Push Traffic Scam
86Is Push Traffic Mentoring a Scam?
It's been 9 months since I signed up with Push Traffic.
When I was contacted by Matt Alhouse (who is no longer there), the sales pitch he gave was that the program he was offering was by invitation only. I wouldl be given a free money making landing page while I worked with a coach who was going to teach me how to generate an income online.
The first thing he had me do was take a look at their website. The sales pitch there sounded good so I went ahead and signed up. My initial payment was $5000.00, but the next day he called and said I needed to pay an additional $2000.00 in order to maximize my return. So like a dummy, I paid the additional amount.
A few days later, I was contacted by Joel Lansky who assigned me a coach and told me they were going to start "pushing" traffic to my landing page. Interestingly enough when I asked my coach about that, he was totally baffled by the whole thing and got someone else on the phone that explained to me that I had to pay for the traffic. OK so I was lied to right from the start. I really didn't know much about internet marketing at this point, so whatever they said, I believed.
My first coach (Dave Baxter) spent about 3 weeks with me before I was passed on to another coach (David Lee). He lasted about a month, when I was passed on to another coach. By this time, it was already January. My last coach (whose name I will withhold) was only able to schedule calls every two weeks because Push Traffic was recruiting tons of new clients. I was happy with the progress we were making, but suddenly I stopped hearing from him. I sent him numerous emails, but wasn't getting any response back.
April and May were pretty hectic since both my husband and I lost our jobs the end of 2008, and were in the process of selling our house (which we lost). We were busy looking for an apartment, while also packing that I lost track of time. When we were finally settled into our new home, I realized I hadn't had any contact with my coach. I finally dug out the "contract" I signed and proceeded to give them a call.I explained that I hadn't had a coach call in 2 months!
(My last coach eventually contacted me and explained that he left Push Traffic because of their unethical business practices. Talk about a big red flag!!)
I was directed to Harwood Hamilton who apologized and explained to me that my last coach had left the company and that the client files were corrupted. He promptly assigned me a new coach with whom I had 3 sessions. After the 4th session was scheduled, it was rescheduled. That was OK, but on the day of the rescheduled call, it was cancelled and haven't heard from him since. I have sent several emails requesting to be rescheduled, but I have since given up.
I contacted Harwood about the rescheduled and cancelled calls. He assured me the situation was taken care of and that my coach would be getting back to me. I still haven't heard back. I tried calling Harwood over the past few days, but my calls keep going to voice mail. I finally left two voice messages, but it's been almost a week and still no reply.
If you are contacted by Push Traffic, take it from me, don't get sucked into their sales pitch!
Interesting New Developments
There have been some interesting developments with Push Traffic and their scam. Here is a link to the Ripoff Report where a disgruntled employee posted his comment.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/Internet-Services/IncFortune/incfortune-pushtraffic-incfor-535bf.htm
Make sure to read the posts before signing up with Push Traffic. The latest is they have changed their name to IncFortune due to search results of PushTraffic shows PushTrafficScams in Google's top ranking.
Latest Development - News Release
Immediate Release
October 5, 2010
Internet Marketing Guru Sued for Racketeering - Promised Millions but Delivered only Misery
John Paul Raygoza Making his Pitch.
Elderly, Disabled, Unemployed Victims Scammed Worldwide in Work at Home Business Scheme
California: Los Angeles based John Paul Raygoza, and his associates built a worldwide multi million dollar marketing empire within three years encompassing at least ten different corporations with names like SuccessRate, IncFortune and MyEbizNow from Florida to Hong Kong. Raygoza and his partner Big John Denton, who claimed to be Internet marketing experts, promised their clients turnkey Internet businesses that would make them wealthy and successful. The only true claim was that Raygoza and his associates had made money, not legitimately, but by inflicting misery on their victims who were often elderly, disabled, and unemployed.
According to one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys Dr. Jonathan Levy, “This scam is the most coldhearted one I have ever seen. Victims who were already in debt, unemployed, disabled or elderly and living on fixed incomes were left with credit card bills of $30,000 or more while the twenty something year old scammers laughed at and derided those who begged for refunds.”
