Are Some HydraNetwork Offers NonReviewable?
After the recent outburst of rage over GoogleMoneyTree which was ultimately written up by the National Consumers League I noticed something about a new offer very similar to Google Money Tree being run through HydraNetwork.
I'm no rocket scientist – I don't claim to even come close to understanding E = MC Squared, but I am astute enough to know that the following is quite bizarre…
The offer claims that it offers easy ways to profit and us Google to make money using their system for generating cash from Google. In fact there are implications that you could become a millionaire if you institute their system.
Hey HydraNetwork and any other network running this "unnameable offer" – doesn't the following alarm you?
You According to the Terms and Conditions of one of your offers I'm not allowed to give my readers my opinion of the offer or disclose the actual charges of the offer (note, I'm sure there are OTHER networks running this offer, too).
Well, it's because I've decided to play their game called "Terms and Conditions Gone Wild!"
Here are the rules of the game and how it's played:
A company who doesn't want to get reviewed puts in their Terms and Conditions that:
- "Referencing their site or linking to it without prior authorization is prohibited.
- You can't reference the URL (website address) for any reason without express permission.
- You agree to pay $100,000 if you violate this provision this provision."
OK. So while preventing someone from "referencing a website" would seem to be unenforceable legally, let's go ahead and play their game.
According to the Terms and Conditions of the offer I am not allowed to tell you which product or service I don't recommend that I'm talking about, so instead I've put together a list of "hints"…
Here are your hints to help you GUESS which offer I do NOT recommend:
- The opportunity is NOT on our Top 10 Recommended Home Businesses list.
- The offer DOES include a "Trial" period.
- There is an initial $1.95 charge for shipping and handling.
- After the 7 day trial period is up, the monthly charges are $39.95 per month.
- The disclosure of the monthly charges are at the bottom of page 2.
- The offer involves a "free kit"
- One of the trademarks the company claims to have includes the term "Google" in it which seems like it wouldn't be legally possible. That would be like me naming a business system "Microsoft Money System" and then claiming that I have a trademark on it!
- Currently, the address of the company is in Clearwater, Florida.
- The site has red links against a red background to the following:
- Privacy Policy
- Terms and Conditions
- Purchase Agreement
- You MIGHT see lynxtrack as part of a URL (link) that redirects to the actual website.
- The site CLAIMS to have been seen and trusted on CNN and MSN (of course that could apply to many, many sites) and is USING the CNN and MSN logos on their site.
- The product claims to be a money system.
- The customer service center accessible via a toll-free 800 number is currently open Monday through Saturday 9 AM to 9 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST)
- The conditions and process for getting a refund appear in the Purchase Agreement
- You must return the UNUSED product within a certain period of time (at the time of this writing it was 30 days) to get a return and you can refund the product if you're not delighted for any reason (Ummm. If you can't USE the product, how can you decide if you're "delighted" or not?)
Here are a few more clues to which product being promoted through the Hydra Affiliate Network (and probably other affiliate networks) I do NOT recommend.
Again…you might see "lynxtrack" as part of the url (link) that redirects to the actual website of the offer. Now, there are many great offers and products that use lynxtrack as part of their url since lynxtrack is is part of an thousands of HydraNetwork affiliate ids that redirect to various products and services.
Sorry I can't be more specific, but according to the rules of the game of this offer that HydraNetwork is running I'm not allowed to, so you better just be careful of any link you see that has "LynxTrack" in it.
Let me know if you need more clues OK?
According to the Terms and Conditions of the offer I can only give you vague details that COULD apply to many offers, but there might be a remote chance that you'll be able to figure out which of the thousands of offers using a HydraNetwork affiliate link that contains the characters lynxtrack I do NOT recommend.
Since the rules of this crazy TERMS & CONDITIONS GAME state that I can't post which product this is I DO NOT RECOMMEND I'll start posting which product it is NOT
Filed under Not Recommended by Comment. 
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Comments on Are Some HydraNetwork Offers NonReviewable?
2:11 pm
Paul,
I need some more giggles, lets see how many millionaires post angry requests for refunds on this site now.
5:45 pm
LOL.
My favorite part so far is that this company claims to have trademarked a term that includes the Trademarked mark term "Google" in it – and I'm SURE it would be in one of the same class of services that Google holds their Trademark in.
Oh, also that that this company prohibits people from using their copyrighted and "allegedly" trademarked logos without their permission while they themselves are using logos from CNN and MSN.
7:18 pm
Paul,
As with any crook, they do not care who they violate or who they hurt because it is of no consequence to them just as long as they get away with it. Ahh, but let the tables turn and when the jig is up and they are exposed they run the opposite way hiding their face, refuse to cop to any wrongdoing and their defence team starts spouting off about how their clients rights are being violated because there are cameras in their face and people are asking for a explanation. Next thing you know the terms will be: Just shut up and take it, and if you don't we are legally going to rip you off even more. And if you think about telling anyone we may also take your first born also.
What a friggin joke, and circus this is turning into.
