107 responses to “Who Didn’t See This Coming?”

1. 

   Yonatan August 31st, 2009 at 12:44

   It was bound to happen. I was actually told by one CPA company to employ this strategy but it disgusted me. I’m glad I stuck to my principles

2. 

   Paul Schlegel August 31st, 2009 at 12:45

   Glad to hear this from you, Gauher.

   I’ve been stunned and disappointed by some of the big name marketers I’ve uncovered using Flogs. It’s not hard to figure out using some basic open-source reverse-engineering tools.

3. 

   Judith August 31st, 2009 at 12:51

   Dear Gauher:

   Thanks for the info. I agree about the fake blogs. Not needed since product works, since I’ve tried it. Illegal taking of images, ditto.

4. 

   Tony Alverio August 31st, 2009 at 12:53

   Hey Gauher,

   This is great news for those of us that are legitimate online marketers, filtering out all
   flogs and scammers.

   Thanks,

   Tony

5. 

   Gauher August 31st, 2009 at 12:53

   Yonatan: I am glad you did too. If any CPA network encourages illegal or unethical behavior, you should think twice about doing business with them.

6. 

   Karen August 31st, 2009 at 12:58

   Oh so very good Gauher! Thanks for the information, it makes a whole lot of sense and is sad to see the dishonesty, yet reality.

   Good info to file for when I create in the very near future my own legit health product website targeted to a specific product. Products that we use and know works.

   Cheers Karen

7. 

   Russell August 31st, 2009 at 13:00

   Yeah this was sort of a no brainer. I think the main problem here is that people got OUT OF CONTROL with their advertising methods. Some of the landing pages were ridiculous, claiming that rachel ray used acai berry to lose all of her weight, or claims with oprah and Dr. Oz’s face plastered all over their page about how they endorse the product “Dr. Oz’s weightloss secret” or “Oprah’s miracle diet”… it just plain got out of hand. Rest assured, it was the celebrities who fueled this fire though. The only official lawsuits came from the state of Illinois, it’s not a coincidence that Oprah is a resident there if you follow me.

   I would agree though, that rebills pretty much suck for the consumer, and can only hurt us in the future… Making people 10x more cautious about whipping out their credit cards to buy anything online. But the reality of it is, rebills are dominating ad space in the most profitable niches.. there is no way you can compete with a rebill advertiser with a legitimate offer… that being said, as long as their are rebills around, people will find a way to promote them, whether it be flog, farticle, or product review… it’s still going to happen…

8. 

   Charles Kirkland August 31st, 2009 at 13:01

   I’m glad to see this happen. I know that as an affiliate it was only a matter of time before the STUFF hit the fan.

   Last week I read an article about this on time.com and right beside it was a flog for teeth white.

   I’m glad we all stayed above this type of marketing and did the right thing.

   Talk soon,
   Charles

9. 

   Eric August 31st, 2009 at 13:03

   as a matter of fact, maybe we should stay away promoting such offers? rebill is a hidden scam in itself. lots of purchasers can never stop the rebill to their credit cards. however at the same time, weight loss is such a HUGE market, most people can’t resist the temptation. whats your take on this Gauher?

10. 

    Gary Gomez August 31st, 2009 at 13:07

    Im really glad that this is happening, maybe this will level the playing field for affilates who are trying to go about this in a truthful manner.

11. 

    Chantal August 31st, 2009 at 13:09

    About friggin time these affiliates get charged!! I hope they also go after the advertisers who rebill people within 14 days of placing their order, often before they have even received their trial product. I want to get started in affiliate marketing, but find the industry so full of scammers. I don’t know if it is even possible for me to make a good living in this business if I am unwilling to lie and cheet or promote these B.S. rebill offers.

12. 

    Scott August 31st, 2009 at 13:11

    Thanks,
    Good information. Although I don’t do any fake blogs, I was curious as to how you could tell a real one from a fake one and you pointed out some great clues.

    There are also a lot of emails flying around that say:
    1. review sites are under scrutiny
    2. direct linking is going to be slapped by google.

    All these warnings are causing me to wonder what the best approach is to take on new offers.

13. 

    Curt Snow August 31st, 2009 at 13:13

    It’s about time every single one of these bogus sites gets shut down. The fact that so many big-name marketers were using them is just plain ridiculous. It speaks volumes about their integrity (or lack of it).

    I have to say that I was almost lured into doing this because it was such an effective marketing method, but I thought better of it and backed off.

    And yes… these re-bill offers are a disgusting method of doing business, sending consumers down a path of nightmarish credit card charges that many times result in them having to shut their credit cards down and get new ones issued. I blatantly refuse to promote any type of re-bill offer, regardless of how much money it might make for me.

14. 

    Kiley August 31st, 2009 at 13:18

    Gauher,

    Any thoughts on the people you mentor running flogs?

15. 

    Anatoly August 31st, 2009 at 13:22

    Of course, it should be happen!
    The same way the time of “fake Gurus” will come.
    The same way time of “fake statements” Marketers will come.
    I truly believ that my Grandchildren will never know what does it mean when you are paying money online and get a bunch of garbage in return.
    How many people are selling CPA information online?
    How many of them teach how to make million of dollars monthly using CPA?
    How many of them do not have money to pay for the rent?
    That’s why some day this insanity should be completely vanished!

16. 

    Dave August 31st, 2009 at 13:22

    I have many fake blogs and with this news I will probably make many more. Everyone is scared this will help my niche!

17. 

    Hamant Keval August 31st, 2009 at 13:23

    Hello Gauher,

    Its about time that these fakesters were brought out and thrashed!.

    We could all see it coming. It was only a matter of time. Now its here.
    One really positive outcome I suppose is that the real “ethical” marketers can clean up using real testimonials and proper marketing techniques and after this shake up the advertising space will be open for “good” marketers.

    Many thanks Gauher.

    Take care

    Hamant

18. 

    Teri August 31st, 2009 at 13:24

    It’s about time! These clowns bragged about their high conversions. What a joke! It’s like me pulling up in a brand new Ferrari and I told you I was able to afford it by selling drugs. I have no respect for that! Just like I have no respect for conversions on a totally false and misleading offer.