Over 50 individuals, from four continents, have brought suit against Raygoza, Denton, and their extensive criminal enterprise in a California Federal Court for racketeering, fraud, elder abuse, and false advertising. The case is Mattern. v. PushTraffic , Case No. 10-CV-2924 TEH. Typical victims include an 87 year Australian man who was relieved of $55,000, a paraplegic Michigan attorney who was pressured into “investing” $20,000 from his hospital bed, and a 70 year old Georgia man with health problems who lost $20,000 and was threatened by the racketeers when he tried to obtain a refund. None of the 53 named plaintiffs ever earned a dime of their money back and in the aggregate lost over $750,000.
The scammers would either cold call prospects who had indicated they were interested in a profitable home based business. A high pressure sales pitch would follow with promises of up to a million a year or more in profits and the initial investment, usually charged on the victim’s credit card with guarantees it would be repaid from profits within 30 days. When the victims turned over their credit card numbers, they often found their cards were charged to the maximum or beyond. A written verification form prepared by the criminal organization’s attorneys followed and buried within this form was a clause that supposedly disclaimed the lies of the racket’s sales force.
Victims never earned money, but were provided with template websites promoting the scam in an attempt to ensnare yet more victims. Complaints to law enforcement and credit card companies were deflected by the scammers’ legal staff which claimed the victims had signed a contract for services.
The California Department of Justice under gubernatorial candidate California Attorney General Jerry Brown has received over 100 complaints but inexplicably has taken no action to date, possibly because the victims mainly reside outside California. The number of actual victims of the scam is estimated to be in the thousands worldwide.
For more information contact:
Jonathan Levy, Esq.
Thomas Easton, Esq.
1629 K Street NW Suite 300
Washington DC 20006 USA
Tel/Fax 1-202-318-2406
chambers@brimstoneandcompany.com
For a copy of the lawsuit:
YouTube - Videos from this email
I returned to this site after some time, and write this because I noticed again the ridiculous rejoinder of this "andrew"(10 months ago in Sept /2010).
Of course, it was an anonymous posting. But I am reminded that Andrew was the name of the rip-off lawyer, Andrew Weitz, who replied to my complaint to the Californian Attorney General about Pushtraffic's appalling behaviour. I also read again Patty's experience with the BBB, and Pushtraffic's impudently dishonest excuse that phone calls were given by Raygoza's own professional liar, Weitz.
But whoever this ‘andrew’ is, we can be very sure he (she?) is only an associate of Raygoza, another swindle-bum liar making unsubstantiated claims. Raygoza supporters never reveal their websites, their business identities or anything to support their claims. Why not? Because their claims of success are fictitious. Either these Raygoza defenders are affiliates of the Swindler (JP Raygoza) or they are just paid propagandists spreading the poison. I certainly have nothing but the utmost contempt for Andrew Weitz, an attorney so bad he has to work for a gangster.
No genuine customer is fooled for one moment by JP Raygoza’s supporters - including that so-named 'andrew'.
Forgot to mention - newest Raygoza company I've heard of is named "Future Endeavor" just one more of the companies to be wary of!
Ann,
Thanks for posting the newest development in the PushTraffic lawsuit.
Patty
IMHO "Jason Amit", who signs off with "Best," was JP Raygoza pulling his usual shape shifting stunt. I don't think one calls what's happening now a "class action" suit, but ... John Paul Raygoza has been served with the documents in a Civil Damages suit on behalf of 37 so far named victims, with more to be named!
The domain PushTrafficSwindle is inactive, btw. I own that domain now. If you want any more information about Raygoza et al's scams, where to file reports or more suit information, please go to http://onlinelowblowsandsuckerpunches.wordpress.co
Hi Ann, I know your story because I have heared and read 100's of others very similar to yours. I have been fighting to get my money back for a few months now. John Raygoza, David Sipes and all their criminal associates have no morals what so ever. I've heared stories where JR and his group sitting around laughing at a victim, over a speaker phone, trying to plead his case against their scamming. These guys have no idea what real life is all about. They make me sick! I have just started a blog to expose these criminal pigs. I just got my blog started...I'm just learning but these guys have scammed me out of 15,000.00 and I'm mad as hell.
