This evening my husband pointed out a shady pay-per-click ad that ended up costing him a little cash.
He Googled “Canadian Tire” and this is what the results looked like:
Harmless enough right? Well, when he clicked the listing I circled, this is what he got:
It redirects you through http://canadiantireoffers.com/out/, presumably to fool Google AdWords to believing that the advertised URL is legitimate (Google checks to see where the ads are taking you, but it’s done by a bot so it doesn’t care where you go next), but then you end up on the above page (it’s linked to the actual page if you want the URL).
This page above is not an unusual looking landing page; I mean, it’s a bit cheezy for a retailer like Canadian Tire, but whatever… people test out stuff all the time or edit their landing pages for different promotions. Before even thinking about it, my husband tried his shot at winning a gift card and ended up with a paid text subscription to his cell phone. Here’s the fine print:
This is a subscription service. Costs of the Trivia Game are CDN $2.00 per question. Each week 4 questions will be sent to your mobile.
I know some people say they’ll click the PPC ad rather than the legitimate Google search result listing just to cost the company an extra few cents for the click (not sure I get the strategy), but you’re better off going with proper search results.
Besides, if you think about it critically, why would Canadian Tire buy the keyword ‘Canadian Tire’ to link to their home page? If I were buying AdWords for Canadian Tire, I’d only buy the domain level keywords in order to draw attention to a special promotion, offer, new service or whatever. But that’s me…
There really needs to be better policing of this by Google Adwords. This is not a Canadian Tire campaign – as the fine print says, Wixawin is not affiliated or endorsed by the products or services advertised. These guys are the devil. Google has guidelines for display URLs and mentioning trademarked terms in your ad and this obviously slipped through the cracks – since the landing page included the keywords for Canadian Tire and all.
I really thing CT is the innocent victim here, as are the folks who click the ad. I hope you guys don’t get spammed now with other Wixawin offers!
Aside from that, bidding on your own keywords is actually a good idea. Here’s more details:
http://outspokenmedia.com/internet-marketing-conferences/search-branding/
Linda Bustos’s last blog post..Canonical URL Tag Is Worth A Shot
Hi Linda, Thanks for stopping by! I wasn’t clear in my post; this obviously not Canadian Tire – they’re definitely the innocent victims here. I was just saying that if someone didn’t know better, they might think it was legitimately Canadian Tire, as in my husband’s case. And since I’m relatively new to the world of PPC, I’m off to read your article… thanks!
I wanted to thank you for posting this information. I saw this ad as well and
though it was from Canadian tire. My mistake and I signed up as I missed the fine print. When the text messages arrived I was pretty much
just ignoring them till they got to a point of just driving me crazy. I started searching on how to stop text spam before running across your blog. I took a closer look at my cell bill and found the charges, I felt rather dumb. When I called my service provider I was lucky enough that they have a 1 time policy to refund any fees that may be incurred by something like
this and I was refunded for all the messages about $60 in total and they walked me through how to stop the service.
Thanks,
Nina
Just called the 800 number to cancel the ‘subscription’. 866.670.0126
The recorded message indicated it would take as long as 2 days to get a confirmation text indicating it had been cancelled. I ended up getting this text within 5 minutes.
Hopefully that ends this experiment. I fell for this because CT seems to be (to me) an above board marketing and sales group. A $500 gift card did not seem to be out of line as they are making more strides in internet presence, and a mobile plan did not seem too odd.
M
I would like to thank Nina. I never would have thought to ask my service provider to refund the money that I lost from this if I hadn’t read Nina’s post. They put back 54 dollars on my pay as you go account. They said it is a one time goodwill and if it happened again I would be responsible to pay any charges. I can’t believe I fell for this.
Thank you for posting this. I was also going along with the challenge then today I was getting kind of bored of it and was wondering when it was going to end. I am glad to find out it was a scam before it went any further.
A new twist to this scam. After contacting wixawin and telling them to unsubscribe my number from this I continued to receive text messages every day. After barking at them numerous times it turns out I was receiving the text messages from smsgameon.com at 33233 instead. I don’t see anywhere in the fine print that says you will receive a message everyday from 2 seperate companies. Neither will admit to any wrongdoing of course and they are sure to have the same parent company.