    Networks should have done something sooner but they were to greedy as well wanting to cash in. Now all of the sudden they are all concerned and wanting to help. They’re just coeveing their butts cause the Feds are involved now. Networks had a duty not to let this trash go out.

19. 

    DarkKnight August 31st, 2009 at 13:25

    I too, have been told FROM EVERY CPA NETWORK… when I was first starting to do ‘fLOGS’

    Even as recently as last week I had my AM with one of the top and most legit CPA’s tell me to run the ‘flogs’ in OTHER COUNTRIES because FTC doesnt reach there.

    I echo what others say…

    WHO IS MAKING MONEY IN PPC THAT IS NOT DOING “SHADY RE-BILLS” AND NOT SPENDING 90hrs a week blogging or back linking or content writing or whatever you do to get a GOOGLE “approved” site???

    and by the way… isnt “magic bullet” a violation of GOOGLE and YAHOO TOS ???

    The bots may not know the diff. BUT a human reviewer sure does !!!

    WHERE IS THE LEGIT INFO AND MARKETERS ???!!!!!

20. 

    Jack August 31st, 2009 at 13:27

    I hope they clean these people out. They were making hundreds of thousands a month and some of the companies were making millions a month. A slap on the wrist is what they’ll probably get, but in my opinion it’s just not good enough. I wanna see names. Who are these people?

21. 

    Deevan August 31st, 2009 at 13:27

    I didnt see this coming – I can say that…

    I have seen that fake blogs were also used as examples in CPA courses. Once the lights get flipped on – yes, I can see that people realize what they were doing was dishonest and deceitful. May God protect us from that.

22. 

    Al Altan August 31st, 2009 at 13:28

    Yup…now all those “make money at home by posting links on google” type ads will get the same treatment…and they should…

    See the thing is when you are internet savvy you can tell this stuff is pure trash in less than a second…but put the same offers in front of an under-educated person and all their prayers are answered…

    SCAM SCAM SCAM…

    The sooner this stuff gets cleared out the better for legit affiliates who truly add value to the products and services they are promoting.

23. 

    Jon Poland August 31st, 2009 at 13:32

    I actually had one affiliate manager from a CPA network tell me that there was no way the FTC was going to crackdown on spam blogs and other aggressive behavior by affiliates and advertisers. According to my affiliate manager, the senior management of his company told him that too many players make money from this game for the government to kill it. He actually said that the government is not going to kill something where Google, the Affiliate Networks, the Advertisers and Affiliates all make money.

    The senior management of this company is either incredibly naive or very unethical. In either case, it is not a company I want to do business with.

    I guess ethics and the rule of law mean nothing to these people. In their minds, it’s all about turning a dollar — and who cares if people get screwed in the process.

24. 

    JT August 31st, 2009 at 13:34

    Just don’t use any intellectual property that doesn’t belong to you on your site. And make a full disclosure in a visible location on your site about how the free trial offer works. You should be mostly safe. If you wanna be totally safe, use a REAL testimonial. CPA networks could work with advertisers to get their customers to submit testimonials that affiliates can use. My 2 cents.

25. 

    Rob Malon August 31st, 2009 at 13:36

    Not only is that first one a fake blog but the person who put that up is very inexperienced in web coding. You can easily hide the geoIP (using php) and instead of using javascript for the date you could also use php. Which JS is bad for the date anyways because that pulls from the users system date rater than your probably more accurate server time. The down side being it discounts time zone. You could still do a quick calculation on that though.

    Further proves that these are people really trying to make a quick buck. Cutting many corners in the process.

26. 

    Bob Marconi August 31st, 2009 at 13:42

    I have been stung by one or two of these my self.

    But what bothers me is these auto re-bill are being used even by legitimate companies.

    I’m sorry but it should only take a good programmer a couple of minutes to make these systems send a pre-notice of a charge. And another thing is that most, legitimate or otherwise, do not send receipts!

    Unless you have reason to log into your bank account every half hour, you don’t know of the charge until too late.

27. 

    Dave August 31st, 2009 at 13:47

    Gauher, Thanks for taking the high road on this issue. We need more men like you. We need to be truthful.
    Thx,
    Dave

28. 

    Robertino August 31st, 2009 at 13:47

    Hi All,

    I couldn’t agree more that it’s about time that this happened.

    Referring to the question in the title of this post, I find it at least hypocrite of the CPA networks to not have taken action against this long before the FTC, Google, etc did.
    But just letting it go on and on.
    They knew this all along, because they do check traffic sources and websites.
    They must have seen this coming.

    On the one hand they are not allowing certain traffic, e.g. from Social Media sites, Bookmarking sites, Torrent sites, etc by checking the HTTP-Referrer, the websites, and banning Publishers sending and/or hiding this type of traffic.

    But on the other hand, they did allow this flog traffic, for obvious reasons : profit, and more profit.

    Which in my opinion makes CPA Networks even worse then the offenders now being chased.

    In my opinion, the CPA Networks should not be left unpunished. They should at least be regulated from now on.

    It’s time for these CPA Networks to start training wannabe affiliates/publishers proper promotion techniques (like in your CPA Hotspot) instead of refusing them.
    How else can you keep guarenteeing your Advertisers/Merchants that there are only high quality Publishers in your network to promote their products with maximum results ?

    BTW I live in Amsterdam, and the same Jasmine lives here as well apparently. And just look at that expiry date on the left. LOL!
    http://www.vectorplayground.com/flogs/Jasmine‘s_Diet_Blog_Also_In_Amsterdam_31-8-2009%2020-38-16.png

29. 

    Molly August 31st, 2009 at 13:51

    Kudos, Gauher, for your public flogging of flogs. I told my CPA managers right off the top that I will not promote Açai, Resveratrol, colon cleanses, tooth whiteners, or anything else that requires a flog to get sales.

    My research showed that Açai DOESN’T work for MOST people, and I wouldn’t use this stuff myself, so I won’t take money from unsuspecting people to promote it as a magic bullet. I’m glad the perps will be prosecuted. They deserve it. Hasn’t anyone heard of Karma???

