH until you call a customer service number that only appears under the Terms and Conditions section that you probably didn't see.

It doesn't take much thought to figure out what's going on here. Eric and Corey are simply perpetuating their Google Cash Kit scam by getting you to sell the same scam and the only way you'll make any money at all, is if you can lure enough people into paying the same bogus shipping charge you did by giving out their credit card number. The Terms and Conditions section explains that the recurring charges are part of an Assumed Consent or Negative Option clause in which the seller completely escapes responsibility for any ongoing charges and puts the responsibility for cancellation completely on YOU! But not to worry. I understand that Fraud SafeLock ID and Grant Spring both come accompanied with newsletters, so I'm sure you'll find your involvement with these two back-end products both fulfilling and rewarding. Provided there's enough available credit on your credit card to handle the monthly recurring charges.

Here's another interesting aspect about trying to cancel via the customer service number to get the recurring charges to your credit card stopped. Typically, the customer service number is disconnected by the time you get around to calling it. If you do get a number that works, you're usually on hold for half an hour, or you're told the voicemail box is full and to call back later. And round and round you go. Even if you do get in touch with someone, the customer service representative can tell you you're canceled, only to have you find out that charges still appear on your credit card! Under the phony diet scams I've written about, warning people about these free trials, many victims of these scams never received any product, were told that the charges to their credit card had been stopped, and were even given confirmation numbers "proving " that the charges had been stopped, only to find the charges continuing to show up. One simple piece of practical advice to anyone considering a purchase of a product like this Google Cash Kit would be to iron out any problems ahead of time by seeing if the customer service number works before you order. And even if it does, be advised that the shelf life of many of these scams is usually only a few weeks before the phones get disconnected and the same scam resurfaces under another name with new phony blogs. If something is advertised as "free," or is advertised as a 'free trial," find out what the hidden charges are, or if consenting to a negative option clause obligates you to more credit card charges. If someone told you ahead of time, that the Google Cash Kit was going to cost $107.11 every month (over $1,200 a year!), with the first charge of $72.21 hitting your credit card within seven days, would you have ordered it?