In the process of learning about marketing online,  I have signed up for many “guru” marketers email lists. One of those “gurus” is Perry Belcher. I have just learned that he was charged with internet marketing fraud in 2008. He entered a guilty plea to multiple felony and misdemeanor charges. He was given 10 years of probation and there were many special conditions to his probation. His property was seized including his home, the money in his many bank accounts, his audio/video equipment, his four ATVs, his Harley motorcycle, his vintage Desoto, his Jaguar, and a Toyota and a Dodge truck were also seized. All of his property was sold at auction in order to provide the funds to pay his victims back. (see more about the court records). This means he’s gellin’ like a felon (for real, people are calling him the Internet Felon).

I knew he sold programs to internet marketers, but I was not aware of the medical products he sold. This is the shameful part, in my opinion. Selling fake pills to sick people is just PITIFUL and evil. He had a company called Selmedica. He created a persona of a doctor (using a clip art photo and made-up name) in order to give his products credibility. He also quoted fake statistics about supposed medical trials for his “cures”. This type of snake oil product promotion is as old as the hills, but the internet allows unscrupulous people to put a slick new spin on selling ineffective and unproven medicine. It is really sad that people don’t know any better (some say they are just plain stupid) to buy pills to enlarge breasts or dissolve freckles (yes he sold stuff like that). But the worst offense is the supposed cures for serious diseases and medical problems that he was selling. Here is a page that explains the fraudulent medical remedies in detail: Perry Belcher Victim Search.

The search is on for victims of Perry Belcher’s marketing schemes.

If you bought his Secret Cure Disease Ebook, any Selmedica or Increase Media product, the police want to hear from you. To contact them, call the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office at (901) 545-3268 or email them at selmedica@shelby-sheriff.org.

Do I still belive there are reputable products being marketed online? Yes, I do, but I will be far more careful and will check out the websites, their owners,  the products, and the claims being made about them. I hope everone will do the same.

I first read about this at a seriously entertaining website (from which I borrowed the term “Internet felon”): Salty Droid. Hat’s off to that site for covering the topic so well.

Technorati Tags: criminal, felon, fraud, guilty, Internet Marketing, perry belcher, Selmedica, victims

Now I have good news to report. There ARE Internet marketers that won’t scam you. In fact, the person I am going to talk about (Ed Dale) won’t even charge you a penny. No tricks, no lies, no shady tactics! Of course he does sell other programs and products, but the one I am going to talk about is totally free – and has so much value it is almost unbelievable.

I am talking about the Thirty Day Challenge that is held every August. This is a challenge to make $1 online in a month (without spending any money in the process). It has been going on for about five years. I’ve particpated in those that took place in 2007 and 2008. Right now, you can go check out the pre-season information at Thirty Day Challenge. If you go to that website, you can sign up and start recieving the emails that will walk you through each day of the challenge.  Also, you will be able to go look at the training here: Thirty Day Challenge Training. And there is a blog to keep people informed, as well as an awesome forum where participants post messages and help each other.

How does the free training and the challenge work?

In July, there are sporadic emails you will receive with instructions about tools and internet techniques that will be used during the challenge. These are good to get started with right away, because, if you are going to do the 30 day challenge, you will be busy each day in August. Every day that month, there will be at least one video (usually more than one). Each day the videos will walk you through a system for making money online with no investment on your part. Many people apply the techniques they learn to their existing online businesses. Others – probably the majority of participants – are just starting out and use this as an opportunity to learn more aobut Internet marketing. There are also live Internet broadcasts where Ed Dale will answer questions (and the place those take place have a chat feature where participants can talk to Ed and to each other during the broadcast).

I’ve learned tons from this guy -  and I have successfully applied many of those “secrets” and tricks or techniques of how to make money to some of my websites where I am trying to make an income.  OK -  I guess I should “fess up” that during the 2007 challenge I didn’t make my $1 in the first month – but in 2008 I did make more than a dollar in that first month!

So if you want to learn more about how people make money online, or if you want to learn ways to do that more successfully, you would really like this program.

Summary: I give a big “Wave” (thumbs up, kudos, bravo) to the Thirty Day Challenge for being one of the best Internet marketing training programs available.

Technorati Tags: 30 Day challenge, Ed Dale, free, Internet Marketing, Thirty Day Challenge, training

So, I ordered a DVD from Shawn Casey about his 10K club. He says it’s about how to get $10,000 a month faster and easier than you ever though possible.

I don’t remember the emails ever saying that by ordering the DVD they promoted that I had actually joined something I would have to pay for monthly. I never saw that on the DVD cover, or on the actual disk label. I never heard that said in the actual video, either. This to me is just short of a scam tactic. It is my fault completely that  I never saw the folded up piece of paper in the shipping envelope that actually said that I would have to cancel my membership (or I would be charged every month – and get another DVD).

So, I was able to get out of being a member and am supposed to get that $100+ back. We’ll see about that! But as far as the contents of the DVD, it covers the basics of internet marketing (mostly about email marketing, PPC marketing and some mention of free traffic). It also makes it clear that you should not just be selling, but be making customers. The point being, you would get customers to subscribe to something monthly. There is nothing wrong with any of the content, as it is. It also doesn’t tell you HOW to do any of the above. I suppose that if I wanted to watch the webinars and keep paying each month I would have access to more detailed information.