    Let’s clean up the industry so the rest of us can prosper by honestly bringing helpful solutions to people.

30. 

    Raymagnetic August 31st, 2009 at 14:02

    What’s to stop the government from cracking down on ALL review type websites regardless of what the product is? I’m not endorsing flogs but most marketers lie when it comes to selling products. Unless some of you really believe that the abcruncher3000 is really going to make u lose 100 lbs in 15 minutes a day.

    I’m just saying, don’t be so happy about the government cracking down on flogs because it may not stop there. JMO

31. 

    Phil August 31st, 2009 at 14:12

    I for one am very doubtful that the FTC or any other government agency can or will fix the problems. They can’t and haven’t stopped the thousands of telemarketers, robo callers, and such from violating the do not call lists… It takes them years to follow through on the threats and by then the perpetrator is long gone.

    The affiliate/CPA marketers that are inclined to do so will find another or perhaps dozens of ways to circumvent the system, they always have. All of which makes the legitimate marketers jobs that much harder.

    It is best that we drop a dime on the ones we know to the state and/or federal attorney generals and maybe they be willing to prosecute and have the budget to do so.

    We have to police our own and I suspect few of us will have the stomach for that. The majority will want big brother to do the dirty work. Maybe Obama can put up a “Drop a Dime Line” like he did for the health bill…

    Just one man’s opinion.

32. 

    Leon August 31st, 2009 at 14:15

    After reading the comments I would like to say: you do get re-bill offers on Clickbank. I actually managed to sell one by Ewen Chia. So not all re-bills are bad.

    So how do we know which Acai and reservatol products are the good ones? Can anyone point out which networks with these offers to avoid?

33. 

    John August 31st, 2009 at 14:18

    Thanks for ALL your comments. It’s great to see that so many people are determined to conduct their businesses as enterprises of conscience. Really great that not all CPA dudes are greed bastards and scum bags.

34. 

    Emmanuel August 31st, 2009 at 14:18

    I love making money with Farticles, Fake Blogs and other deceptive tactics. This Country U.S.A was built on corruption. Black Hat Marketing Rules!!!! Cross over to the Dark Side!!

35. 

    Mike Marsh August 31st, 2009 at 14:28

    I can’t figure out what took them so long. For one year I’ve been struggling to sell an honest weight loss and fitness ebook- but I was always out bid or out linked by these dirt bags.

    Just because it’s easy to exploit the emotions of the vulnerable or naive for money, doesn’t mean it’s acceptable.

    Mike Marsh
    Author
    New Body New Life
    http://mynewbodynewlife.com/

36. 

    Daniel August 31st, 2009 at 14:32

    haha, thank goodness for this, seen a couple of these lurking around, I just laugh at the at them then hit the stumble button again . All I have to say is well done, and, if you’re a Flog owner, then have fun with the jail time and/or fines. ^_^

37. 

    Jim August 31st, 2009 at 14:34

    Looks you are posting all comments
    See the time stamp pattern.

    lol

38. 

    Mick August 31st, 2009 at 14:40

    Yes, it is about time and will eventually help all legitimate IMers in the long run. The short run is we have to deal with the negative publicity and perception.

    However, my own experience has shown me that a sound business model will stand the test of time and weather the bad times.

39. 

    Dennis Rosenberg August 31st, 2009 at 14:54

    The only surprise is why it took so long for Oprah and others to pursue action against those who have been widely using their likenesses and brands to promote with.

40. 

    Paul August 31st, 2009 at 15:05

    It’s creeps like the floggers who ruin it for the rest of us. And all it does is justify the kind of government intervention that will eventually lead to micromanagement of one more area of the private sector by the ultimate scoundrels, Congress and the bureaucracy.

41. 

    tom August 31st, 2009 at 15:06

    What I find a bit funny and also a bit angry is that the CPA companies will turn down people like me when you apply because they did not think we are good enough and then turn around and tell their people to go ahead and use unethical marketing practices, for those of us who work hard for less than peanuts profit I say it is about time they got screwed maybe now we might also make an honest buck.

42. 

    arclein August 31st, 2009 at 15:44

    All new marketing method initially attracts a group of abusers who damage the method. I would like to see a quick track and response by regulators in these early days that may consist of little except a demand for immediate clarification from the operator. A legit guy will explain what he is doing and that allows the regulator to refine were the bar needs to be set.

    a bandit will jump to another venue to try to shake of interest and thus also tell the regulator something. the point is to avoid standing around and waiting.

43. 

    Brian August 31st, 2009 at 15:58

    Let’s be honest here, most of the flogs were being created by your GURU friends, like Matt Trainer, Amish Shah and many others. I have a course where Matt shows one of them.

    Are you going to tell us that you’ve never created one?

    Don’t you do JV deals with these guys all the time?

    But, now you’re trying to act all high and mighty and glad to see these guys getting sued and busted. This is funny.

44. 

    Maurice August 31st, 2009 at 16:09

    I have to sayi bought a product earlier this year from a guru that actually encouraged the use of a flog. I never fElt comfortable and stopped reading the product. A good name is better than riches. Thanks for sharing Gauher.

45. 

    Devil's Advocate August 31st, 2009 at 16:15

    Just a couple of thoughts…

    Whatever happened to buyer beware? If folks have become so dumbed-down, dupable and deperate that they cannot see these blogs for what they are; if they cannot read the small print on these crappy acai product and similar offers and see that they are going to be fleeced before they ‘whip out’ their cc’s; if they cannot finally accept that if you are fat you basically need to get of your butt, eat less crap, and do more exercise and NO pill, potion, powder or Amazonian-wonder-plant is going to shift those unsightly mounds of avoir-dupois otherwise…

    Then frankly they probably deserve to be ripped off! AND As G-Dubya famously failed to say: “If you they fool you once – shame on them; if they fool you twice, shame on you”!

    Yet to be clear, I completely disagree with the current widespread practice of using ‘manufactured’ testimonials. This is an IM issue generally — and ‘we’ all know that even the ‘real’ testimonials are only given to have a link back to an ‘associates’ (JV-partners) website and offer … how much more ‘REAL’ are these?