10:53 pm
Paul.. but still.. you are afraid to post the URL? Interesting. How will you protect us, your loyal followers, from getting scam'd once again?
You must be pretty worried.
11:17 pm
Carlton,
Don't worry. I have this all worked out and it will actually be WORSE for them. It's going to require more work on my part but it SHOULD have a more profound effect and end up protecting MORE people.
You'll see as the next week unfolds.
Some of it's a bit technical to explain without "giving away the store".
I'm going to be building a lot of related posts and I think it will start to become obvious as to what I'm trying to do.
You see, one problem is that these offers come and go. Once they have enough negative feedback, they just start up a new offer under a different name.
But what allows them to do that are the big Affiliate Networks that bring them all their victims – I mean, customers – through their huge base of affiliate marketers and relationships with owners of large email lists.
Man, I really, really want to give away the store here, but it's going to be more fun to do this the right way.
If you want one of the more direct approaches, you might want to take a look at the following post which has some pretty interesting information and was the first time I was able to use the new image search engine TinEye.com which searches for duplicate images.
Here it is:
YourBillKiller exposed?.
11:40 pm
Hey Carlton and CJ,
It's the darndest thing…
Someone asked a question about a company over at Yahoo Answers about some company that sounds a lot like the one I'm not allowed to talk about here. I can't say if it's the same one or not, but there sure are a lot of striking similarities.
You can see that question at Yahoo Answers here.
And NO I did NOT plant the question there. I have NO idea who those people are. So yes, it was actually someone else that I ZERO CONNECTION to at all who asked it and remember I CANNOT say if it's the same offer that I'm NOT talking about here or not.
Step 1 of 10+ complete.
2:45 am
Oh, this is getting even better.
It LOOKS like this company is owned by the same folks that put out a course that early on was HEAVILY promoted by a VERY well-respected Search Engine Marketing, PPC, and overall eCommerce Training organization called StomperNet.
I can't say that with 100% certainty at this point, but that's what it's looking like.
Nothing against StomperNet. I took their training and it was excellent. But it IS interesting to see that POSSIBLE connection, although not too meaningful at this point.
By the way the company in question on this post used Privacy Protection which is incredibly silly because it is SO easy to figure out who's behind it.
3:06 am
This is getting too bizarre. There's a legitimate FBI office at the same NUMBERED address in the same city and town as the address listed on the company's Terms and Conditions, but with a different zip-code and different Suite #.
So I'm not sure if it's the same numbered address on opposite sides of town or if there's something about zip-codes I don't understand where it would be somehow possible to have a different zip-code at the same address.
It's the FBI after all. LOL.
This is the FBI Office Address:
Pinellas Resident Agency
Serving Pinellas County
Federal Bureau of Investigation
601 Cleveland Street, Suite 400
Clearwater, FL 32751
Phone: (727) 461-7055
Which you can see at this link from the official FBI website.
4:08 am
Well, CJ.
Looks like Carlton is parting ways with us.
He just posted on the Google Money Tree discussion here that he thinks the people who are complaining there are wrong.
Oddly, even the National Consumers League did a write up of Google Money Tree here.
5:03 am
Carlton,
I've gotten plenty of Cease & Desist letters and legal threats all the way back to early 2006.
There was only one Cease & Desist I was required to act on – it was from the company that runs those CrazyFox commercials – I was bidding on hundreds of their domain names in PPC.
I think the time for being "really worried" is a bit late.
Paul
5:54 am
Paul,
Have never visited that site yet before just now. I just clicked on it to read what other complaints might be posted. The thing that I believe in is this; seeing the amount of people who have been ripped is amazing. Fortunatly I am not in the same boat other people are in. The loss of 100 bucks sucks, but at the same time it taught me a lesson. I know people who have been scammed alot harder than i was.
It is a good idea to point out the wrongdoings going on in this day and age.And yes if it has happened to a person more than once? SHAME on them.
But there really must be something done to stop the internet scams. I do contract work for a living in the south U.S. so unfortunatly it takes me away sometimes for a while. The long weekend was nice But I have got to depart in am. to start another project. I will stop in from time to time when i get a chance to be more current on the scams that people like you are posting. Keep it up, it sure made me more aware than I was 2 weeks ago, that is for sure.
I must say that the people posting on that site were funny because they were comming to a site about warning them against the site that they were being scammed by and saying that your page owed them money. The Fact that WE got taken should be an eye opener.
a lesson learned, and thankfully not financially hurt like others were. Check back in a few. Hope ol' fitz has to pay back at all of the money to the people that were honestly hurt by it.
6:06 am
Thanks, CJ.
Lynn from EagleResearAssociates.orghas taken an informal lead in getting a lot of sites that specialize in various areas to at least informally network a bit more closely which has been a huge help.
6:26 am
Carlton
And to whoever else thinks that bringing scams to the surface and airing them out is wrong, then I have a dissagreement with you also because I am a business owner and I have to say that taking care of your customers is what takes care of you.
I come from a long line of legit bus. owners and that is why we have always been successful in what we do is because our clientele always come back because they were taken care of by us.
