“Google Money Tree” Work-at-Home Scam Victims Refunded by FTC

Good news for victims of the work-at-home scams known as Google Money Tree, Google Pro, or Google Treasure Chest. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will mail them checks representing a refund of the amounts they unwittingly paid when they enrolled in the scheme.

According to the FTC, the fraudsters used the Google logo to make everything more legitimate-looking, and apparently, it worked. The shady company promised victims that they could earn as much as $100,000 (80,000 EUR) in just six months, in return demanding a modest shipping fee for a kit that contained the instructions on how to achieve the goal.

The shipping fee wasn’t big, but it secretly triggered recurring monthly charges of $72 (57 EUR), enabling the crooks to earn almost $2.3 million (1.84 million EUR).

The company in question has been forced to surrender cash and other assets to refund victims, and it has been banned for selling products by using shady marketing methods.