    But we are beseeched to use ‘social proof’, as Gauher mentions, to gain credibility and frankly this is just NOT always really possible… You say ‘keep it real’ when developing your promotional blogs and Web 2.0 materials — but how many people who actually SELL these crappy overpriced ‘health’ products can speak from experience of using the products — my guess — less than 2%!

    Let’s face it CPA’ers KNOW many of the things promote via CPA are basically rubbish and THEY wouldn’t be stupid enough to actually sign-up for them themselves … they are out their looking for sucker-traffic – that’s what a large part of the CPA game is all about, let’s be honest.

    And what about those other than Google who are also profiting from allowing these scammers to promote their dodgy blogs? MSN springs to mind where any news item is smattered with “One Simple Rule” ads all over the place … In fact that ad MUST be killing it for someone they have it all over the place on PPC other than Google … But the networks are happy to sit back and make their slice of the pie!

    And then again… it strikes me from the recent plethora of ‘freebies’ that have been hitting my email from ‘bigger name’ IM gurus – offering ‘free products’, ‘free courses’ and ‘free this that and the other’ with sentiments like “because I’m fed up with the little guy getting ripped-off, and being sold expensive products that earn them no money” … OH and by the way I’m throwing in a free copy of my new ‘magazine’, or a free month’s membership to my ‘elite, platinum, hyper, mega-cash-cow-club-forum’ – worth $97!!!
    (… Which is of course exactly what the forced continuity program you just joined will ensure you are charged in 30-days time when you’ve forgotten all about it … and err — isn’t this just the same as the acai berry/cleanse products monthly schemes? Except you don’t even get the pills!!)

46. 

    Gauher August 31st, 2009 at 16:36

    Brian: Yes a lot of flogs are/were used by many gurus including some of my friends. That is there business not mine. If they want to risk their businesses, that is entire up to them. I have *never* created a flog and challenge anyone to prove that I have. Sure I have promoted some of my guru friend’s stuff in the past and will in the future because they teach a lot of legitimate white hat techniques also. I used to dabble in the Acai CPA offers, but never could get much conversions. I spoke to some affiliate manager at Affiliate Summit Ney York and they ALL told methe only way to do mass volume with these type of offers was flogs. That is why I don’t bother with these offers anymore.

47. 

    Mike August 31st, 2009 at 17:14

    Where will the herd migrate to now? Nearly every CPA course out there has the flog as part of the program.

    I bought one a couple of months ago to see if I could learn anything new, and there was a video dedicated to lying your ass off to make the story convincing.

    I got a refund…and a shower.

48. 

    Zoe August 31st, 2009 at 17:15

    Hiya Gauher and his readers

    You just have to smile at the date shown on my computer when I visited the mentioned flog.

    I’m in the UK and like Gauher says in the above video, the website script pulled my UK location via my IP address and so ‘personalised’ the website for me too

    The best bit was the date displayed!!

    It read: QUOTE These offers will expire on August 32 2009 ENDQUOTE

    This date revelation definitely seals the website as a very, very, very big fake flog

    Zoe

49. 

    Peter - Klikdeal Affiliate Tracking August 31st, 2009 at 17:19

    You sure know how to scare em

    I bet you have left some “marketers” sleepless with:

    “I can guarantee that the FTC and Attorney Generals have been gathering months of data with screenshots of the many fake blogs that have been circulating all over the Internet. So if you were running a fake blog and have taken it down, you may still not be out of the woods as they might already have a file open on you if you live in the USA.”

50. 

    Luc August 31st, 2009 at 17:28

    Well, it’s about time. I’m also glad it happened. Those people were hurting us all with their flogs. The best long term policy is to work with ethics. “Use no deception” is one of my principles.

51. 

    Dave August 31st, 2009 at 17:45

    I think fake blogs are getting a bad reputation. Alot of these so called (fake blogs), is what it takes to bring the internet together as a whole. If we want our democracy to continue we must support FLOGS.

52. 

    N August 31st, 2009 at 17:52

    Looks like the FTC attack will go global.

    The following post on ACCC (Australian FTC equivalent) website shows
    even an ebook marketer can get done.
    http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/889908

    About bloody time the wild west was tamed.

53. 

    jhenry August 31st, 2009 at 18:16

    Guess that means a lot of the “easy riches” IM’ers who bought the hype about flogs, autoposted content, and the crap their gurus sold them can pack it up…less competition for the real IM’ers

54. 

    Terry Matthews August 31st, 2009 at 18:20

    Dateline So CA, August 34th, 2029: I think the only part they can really prosecute is the use of the clebrities likeness w/o permission. As far as the fake people, as I create review sites for various products from web hosting to home business opptys, every other site I research says they have tried every make money scheme out there,(hmmm I’m guessing there a hundreds of thousands) and they are all scams except for the one(s) they are promoting. It is very sad, because many of those are some of what I know to be the worst. Because people want to be told it is easy, it will always be hard for legitimate marketers to compete with lying scumbags to whom the dollar is almighty. Many of us use pennames to protect our niches from all the spy programs available now so even if our products are on the up and up it’s still a gray area. Government will never be able to mandate honor. Each individuals ability to sleep at night will be at odds with the potential $$ available evry time a new method like ‘FLOGS’ comes along.
    I have found someone who has made some money with virtually every ‘guru’ system I’ve investigated, but I see many more claiming ‘scam’ for each and every one. It’s really an individual effort situation. Those who really give something a try can make it work, those who don’t never will. The colon cleanse offers though have the potential of serious harm for some people and that’s got to make any honest person squirm a little. I think the worst are the flogs I’m looking at several of on search pages right now, that try to look like a TV news site investigation complete with weather plugins and all. They’ll never get rid of all of them. We just have to find other good offers to compete for those same dollars.

55. 

    Lee Johnson August 31st, 2009 at 18:35

    I would not do the re-bills because I hated getting caught in them from other companies. Hope they saved some of their profits for the lawyers.

56. 

    Mike Lawson August 31st, 2009 at 19:06

    This is about as much proof as anyone needs to wake up and realise that if you really want to be successful in selling online that you really have to be 100% genuine.

