Potentially Fraudulent Sites Posing as Genealogy Websites

Writing in the Ancestry.com blog, Mike Ward is warning other genealogists of fraudulent web sites posing as genealogy sites. These sites take your credit card information and provide little in return.

Mike writes:

We have recently become aware of three websites purporting to allow family history research: SearchYourGenealogy.com, Ancestry-search.com and Australian-Ancestry.com. The sites claim to have “the largest online genealogical search tool” and promote themselves as the foremost resources for genealogy, but from what we can tell, these sites are nothing more than a series of web pages with links to other services. These sites, in our opinion, are clearly fraudulent.

On each site, potential customers are lured to purchase under what we feel to be false, misleading and deceitful promotional material, and get little or no value out of money spent at the websites. Blog and message board posts from the community confirm this opinion.

You can read Mike's entire article at http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/04/10/potentially-fraudulent-sites-posing-as-genealogy-websites/

Comments

[anonymouse]

"Ancestry.com .... is warning .... genealogists of fraudulent web sites... These sites take your credit card information and provide little in return."

ROFL.
Unintentionally funny!

[Bill W.]

To help rid the market of these types of offers, do a Google search on the word genealogy. You’ll see the SearchYourGenealogy.com as a sponsored ad. Click the link to visit their site. They'll pay for your visit - - - but when large percentages visit but don’t convert to purchase, they’ll get the message and stop targeting us “foolish genealogists” with their bogus offer.

[Simon Fowler]

Buyer definitely be doubly beware. The Australian-Ancestry website has tried to export spyware to my computer (which fortunately my firewall picked up). There are lots of other sites, certainly for UK genealogy, which offer a lot but deliver little. Be careful out there!

[Denise Wells]

Also, please be aware of The Italian Project! www.italianproject.com .... father and son claim to do research in Italy. They live in Arkansas and have bilked numerous unsuspecting family researchers on the Italian RW mail lists. Most Italian mail list admins have banned them as soon as they have seen their inappropriate tactics with subscribers!

[Keith Hunter]

Con artists in every sector of life. Most of the sites and researchers I've run into will provide information gratis. I wouldn't mind someone sending me money, however, to help defray the costs of my website, travel and research expenses. Hobbies cost money and I realize the other researchers spend money also, so... it all works out in the end. I am glad that the bad eggs get the negative publicity they deserve and hopefully a bit of time behind the bars.

[Dae Powell]

We have a decent start here. Perhaps a listing of fradulent sites could be compiled, thus protecting the unwary? I'm just saying...

Happy Dae.
http://www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com (no ID req'd)

[Shery]

I have seen a lot of comments about Ancestry.com regarding the cost, and the failure to find information. One comment I read recently is that they got too many Jones when they selected. Are people not taking advantage of the on-line help, videos, guides, etc. to become better researchers so they can get the most return on their investment? Or do they expect that they will instantly find their family history just by putting in a name?

My largest complaint about genealogy web sites including Ancestry and Footnote is that they tease me with content and then don't ever seem to get to my relative. It always seems that when they start something like the WWI draft and that my county in Texas is one of the last. On Footnote, I purchased because of the Texas Death Certificates but they have only completed 4%, and they are 85% complete on the George CSA records and still have not gotten to Phillip's Legion. It may be hidding under another name and theoretically I could search for my ancestor -- but I believe there would be a lot of Jones names. But what a great hobby! I can stay at home and have access to thousands of records. If I went to all the court houses and the archives it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. So -- a big cheer for the Ancestry, Footnote, Family Search and all the other accessible web sites.

[Wondering...]

Shery is the new nick of Amanuensis the pro-Ancestry troll?

[Rita G]

I like Ancestry too. I love doing census records and seeing who was living with whom every ten years. Now they have the Kansas State Census and, (fortunately for me!!!), that's where all my family wound up!!! The only trouble is, I'm going broke printing all those records. I do like to have the print of the actual image.

[Neal]

If you go to the Ancestry-search.com website, Ancestry.com is at the top of the "Sponsored Listings". Clicking the link routes directly to Ancestry.com's main page. "Sponsored Listings" usually means the listed company is paying for click-through's. Further, I could not find any place on Ancestry-search.com where they are asking for money. Just links to other sites, apparently free.

[Bob Plumadore]

in reply to Rita G. I could kick myself for giving away my old dot matrix printer.. remember them thay used a typewriter ribbon, the cheapest printing possible.