Recently I have been seeing a lot of ads on the Internet for teeth whitening. This subject by itself is not unusual. However the placement of the ads on sites seems very much out of place. What does teeth whitening have to do with Software Development for example?Things started to make sense when I read a blog entry on this very subject. Apparently it is not just teeth whitening ads that are on the uptick. There are also an influx of flat stomach ads, as well as government grant ads.
Here is how this scam works. The ads have pictures. When you click on the ads, you get to a web site with testimonials. You are supposed to be able to order the product for free. However you must give a credit card number to receive the free product.
What this actually does is start a free trial. Then you get billed monthly for more of the product. Guess what? It is almost impossible to cancel the subscription. How in the world can this scam continue? Obviously some people must be getting duped, because I keep seeing the ads being displayed. I have a good mind to block these ads from my own sites. Although I like to make money, I don't like to do it at some poor schmuck's expense.
Here is the industry behind these ads. Vendors of the product have affiliate programs. The affiliates create landing pages for the product. They throw up some bogus testimonials. It is very easy to do this. You can even copy other sites. The affiliates then buy advertising to get suckers to click through. Ad networks such as Google AdSense think the landing pages look good. These networks say that they depend on users to report abuse.
Everybody except the end user seems to make money on this scheme. The vendors get new people to bill. The affiliates get their cut, as well as the ad networks. Who is going to crack down on these scams when everybody is making out like a bandit? This feels like the dark side of Internet advertising.