    Its all about congruence. If you start and do stuff that is against your fundamental beliefs then you’ll get unstuck. The really successful people are those driven by principles they live by every day and not the latest get rich quick scheme.

    You know if what you are doing is right or not, so become a leader and stand out from the crowd in your niche by being one of the few ethical people in your market. Go the extra mile for your customers and only sell them great stuff. It really is worth the initial effort to create something you will be proud to put your name to.

57. 

    Terry Matthews August 31st, 2009 at 19:24

    Interesting update. Just looked at one of the FLOGs I bookmarked recently and could not beleive the changes to the disclaimer! It’s actually funny. It now says “the following items have been modified from factual, including the “story” the “photos”, the “blog comments”, and that the person depicted is “not real” but illustrative! All of the pictures and references to Oprah or Dr Oz or Rachel Ray are all gone, though still disclaimed in the fine print. Obviously scrambling since the news. It’s good for a chuckle, but I’ll bet there are still orders coming in. P.T. Barnum said it best……

58. 

    Andrea August 31st, 2009 at 19:29

    It’s too much to expect people to be honest. Being online is an invitation to the greedy b—ards who ruin the atmosphere. I still remember when computers were honest and safe and just plain fun!
    Sigh, that shows my age.
    Andrea

59. 

    Robert H August 31st, 2009 at 20:08

    I’m wondering how the FTC can tell the difference between a blog that is “fake” from one put up by a person actually used these product and put up a blog about their results?

    Also, how is a blog using a character any different than the bazillion commercials using actors? I mean, do you watch a commercial showing Marge soaking her hands in dishwashing detergent and telling you how it makes your hands soft, and believe that’s any more real than one of those fake blogs?

    You people crack me up. Get off you’re Holier-Than-Though High Horse, I’m not one of “those” low lifes, and think about what you’re saying.

    If you put a disclaimer on the bottom of your blog, is that any different than a commercial for ANY product where they have a guy talking a million miles a second in a low voice telling you all the disclaimers for their product, be it a prescription drug, mortgage, debt solutions, etc… I doubt it.

    Open up a magazine. Do you think those actors are real people. Do you see the disclaimers at the bottom of those pages.

    If they can go after a “flog” that does those things, they can go after ANY of those ads and commercials as well.

    Really…how are they different? And don’t say “they’re lying”. I’m not talking about flogs that are blatently lying, telling people nothing about the continuity program, I’m talking about a blog that uses disclaimers at the bottom and TELLS the browser in their copy that this is only a free trial and that they’ll be charged and put in a monthly continuity program if they don’t cancel.

    This post should get some responses…

60. 

    amna August 31st, 2009 at 20:16

    One really positive outcome I suppose is that the real “ethical” marketers can clean up using real testimonials and proper marketing techniques and after this shake up the advertising space will be open for “good” marketers. It’s about time every single one of these bogus sites gets shut down.. I blatantly refuse to promote any type of re-bill offer, regardless of how much money it might make for me.
    Some of the landing pages were ridiculous, claiming that rachel ray used acai berry to lose all of her weight, or claims with oprah and Dr. Oz’s face plastered all over their page about how they endorse the product “Dr. Oz’s weightloss secret” or “Oprah’s miracle diet”… it just plain got out of hand.

61. 

    gordie August 31st, 2009 at 21:41

    i am so glad to hear this . i know a lot of people that are totally turned off by the false advertising on the internet. they don’t trust anybody anymore. keep up the good work and spread the word that there is an effort to make things right on the internet. god will bless you . gordie

62. 

    robby agus August 31st, 2009 at 22:03

    Thank’s for support me. i am beginer internet marketer.

63. 

    tina August 31st, 2009 at 22:12

    yeah look good,and we stay a bove this type of any marketing. thanks.

64. 

    Sam England August 31st, 2009 at 22:14

    Gauher,

    As always you give your honest to goodness opinion and I like that about you.
    I love your teachings as you always give some of the BEST information on internet marketing.
    There are many so called gurus out there but they keep most of there secrets to themselves.

    I highly recommend you to my friends to listen to what you say very carefully and take action, because you are THE REAL DEAL!

    Thanks for the support my friend…

65. 

    Dick in upstate NY August 31st, 2009 at 22:35

    Not only should this be discussed here but, what about the President’ internet control proposal where he’s have the power to shut down the internet if he sees an ‘emergency’-need?
    Just what we internet marketers need is an out-of-control, power-hungry president.
    Thanks to all of you liberals who voted this guy into our economy, our car industry, now perhaps health care, and soon, the internet.

66. 

    Dan The Flog Man August 31st, 2009 at 22:56

    I think some of you guys are just haters while the other half are concerned individuals (perhaps rightfully so)… I bet if you were banking $10,000+ PER DAY PROFIT using Flogs, like I was and still am, then you wouldn’t be complaining.

    I think many of you people are just mad because floggers are making more money than you can even comprehend while you work 8-10 hours a day building links, writing articles, etc… just to barely get by.

    I definitely don’t use Dr. Oz or Oprah on any of my blogs, as that is just asking for a lawsuit. But there’s nothing wrong with a flog and a slightly over-exaggerated review, is there? Most of the terms and conditions of these offers are listed on the bottom of the flogs AND on the offer pages as well… My bank account tends to love flogs, and so does my wife

67. 

    Wayne August 31st, 2009 at 23:06

    Hi Gauher:

    Interesting comments by one and all.

    I couldn’t help but wonder if anyone out there has the “balls” to circulate a list of the offending CPA networks so we know who to avoid doing business with if our choice is to operate an ethical, legitimate business providing real value to everyone.

    I, along with you, choose to take the high road here … the lower road is over-crowded with scum bags and low life.

68. 

    Andi | Web Marketer Depot August 31st, 2009 at 23:16

    I lol’ed when you showed the August 32nd. But on a more serious note, I am happy that these types of flogs are sued and banned. It’s just great news for honest internet marketers who make their living online.

69. 

