Deceptive Pay Per Click Ads

Google’s policy for Adwords states that if you are a counterfeiter of documents, sell recreational drugs or aid customers in beating drug tests, you can’t use Google to advertise your products. They also don’t allow ads for gambling, prostitution, weapons, miracle cures or gambling. You would think that with all the rules such as these in place individuals would find it difficult to implement successful scams.

 

However, it turns out there are many advertisers who use pay per click ad campaigns to go beyond what is considered legal and ethical in the advertising industry. Many companies offer to sell you products that you can find for free. They lure customers with the promise of “completely free” even though you will more than likely pay substantial charges. Google doesn’t protect the consumer’s interests when it comes to advertising software that can be found for free elsewhere online. It is also not uncommon to be offered tech support where no such support exists.

 

Another popular “completely free” campaign involves the free ringtones that aren’t really free at all. What usually happens is the following: you receive a free trial of the product and then you are charged a monthly fee using an automated billing process until you eventually call to cancel. Many people don’t take the time to cancel the service or just don’t realize they are being charged a fee every month. Unfortunately, this is exactly why these types of problems continue to occur. Many users aren’t aware that even if you don’t provide a credit card number, you can still be billed through a cell phone billing system.

Mistaken Identity

You will find plenty of pay per click ads that purposely mislead the user about the true company that is advertising and what products you will find available. You may be looking for a particular kind of software and be led to a site that sells software, just not the type you want. Another ploy is to advertise with words that are very similar to their more successful competitors. In this case, you may be led to the generic site instead of the name brand website you wanted to find.

Who Is to Blame?

Google would like to blame the advertisers for these blatantly false ads. However, Google has the ways and means, not to mention the right, to limit ads that are seen on their site. Google isn’t policing this as efficiently as possible is because they are also making a generous profit on these dubious business practices. The bottom line is they are reluctant to stop the flow from the cash cow.

 

Ultimately consumers need to be careful and educate themselves about practices that may constitute a threat to their identity and their wallet. Merchants will do just about anything to get you to preview their merchandise, and this goes for stores as well as internet businesses. Remember Ralph Nader and the “bait and switch” controversy. Individuals can prevent being taken advantage of by doing their homework before making any online purchases.