I just am not interested in learning through a subscription – probably because I am aware of ways to gain all this knowledge (and more) through other marketers’ videos. Actually many good ones are on Youtube. In fact, there are free courses for learning about internet marketing (and they don’t over promise by saying you will make a million dollar business). No one should promise such a thing – there are just too many factors that are unknown (about the person you are teaching, about changes in the internet, etc.)

So, why would I pay for someone to slowly dole out information (while they charge me monthly) when I can learn more from a free course such as Ed Dale’s 30 Day Challenge (which I will be giving a Wave review to soon). So, for the price alone, and the slow delivery of actualy USEFUL information, I would give this a rating of: Warning!

UPDATE!

Well, I don’t have good news yet. Here is the history. In May I ordered the 10K club DVD to see what it was about (the offer was that I only pay for shipping). The paper that came with it doesn’t elaborate on the “Membership” or that you are actually in a club, it just says

“After you dig into the DVD’s and the online videos, I’m sure you’ll agree that the $10K Club is an amazing bargain at just $99 a month. We’ll be charging your credit card one month after you joined and then we’ll send your next member package.”

Joined…WHAT? I never joined anything.

On July 26th I got an email saying my order was shipped. That was my first clue that there was a problem! (So I checked my credit card and on July 17 I had been billed for $104.94.I called the number listed with the credit transaction to tell them to cancel it and refund me. They said I had to receive the order and return it to get my money back. It is now July 1, and the shipment has not arrived. I hope it does so I can return it and get my money back. This is sooooo close to being a scam (I am livid)!

This is what I think is so wrong:

• The emails never said clearly that I was going to be billed monthly. That one piece of paper that did was stuffed down in the shipping envelope (which I overlooked at first).
• The website that you go to for information says nothing about how to cancel.
• The support site says nothing about how to cancel.
•  The content on the actual DVD says nothing about how to cancel.
• Neither the printed outside cover of the DVD case nor the printed label on the disk say a thing about how to cancel.

You see… they make it easy FOR THEM to take your money and hard FOR YOU to get your money back. You can search the internet for Shawn Casey scam and you will see others feel the same way I do.

UPDATE #2 – YAY, I got a refund!  I had to send that 2nd DVD back. It wasn’t hard to get the refund AFTER going through a lot of trouble with trying to figure out that I was signed up for a membership I didn’t want. I bet lots of people don’t catch on right away and that probably adds up to quite a bit of money for Shawn Casey. Kind of a slick system – and really it needs to be much more transparent about HOW to get out of the membership.

Technorati Tags: 10K, club, mining gold, scam, scammer, Shaw Casey, warning

Here is some background. I am a relatively new internet marketer. I am trying, like so many others, to make money online with websites and blogs that review products and offer links to buy those products. I sign up for emails from other marketers and check out their techniques and products. This can be a very educational thing. It can also be dangerous to your pocketbook if you end being tricked by a scammer.

I guess I should consult a lawyer before I write what I am about to, but I am not a rich internet marketer and I don’t even HAVE a lawyer. I hope I can say this diplomatically so that I won’t need one.

Here’s what has me ticked off. I signed up to read about the stuff that Shawn Casey promotes. I mean, I know he’s rich and I thought, maybe there are some pointers I can learn. I also was suspicious of some of his methods and wanted to check him out. Well, I was offered this DVD if I just paid for the shipping. And I ordered it for just over $7. It was very late in arriving. But after it got to me, I watched some of it and wasn’t that impressed. But what was really sad is I never saw the folded up letter in the package – and it had a very important thing (that wasn’t really emphasized in any emails and the part of the letter wasn’t in bold either! That was the fact that I had actually joined this club (that I never wanted to join) and that I was going to be charged $99 a month.

Needless to say, it never really mentions that fact anywhere but in that one piece of paper that was crumpled down at the bottom of the shipping envelope. And I only realized that I was about to lose some money when I got a “your order has been shipped” email. Then, I went to my online banking to see what my credit card was charged (and it was more than $99).

I quickly called and cancelled the “membership” and was promised that the charge would be removed from my credit card. I’ll have to update you on that later. But, my point is, that this may not be an actual scam, but it comes very close in that the contact information is never clear. You can’t find where to sign in to cancel the order – and the fact that you HAVE TO CANCEL isn’t obvious. This explains why some internet marketers get so rich!

I stil haven’t found out where (if there is a place) to go cancel your “membership”. And there are no phone numbers to call (unless you end up getting charged and you get that phone number from your credit card bill).

So, don’t do what I did unless you actually want to pay for this kind of membership! I’ll describe more about it in another post. Needless to say, this is one internet marketer that I will not be “copying” their business practices… (read the ongoing updates about my $10K club problem).

I plan to write more about these people with their email lists and what they are all about. I think I will call it Internet Marketing Waves and Warnings. Waves would be marketers or products I find favorable (do the wave) and warnings is self explanatory – things to be aware of before you get involved.

Technorati Tags: Bad, Good, Internet Marketing, rip off, scammers, scams, Ugly