    Dan The Flog Man August 31st, 2009 at 23:21

    Wayne,

    I guarantee you almost every CPA network on the planet allows the affiliates to run flogs… Perhaps they don’t condone it publicly, but they’re definitely not going to say “Please stop sending $200,000+ worth of leads per day, this has to stop”… lol

    You guys have to keep in mind that it’s the actual “advertisers” that are the ones whom are giving CPA a bad name. When customers get billed before they receive their product, or phone numbers don’t work to cancel, that’s on the responsibility of the merchant. I don’t think any affiliate condones behavior such as that.

    Anyways, I still guarantee that at LEAST 75% of you would have no problem receiving $1,000-$5,000 per day using flogs… The problem isn’t your guys ethics or morals, it’s the fact that you don’t have the initiative to take action and make a flog, you don’t know where to promote the flog, or you don’t have the initial capital to spend on advertisements. But if someone handed you a flog that was making $5k+ per day in profit, are you going to turn it down and say “no thanks” because you believe it isn’t right? C’mon now

70. 

    Dave September 1st, 2009 at 01:09

    Long Live Flogs!

71. 

    Honest Engine September 1st, 2009 at 01:49

    Wow Wayne, you must be the most honest guy on the net. Anyone that has an opinion other than yours is a “scum bag and low life”. After reading your comment, it’s obvious that you truly are taking the “high road” – lmao!

    Gauher, I know the others are falling all over themselves patting you (and themselves) on the back for how upstanding you are, but – as you undoubtably know – every cpa network is going to say they will not stand for fake blogs. You’ll also know that virtually ever AM at every cpa network will tell you how the flogs are killing it right now.

    I’m a member of your ppc stuff and have watched your “case study” for auto insurance where you’ve barely broke even, if that. How many people can live off of that. If YOU can’t even get a “case study” for your own members to work, but a flog – which has disclaimers and text that blatently says this is only a trial and must be cancelled – brings in 10k to 20k a month does…well, I guess I’m just scum.

    I’d love to make that much on one of waynes “legitimate” sites (which I don’t believe he does), but I’ve tried dozens of things and none have EVER come close.

    One other thing, if an organization is “scum” because they have a forced continuity program, then you’re going to have a huge, huge number of people AND organizations to go after. Try every single “guru” out there (including some you promote, Gauher), as well as just about every organization that advertises. Heck, based on that line of thinking Proactive should have been shut down by the ftc ages ago.

    Why don’t some of you that have nothing better to do than call everyone else a scum bag present something more constructive. I’d love to hear one example of how you’re kicking butt with your “legit” sites.

72. 

    Robertino September 1st, 2009 at 02:37

    @Dan The Flog Man, August 31st, 2009 at 22:56
    Just $10,000+ a day ?
    Well slap my thigh. You’re one of the little fish.

    Man the resolution is so easy : Take the profit out of it. Game Over!

    Like I said in my earlier post, the CPA Networks should not be left unpunished. They can cover their butts now by taking the profit out of it. The easy method is to stop offering these products for promotion. The harder method is to refuse traffic from flogs and ban these Fake IM’ers (FIMers) by reporting them at http://www.cpawatchdog.com/
    But they can’t do this for 2 reasons, the
    CPA Networks themselves are guilty for letting this happen, and still continue, and the FIMers will in turn report the CPA Networks at CPA Watchdog.

    You and your CPA Networks just go right on with what your doing. Please do.
    Your $10,000+/day or more are going to be frozen in your bank accounts, and before it even reaches your bank accounts. by freezing the bank accounts of the CPA Networks.
    On aggregate, you’ll need more money to pay lawyers then you will ever make with that puney amount your making, and the obvious level of spending your bragging post exudes.
    Buy making such stupid statements of income, you can expect the IRS now as well.

    You go straight to jail.
    Whatever happens.

    Now quickly go burn that money in a ditch in your backyard, or transfer it to Panama or Belize. I bet your flogs are hosted there as well.
    And don’t forget. Keep looking over your shoulder man. Keep looking over your shoulder.

    Concerning your own statement about your wife :
    “My bank account tends to love flogs, and so does my wife”.
    Go buy one of the many “How to get my ex back. (With voodoo on top.)” ebooks.
    Man she’ll move on to the next sucker when your mafia income is gone, and you are rotting away in jail, or eating out of a garbage bin.

    @Wayne:
    Visit offervault.com and affspy.com, register and pick any CPA network that has these products on offer. I dare to say that none of them was unaware of the fact that traffic was mainly coming from flogs.

    @all who question the promoted products:
    It’s not the issue at hand. The way that these products were promoted is the issue at hand here.
    But I agree with you about the quality of some of these products. The FDA should not have allowed some (not all) of these products to be sold in the first place.

    My origins are in one of the Acai producing South American countries, my parents moved to Europe and as a minor so did I.
    From these origins, I know for a fact that Acai works, but only as a pure fresh juice.
    Not refined and mixed with other ingredients in to pills, powders, and derivative drinks.
    And promoted as the 8th Wonder of the World.

    @Dick in upstate NY:
    Where does your president fit in this story ?
    Was he an affiliate with many flogs, or does he own a CPA network offering these products for promotion ?
    BTW, your penn name is spot on.

73. 

    Leon September 1st, 2009 at 02:53

    Hi Gauher
    Where do you strike a ‘balance’ between outright scam blogs and exaggerated advertising as pointed out by many posts above especially the post by Robert H?

    What offers are left to promote if you want to sleep well and can you make a very good living without these flogs? I would like your opinion as you are a CPA expert yourself. I read your free ebook – thanks.

    Now we need that list which Wayne referred to above. I also posted this above: So how do we know which Acai and reservatol products are the good ones? Can anyone point out which networks with these offers to avoid?

74. 

    Gauher September 1st, 2009 at 04:17

    @Honest Engine – I didn’t write this post for any sort of glory or pat on the back. I openly admit that I have promoted offers like Acai in the past, I just didn’t do it with flogs. It is a post that just to state the facts and warn people of possible consequences. The FTC and Attorney Generals are suing advertisers and affiliates.

    You are incorrect when you say that no CPA network will say it is okay to create flogs because I know of CPA networks that openly create flogs for their affiliates. Lastly, there is NO case study for auto insurance in PPC Formula 2.0.