Thanks for the post the # 1-866-670-0126 follow the promts and get your number off this bogus list
Do you know how to stop these messages? My husband is getting them too.
dc
Hi dc,
You should be able to initially stop the messages by replying the word STOP to the number sending them to you. As for getting reimbursed, it looks like most mobile providers may take pity and reverse the charges if you tell them this happened and you didn’t know what it was.
Good luck!
Thanks for the information on stopping this scam, the lesson learned is invaluable and the fine print is so important to read…I had no idea it would cost to receive the texts and was just deleting them daily until I saw my bill and I will do my best to get my provider to reverse the charges. Thanks again
the smsgameon.com or 0033233 text reply number to stop this subscription is 1-800-301-4217 call imediately to stop don’t wait b/c they will charge you when you text stop.
You folks that received the refunds were fortunate. Virgin Canada has just told me it was my fault & there is nothing they can do for me. Good luck to the rest of you. Thanks for at least helping me to stop the text messages.
Most text messaging services recognize the words stop, end, remove, cancel, info, help,. you should be able to cancel by following those instructions, if not, id recommend contacting your service provider (sometimes ull get a not too experienced agent so u gotta be persistent and ask for the proper instructions). the cwta website says that these companies can’t send you messages unless you ask for them so u gotta think back to the times u signed up to something asking for ur number online, or ask ur friends and family if they used ur number and ur actual phone too, and a more key point READ THE FINE PRINT!!!!!!
Well the text reply doesn’t work since I tried numerous times and what the site does is scramble the letters. “s” becomes “p” etc. I have called my service provider who said they will try to find out the source, however, I am still responsible for the charges. Well, guess what ? when the reply text doesnt work it sends another 2 messages saying it doesnt recognize the response and also gives foul language! So now I have been dinged another $2 times 8 ( the number of different tries). I have filed a complaint with the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications. (online as the agency is out east and I live in BC). Thanks for the information…now how do I get them to stop and get a refund?
Toni,
You would want to text the word stop to the sender of the messages you are receiving. As for a refund? good luck.
Thanks everyone for posting this, I unfortuantely fell for this and have been trying to find a way to make it stop. I just called and sent a text so I hope it now comes to an end.
Help. How do I make these text messages stop?
Does this 1-866-670-0126 actually work?
I fell for this few days ago and then read an article about this type of scam and realized what i’ve just done. I have yet to see a phone bill. Does calling the number work? Can someone please comment if they’ve successfully gotten this company to stop texting you.
Thanks!
Everyone should file a complaint with the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications.
I was also was scammed by this website! I wanted to find out who the greedy parasite is behind this internet scam, so I googled whois canadaiantireoffers.ca and I discovered that the registrant is:
****** ******* of the
Katana Media Group
1360 Taylor Street #6
San Francisco, CA 94108
USA
****** ******* (***@katanamedia.com)
415-287-0776Name Servers:
ns1.katanamedia.com
ns2.katanamedia.com
I did some more digging and found “Katana Media Group” owns about 58 other domains like gotsonglyrics.com. So it seems that they are doing scams like this all over the internet. I agree with BM, everyone should file a complaint witht the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications against ****** ******* and Katana Media Group. In addtion to that someone needs to notify Google that someone is using their adwords advertising to scam the public! Shame on you ****** *******!
NOTE: I have removed the identifying information for the individual presented. I was contacted by that individual with the following message: “We had an client that wanted us to do SEO for a Canadian Tire promotion a while back, but we ceased working with them when we found out it was not authorized by the brand. We only had a couple links sitting on our servers, but the company responsible for this promotion is Wixawin Mobile Entertainment.” The URL canadiantireoffers.ca is no longer registered.
Hi folks. I signed up for this as well. That person is not the owner of the text message service. It’s not a scam either – it’s a text message sweepstakes offered
by Wixawin Mobile Entertainment.
# The winners of the competition are announced on the website.
# The selected entrants will be contacted within 28 days of the closing date for the quiz. The prize will be awarded within 60 days of the closing date for the Round. You can opt out of the Trivia Game Subscription Service at any time. To do so, send a text message stating “STOP” or “WIN STOP” to 84040 or call 866-670-0126.
The terms are listed here:
http://wixawin.com/ca/ads/terms.html
The Canadian Tire one is listed here:
http://wixawin.com/ca/products.html
So just text STOP if you want to get out. It’s that simple.