According to Associated Press, Google is settling with the scam company that was taking money for work at home ‘kits’ that were useless but promoted under the Google name:
Google filed a federal lawsuit Dec. 7 against Pacific WebWorks, claiming it is using its name to defraud consumers by encouraging them to sign up for a kit that will show them how to them make money using Google.
The Utah Better Business Bureau said it’s just another work-at-home scam that lets the company charge people’s bank accounts for useless moneymaking kits. Utah incorporation records list a Christian Lars as president of Pacific WebWorks Inc. in the warehouse district of Salt Lake City.
Marketing Pilgrim reports:
Pacific WebWorks was also using Google’s logo and representing its kit and other services as endorsed by the search giant.
Obviously the misspelled Goolge was a deliberate intent at circumvention.
Pacific WebWorks issued a press release:
At a hearing in the United States District Court, Central Division of Utah held on December 16, 2009, counsel advised the Court that the parties had reached an “agreement in principle” to settle the lawsuit under terms of which Pacific WebWorks would cooperate with Google’s request for expedited discovery.
Kenneth W. Bell, CEO, stated, “We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Google. The company is cooperating and assisting Google in its discovery request. We understand how important our company’s reputations are and we will do our part to help resolve these issues. With 2010 rapidly approaching, the company looks forward to resolving these issues and turning its attention to refining its business model and to providing excellent products and services to the market now and into the future.”
It remains to be seen how well this move by Google will work in reducing fraud.
Tags: fraud, Google, work at home scam