Google has sued a number of websites that have produced online scams and schemes that take advantage of its famous brand to trick unsuspecting web users.
According to a legal action filed in Utah this week, the schemes involve “thousands” of websites that claim to offer kits showing users how to make money by working from home on Google.
Although they are told they will have to pay only a nominal fee, “people who sign up for these offers have their credit cards charged with substantial recurring monthly fees” and receive little or nothing in return.
The case was brought against Pacific WebWorks and another 50 unnamed defendants who Google said had worked in concert with the company to carry out the scams, according to the Financial Times.
Fake news stories, blog comments and postings on social networking sites have been created to support the claims for the work-at-home kits.
Specifically, Google is targeting companies that are running ads with taglines like, "Use Google to Make 1000s of Dollars!" or "Easy Cash with Google: You Could be Making up to $978 a Day Working from Home!"
"Google hasn't created or endorsed any of the sites like those described in our complaints," Jason Morrison, a Google support engineer, and Stacey Wexler, senior litigation counsel, wrote in a blog post.
"Misleading ads try to take advantage of consumers in the midst of a difficult economy, and as the economic situation has worsened, the problem has only grown."
Google is taking steps to remove scam-related URLs from its index and permanently disable AdWords accounts that provide a poor or harmful user experience.
Google pointed to a few names from which consumers should shy away, including; Google Adwork, Google ATM, Google Biz Kit, Google Cash, Earn Google Cash Kit, Google Fortune, Google Marketing Kit, Google Profits, The Home Business Kit for Google, Google StartUp Kit, and Google Works.
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