Much as I hate doing all the research and the drudgework that is involved in researching and documenting all the scam sites that I have been outing recently, I find it hard NOT to do it. I take a break for a day or to, decide to write about me (Hello? The blog is not called One Scam Outer) and then I start to wonder what other scams are out there that I have missed? How many other people, just looking for relief for themselves or their loved ones are being tricked out of their money, which could doubtless go to better uses? And these thoughts niggle at me. Unrelentingly. So last night, I sat myself down and decided to go searching for more scams.
I decided to search for remedies for Peyronie's Disease. Now, I had no idea what Peyronie's disease entails. I just know that it seems to be covered on all of the scam sites and -unlike ...say, "Myasthenia Gravis"- I can spell it consistently without having to look it up.
Imagine my surprise while researching, I was suddenly presented with a picture of three erect penises, all in a row. You don't usually get that when researching scams. Way-hey! thought I: Porn! this thought was instantly followed by Shit! Are the blinds down? ...because my large-screen monitor directly faces a downstairs window (I don't want the neighbours to think that I surf porn. I mean, even if I do, I don't want them to think that I do. ...it's a suburban thing). Then I noticed that it wasn't porn, but a medical site showing some pictures of a Peyronie's sufferer; Before, During and After treatment. And the penny dropped. Apparently Peyronie's effects the penis.
Who knew? Apart from an actual sufferer, that is.
...and I have to throw in a confession here: I must say that I was somewhat intrigued by the Before picture of the bent and twisted willy. Because I couldn't help but wonder if that one might reach places that other willies might miss, you know? And before you other women say "Ewe!!": Admit it: Most of you thought the same thing. I am just the one who will actually put it in writing.
And then publish it on the Internet...
Then I read a bit more and I realized that Peyronie's can be painful for the man, so nix that idea. ...unless he was Very Naughty (evil laugh).
Anyhoo: back to the point (quick! before I lose me PG13 rating!): There was I, surfing porn the net, searching for scams, when I found this page
This site: with no person or company name, no phone number, no qualifications or references, except for a little story, told in the first person singular about being a ex-sufferer, having been a sufferer for years, and doing all the research, gone through all the message-boards and quacks and now presenting "objectively" these four products.
If you read the blurb on each of the products (and those of you who regularly read OSM may instantly recognize just from the names that ALL the products named are scams), the language changes to the first person plural: "I" and "my" suddenly becomes "we" and "our".
Hmmm.
And then there is the cute little tortoise (WTF does a tortoise have to do with Peyronie's ? ...I mean, positively speaking?), promising to show you the way through this "dessert". All's I can say to that guy is keep your reptilian little paws off my key lime pie!
Having found that tortoise, I figured there were probably more where he came from.
I was right. All with the identical back-story, all with the same text; -except for the disease /product names and most pushing the "ical" first, then "ton" then "fax" and lastly either the "ex" or "tab" with a minor disclaimer pinned on the latter. I haven't seen the "tin" products mentioned, but I think that is because they have been outed too many times as fraudulent.
Here is the list of dodgy "Product Peview" sites.
|
Condition |
Site |
|
Abdominal Adhesions |
|
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Achalasia |
|
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Actinic Keratosis |
|
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Alopecia |
|
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Atrial Fibrillation |
|
|
Bell's Palsy |
|
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Bronchiectasis |
|
|
Cellulitis |
|
|
Delayed Ejaculation |
|
|
Emphysema |
|
|
Eye Bags |
|
|
Folliculitis |
|
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Gastroparesis |
|
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Granuloma Annulare |
|
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Grave's Disease |
|
|
Guillain-Barre Syndrome |
|
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Hand Tremors |
|
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Hernias |
|
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Hidradenitis |
|
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Hyperhidrosis |
|
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Keratosis |
|
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Lipoma |
|
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Melasma |
|
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Motor neuron Disease |
|
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Narcolepsy |
|
|
Peyronie's Disease |
|
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Vocal Cord Nodules |
|
|
Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia |
I checked the registration for some of the sites, and all came back (surprise!) to the same name and address:
Herbal Reviews
115 Abercorn Street, M0013
Paisley, Scotland PA3 4AT
United Kingdom
I really wish I could find my original notes regarding Syrotab, which were taken in 2006, because I am pretty sure that they were originally run from an address in Paisley (curious to see if it was the same address as noted above), before "moving" to Oslo. I remember because Himself has a degree in Scottish business law (which I think he used precisely that one time) and I remember grilling him about them at the time.
Of course, I have a strong feeling that the real people behind this site are the same people behind SPAH and I am petty sure behind most of the other "herbal treatment"-themed organized scam sites out there: MAK International, one of whose core product offerings is a comparison shopping engine.
From their site:
Comparison shopping engines is perhaps the most targeted form of advertising possible for a website that intends to sell products. Nearly anyone visiting a comparison shopping engine is looking to purchase something. The way these engines work is by providing a product feed in a standard format as required by the comparison engine. Most engines accept a variety of feed forms like excel sheets, csv files and xml structured information. The standard information required for each product is the product price, a unique product number, product image and a short product description. This information needs to be constantly kept updated and should match exactly what is presented on your website.
When a potential customer goes to comaprison shopping site and searches for the product he or she is looking for the products that appear on the top get the highest number of clicks. The way the results are ranked varies from engine to engine. Some engines rank those products higher that pay more for the click, others sort the results by price and some by the relevancy of the product to the search key term. The last approach is particularly applicable to froogle, google's fast growing comparison shopping engine.
So really, their business has little to do with "treatments" and more to do with "clicks".
I sincerely hope that my outing of their scams is not furthering their business...
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