The reason that I was taken was because I was opening up another smaller co. and wanted to see if I could get a grant so that I would maybe not be so much out of pocket.
6:29 am
carleton
Ran out of room above, oh to hell with it I am tired.
Paul,
Talk to you later on
6:36 am
LOL. I hear you, CJ.
Get some rest.
1:21 am
Any one using "lynxtrack" will not get my business. I will call co selling product &/or services and inform them that until lynxtrack can clean up their act if they use this service…no business. I saw the bogus grants on HUFFINGTON POST. I am contacting them. They are enabling these crooks. I will contact advertisers on HUFFINGTON POST with the same declaration of boycott. Until the POST stops enabling frauds….Are there any aggressive lawyers out there…Go after the advertising organs, web site, newspaper, tv, radio, that receives financial remuneration from illegal enterprises….A CLASS ACTION SUIT, NATIONWIDE.
7:04 am
Just located another offer on HydraNetwork that is "non-reviewable".
Of course I'm not going to post the site or link.
8:25 am
There's a discussion about this new phenomenon at the WarriorForum here
11:37 pm
If they do not want their site or link posted then maybe they should go out and get real f ing jobs instead of being deadbeat loosers who are trying to make an easy buck off of everyone who visits thier websites. If I was actually computer savvy like most people out there I would create a blogsite and point my own finger at them all day long and twice on sunday.
Really, if it is o.k. for these a holes to get away with ripping people off, then I would really not be worried about them taking action against me. One day when I am able to be at home long enough to learn more about the web I WILL POINT THE FINGER AT THEM, THE MIDDLE ONE. Any threats that these people make at someone who is calling out their crap is funny AT BEST.
12:37 am
This was actually more about me being fed up with the affiliate networks that continue to run these offers even though I'm SURE they know how scandalous many of them are.
However, I've recently learned that some of the networks may actually have more culpability than merely acting as a distribution channel for the networks.
You see, the PROBLEM isn't really the people who CREATE these offers OR the affiliates that run them. The problem with trying to solve the problem at the level of the people who create the offers is that often these companies are given a 'clean up' period which gives them just enough time to start up a new offer or even new company while they are PRETENDING to clean up the previous offer.
It actually would probably be MORE effective to take action against affiliates promoting the offers, although more difficult.
However, if you can go after the affiliate networks which are the main means of mass distribution of these offers to the general public (because they are the ones with a huge base of affiliates and relationships with large list owners)…then you do a better job of cutting this stuff off at the knees.
Some information I learned about how deep into the loop CERTAIN affiliate networks are when it comes to these types of offers may make that possible.
And a clause like that clearly violates first amendment rights and commonly accepted legal definitions of fair use in Trademark and Copyright law.
9:37 pm
paul,
Dude, do you know where i can purchase a ticket to get five minutes alone with the people who are behind this crap. I feel that it is time for a deep south texas can of whup a@# to be opened and unleashed. Wonder if i could make a million selling those tickets. What do you think !!!
10:49 pm
You'd sell out in minutes. LOL.
4:41 am
Ever since i was taken on lisa fitz whatever the hell her name was grants site, i was directed to your site for a refund. After reading just a few posts on your site, i knew that they directed me to your site to give me the runaround so they did not have to deal with my verbal bashing that i bestowed upon them.
I think that you are one of the most standup guys that i have ever come across, and i have never even met you. It is because of your site that I have been educated in depth to these scams. Not to sound redundant but thank you for who you are and what you stand for. As for the tickets, I will supply you a lifetime of ringside seats for nothing. I think that you would enjoy watching the pitbull against the poodles all day long, hell I would even stop and laugh in between the punches myself.
I have even thought of the headline for the event. " fISTFULL OF F ING DOLLARS" . Wonder how many bills a 400 lbs benchpress could cram down their throats. If they need them that bad, I would be more than happy to take out a loan to feed them to avenge everyone who has been taken for idiots, including myself.
So this is a shout out to who ever is behind all of these scams, I know that you read the post on these web sites, right "carleton", so have the sack and confront me to where everyone can read it, I will be more than happy to accomidate that.
You can adress me as Corey, and I will adress you as as@ hole.
Well see who responds.
Thank you for the honor of giving a center stage to speak from MR. Paul.
12:09 am
Hey paul, I think the readers of this blog should know that even cancelling your card for some reason may not be enough. For some reason I changed my card number and there is another charge on it. So if the dude that is charging my card is reading this do me one favor, after you can afford your enlargement surgury on your wee winky, can you give my account a rest please???? Dude or chick, whoever your are, remember what the bible says, what goes around comes around seven fold. I would re finance my home to have front row seats to that. IF YOU ALL WOULD HAVE FINISHED SCHOOL, YA'LL COULD HAVE HAD REAL JOBS, THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A WHILE!!!
2:30 am
CJ. Is the email you use when you're filling out the comment form on the blog here one you check?
I tried sending you a message a while back, but didn't get a reply.
6:34 pm
yes, it should be the one. Anyway, good to hear from you dude. Send me another one, i should get it.