    @Leon – There are HUNDREDS of legitimate offers to promote and the proven converting markets that are sustainable will always be education, dating and finance.

    Thanks for your feedback everyone, I think this is healthy open minded discussion with various opinions.

75. 

    Julian September 1st, 2009 at 04:50

    Hi Gauher
    Good to see the FTC taking a stand with fake flogs. If you run any offer online, it should be focused on the offer, no lies, just straight to the point.

76. 

    peter mcgrath September 1st, 2009 at 06:31

    hi Gauher

    i think your post was fantastic and spot on
    you allways get people gaming the system
    such as google

    but you must realize that you can only fool people so long and retubtion gets melted out
    just like the google smack

    of course this only makes it easier for the honest i marketers

    regards
    peter mcgrath

77. 

    Robertino September 1st, 2009 at 06:39

    @Robert H:
    QUOTEing Robert H:
    Really…how are they different? And don’t say “they’re lying”. I’m not talking about flogs that are blatently lying, telling people nothing about the continuity program, I’m talking about a blog that uses disclaimers at the bottom and TELLS the browser in their copy that this is only a free trial and that they’ll be charged and put in a monthly continuity program if they don’t cancel.
    UNQUOTE
    Assuming that they have disclaimers about the continuity program. That still leaves the lies about the product.
    Taking it one step further, they also add disclaimers about the results/performance of the product.
    That still will not cover their butts, because they will have to have documented proof of the claimed results on the flog.
    Now that is where their downfall begins.
    I’ll give you an example. Go to this guy’s website : http://www.hotitemfinder.com/, he didn’t use to have these badges on all of his testimonials. He does now.
    The badges read : “All Testimonials Are Verifiable, On File And REAL!”
    I dare our $10,000 man ( Dan The Flog Man ) and any of his partners in crime to put these up on their flogs. Instant suicide.
    You know what, I’m convinced that he would do this, just to make a profit, and keep his wife who loves flogs.
    So he must be a flog himself, or looking like one. :p

78. 

    Wayne September 1st, 2009 at 08:38

    @ Honest Engine

    So nice of you to admit “I guess I’m just scum”.

    I repeat part of my post above “…the lower road is OVER-CROWDED with scum bags and low life.”

    Enough said.

    Everyone have a great day!

    P.S. @ Robertino

    Thanks for the links. I’ll check them out.

79. 

    dave September 1st, 2009 at 09:34

    so whats the answer?

    I see FLOGs EVERYWHERE promoting CPA offers…. hell thats the ONLY way I see cpa offers being promoted.

    so if the FTC is cracking down on this (and they should)…. how are you supposed to promote CPA offers and make money?

    review sites are getting hit…. you cant direct link to the offer…

    What are people doing to presell cpa offers?

80. 

    Rich Cardarelli September 1st, 2009 at 09:52

    Hi Gauher,
    thanks for this timely blog post.
    you know, we can do things either the right way, or we can do things the wrong way,
    but it all comes out to see at the end.

    thanks
    Rich C.

81. 

    free home business training September 1st, 2009 at 09:59

    It was just matter of time that this would happen. Spammers can really ruin our business. PPC costs increase and people are not reading e-mail as it was before. How can someone report a spammer to the CPA agency? I get spam with CPA offers from well respected CPA networks, can’t believe it.

    Alfonso

82. 

    Mattie September 1st, 2009 at 10:48

    Although I agree that this is objectionable marketing it really isn’t any different from what appears on T.V. and in every magazine and newspaper ever published.

    The cosmetic companies are the worse, showing picture of fourteen year old girls in advertisements for wrinkle creams and anti-aging products!

    People are just gullible – the “Nigerian email scam” is still in full force after all the warnings that have been posted throughout the Internet.

    Take this form of promotion away and another will just pop right up – its advertising – get used to it.

83. 

    Mattie September 1st, 2009 at 11:00

    As an after thought, what happens if the advertisement flogged this way happens to be true?

    I have been working on just such a page with my neighbor. I took before and after pictures, for a teeth whitening product, and detailed the improvement over a period of roughly two weeks.

    The page included humorous incidents and I tried to make it entertaining and human.

    Is this now “illegal”? Is my carefully composed site, all ready to be uploaded, now garbage?

    YES, there are floggers but not everything is fake.

84. 

    Dan The Flog Man September 1st, 2009 at 11:40

    @Robertino

    Looks like you’re a little bent out of shape over this whole “flog” thing? Perhaps you missed the boat on this, or perhaps you were too lazy to make one of your own… I don’t know.

    I don’t do affiliate marketing to make friends, I don’t do it so I can sleep at night, and I don’t do it so I can pat myself on the back feeling good after every day… I’m an affiliate marketer because I want to make money and lots of it. I do other things than just blogs including PPC, PPV, SEO, media buys, etc… Flogs is just a small piece of the puzzle, and a very profitable one I may add. It’s really allowed me to live a better life and experience things I never thought possible. I can now do all the things that you have always wanted to do, but never had the money to do.

    It’s the flogs that use fake endorsements from celebrities such as Oprah and Dr. Oz that are going down in flames. The funny thing is that they’re suing all these affiliates that are using their names, and the lawsuits are going to end up being like $50,000 to $100,000 probably. Wow, OKAY “We have to give up a week’s paycheck!” woopty dooo LOL

85. 

    Ben September 1st, 2009 at 13:06

    Shoot!

    Now I have to take down my Before and After Pictures of Gauher!

    Maybe, that is what brought down the crackdown???

    (I tried to use before and after pictures of Oprah, but i could only find before)!

    All in all this is going to be Great for the People who are in this for the long haul!

86. 

    dave September 1st, 2009 at 15:43

    so what the deal?

    how are people getting traffic to these cpa offers if all the flogs are going down in a heap of flames and lawsuits?

    why are we still seeing them EVERYWHERE?

    what if you had a blog presell but it was a REAL story using the product?

87. 

    Robertino September 2nd, 2009 at 00:57

    @Dan The Flog Man:

    It must be lonely at the top of your tiny hill of cash:
    All this money and still no friends.
    A wife who loves your flogs, and not you.
    A bank account who loves your flogs and not you.

    It is very clear that your existence is not appreciated by anyone. How about a last jump ?
    Make it a real one, not a flog.

88. 

    Joseph duah September 2nd, 2009 at 07:38

    Dear Gauher,
    thnks for information. I encouragement on your work.
    this is a great to do it.
    thanks.
    Dua

89. 

    Robertino September 2nd, 2009 at 12:45

    After this is over we’ll have a new ebook for affiliates “Flogging To The Septic Tank”.

90. 

    Elliot K September 2nd, 2009 at 17:17

    Hi Gauher – Thanks for posting this. I’ve have mentioned this issue several times in my Newsletter to network and online marketers.

    Some paid attention and took it seriously, and others just thought I had some kind of chip on my shoulder, which, of course, I do not. Just want people to have the information, and then they can choose how to deal with it.

91. 

    Will September 3rd, 2009 at 04:16

    Hi Gauher,

    The big hand of Reciprocity slapping greedy marketers in the face once again…

    PLEASURABLE to watch!

92. 

    Magnetic Sponsoring September 3rd, 2009 at 09:09

    I am sooooo glad this happened. Not only will this rid the industry of the fake blogs out there, but ALSO rid the industry of the lazy people that try to make a quick buck out of it by putting out junk. Sure, it will hurt affiliate marketing in the short run, but help it in the long run for the SERIOUS people that treat this like a business and not a get rich quick scheme…Bravo…..

93. 

    JT September 3rd, 2009 at 19:21

    Court documents of those in breach. Screenshots of ads and landing pages taken. Check it out…
    http://bit.ly/2DDNvE

94. 

    Gauher September 3rd, 2009 at 21:05

    JT: Interesting as they have named an advertising source (CPX Interactive) in their lawsuit (Doc 1-1). Looks like advertising sources are also liable if they allow their advertisers to promote false advertising.

95. 

    rosalind September 4th, 2009 at 22:13

    While one should be aggressive in going after our goals, there’s no excuse for dishonesty – the internet is a hornets’ nest for scams and cheats regardless of where they originate – be it cpas or affiliates – they are all out there. Good that FTC steps in – the current sorry state of the US banking crisis is a case in point.

    In my country where such claims are closely monitored, we were laughed at and ridiculed by our neighbouring countries – now see who laugh last!

    Playing hard but fairly goes a long way.

96. 

    Paul Schlegel September 6th, 2009 at 17:37

    I would suggest the people posting here read the FTC Policy Statement on Deception:

    http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/policystmt/ad-decept.htm

    That will clear up SOME Of what may seem to be inconsistencies in how the FTC treats various types of marketing.

    The FTC does not look at an element of promotion in isolation and also sometimes looks at the demographics of the target market if necessary.

    For example a lot of the Government Grant scams were targeting the less internet-savvy elderly population.

    Also, the flogs are in a different league than straight advertorials, because they are mixing in elements (especially the news flogs) that might confuse the reader as to which part of the site is an advertisement and which is not.

    For example, most of the fake news sites are ALL advertisments – so why do they put a list of “Advertisements” on the right?

    And why would an advertorial put fake blog comment section at the end of the news story?

    I agree with the posters who have said that more pressure should be put on the affiliate networks to stop running these offers.

    But don’t think any of this is going to go away. There’s too much money in it for people to not figure ways to work around any obstacle that comes up.

97. 

    dave September 14th, 2009 at 09:02

    so what are ppl doing with the recent crackdown?

    are ppl still using flogs?

    are you using flogs without the oprah dr oz stuff?

    i still see them everywhere.

98. 

    Jorge September 30th, 2009 at 22:14

    There will always be ethical people, who do things the right way and who are willing to follow the written and unwritten rules of business. After all, they are not blinded but their ambition, they’re in control all the time.
    Sadly, there will always be people who are more than willing to bend the rules in order to achieve their goals. Some bend them to the point that they break them apart.
    To me, this last group of people should deserve some sort of punishment.
    I know it sounds a bit too extreme, but think about it. Don’t you hate it when you’re playing a game or a sport, and you follow the rules, while others simply ignore them?

99. 

    Johan October 1st, 2009 at 01:53

    Jasmine`s Diet Blog starts of like this in South Africa:

    Hello, my name is Jasmine Mitchell and I am from Johannesburg, 06. I just had . .

    What the 06 is I do not know.
    Thanks for the info!!

100. 

     Chris October 2nd, 2009 at 04:03

     People have always and will always try to deceive others to make money and it will not end with this

101. 

     shana November 14th, 2009 at 17:30

     Well I see the man version of these flogs still floating around the internet on how the man got ripped!

     Glad the FTC are going to sue these selfish money grabbing liars . People who have a weight problem are in serious pain with the weight and health problems then to get conned is not on especially in this recession!

102. 

     Cheap Webhosting December 8th, 2009 at 20:17

     Where is the video showing the example of a Flog?

103. 

     learning spanish online reviews March 5th, 2010 at 03:44

     Nice post Gauher, it’s about time there was a crackdown on these guys – it just ruins it for the rest of us.

104. 

     Jon Baucher May 15th, 2010 at 08:22

     There are many reviews on the internet. When reading them make sure the site is legitimate. Contact the owner to hear what they have to say about the products. Chances are they have first hand experience and can tell you more.

105. 

     Twanda Gut May 15th, 2010 at 09:13

     Dr. Oz does not advocate colon cleansing. There is a company that claims they have his endorsement when they do not. He and Opera are taking this to court. I happened to catch her show one day when this was discussed.

106. 

     chanel handbags May 15th, 2010 at 09:18

     Hello This statistics. What do you do when working on a computer?Do you work on a toot coffee, to freeze-dry have a stab, or something you eat?

107. 

     mike June 9th, 2010 at 06:01

     Unfortunately scammers will always go for the largets markets to get maximum effect so it’s no surprise that they are trageting the health market.

     As usual many people want easy solutions to their problems and that is what these fake testimonials rely on.