I would love to stay intouch with you so we could take these guys down. Just so people know there is an on going investigation on John R and David Sipes as to their criminal dealings. The Detectives name is John Barragan...here is his email 30146@lapd.lacity.org He wants to hear everyones story and their progress along the way. My blog is www.pushtraffictopscammer.com My post will be hitting JR below the belt. I will be telling them just what I think of them. They are nothing but scum to me!
My dispute with John Paul Raygoza and all his companies and officers has been completely resolved to our mutual satisfaction. I hereby void and retract all related statements made on this site and any/all other sites.
Andrew,
Someone claiming to be Angel Woods contacted me asking to give Push Traffic a 2nd chance, and that someone from PT would be contacting me. Guess what? No one from Push Traffic called, and frankly, I wasn't a bit surprised. You see, your client has you fooled too.
Note to Andrew: There may very well be some clients of Raygoza's companies who are persisting and getting minor results. Most of the testimonials on YouTube were made during a live seminar over a year ago. None of them had yet tested out any of the information online.
Perhaps they don't mind spending more and more on marketing, but I'll wager that few, if any, have made money unless they are advocating Raygoza's unscrupulous "sharketing" methods!
Andrew, what we are complaining about is that what the sales person discussed before we signed up did not, in any way, shape or form, resemble what we were presented with. The one-on-one coaching was simply instructions about how to promote Raygoza's programs, which in turn would hopefully present new leads for Raygoza's sales team (to call and scam).
In my case, they charged me for 3 tickets to an Australian seminar which never eventuated. It was probably invented by the salesman just to hook me in. Nobody from the company knew anything about it. Even Raygoza himself, when I complained, said he had personally "spoken" to the salesman concerned. He authorized a credit but it never came. I paid $15,000 for a load of broken promises.
Of course, I was never told about a "contract". I had simply been asked to sign a quotation, which I later learned was tied to the terms and conditions on their website. I was not informed that it would bind me to a "contract" that was designed only to protect Raygoza & his companies.
I can assure you that there not just 3 of us. You'd be quite shocked to learn just how many people have been burned by Raygoza's companies. We decided against a "class action" due to the time and expense. We have a long-term plan that I cannot reveal here.
A note to anyone who does not believe this is a scam: do a google search on pushtraffic scam or incfortune scam or successrate scam or dotintel scam or raygoza scam. You will find that there are numerous victims. I know this to be a fact, because I have been contacted by so many of them.
If you wish to join the swelling numbers who wish to take it further, visit the blog http://pushtrafficscam.com or contact Gail at urlybird@gmail.com
Hi patty- are you guys talking about the same push traffic I've been working with the past several months. They worked with me for hours with phone calls and webinars giving me important insights into establishing and maintaining a successful internet business and though it didn't get going right away, I am now generating a steady income from my website. Not enough to retire, but I have been given what I need to work at more to increase it to whatever level I want. Maybe you all should stop complaining and get to work.
Man, I sure wish I'd have read these comments before I got suckered in. Thank you all. I see now that I'm not the only one who believed in these people.
Question...Have any of you contacted jumplaunch or any of the other folks we had to connect with concerning the launch? What were your results there?
Thank you.
God bless all of you.
I was misled by a video testimonial I saw just upon sigh-up, because it only talked about a seminar, without showing results.
There is much more to the Pushtraffic scam than can be explained to someone who has not experienced their very poor customer service and poor attitude. Every problem becomes a customer problem because as their CEO pointed out to me "It [the contract} clearly says we do not guarantee results."
But the salesman certainly did, and also assured me there was no necessary traffic spend; on the subject of traffic, Pushtraffic were experts.
The tout also told me they had fantastic sales pages with high conversion rates over 4%. No sign of that.
Every one assured me I would get my investment back in 30 days. Instead, all I got was a lackadaisical service.
But return to this point: if a firm's CEO denies they need to give their customers anything, what credibility do they have? A big zero.
Contract law in California is beyond my ken, but in my state, the scammy contract would easily be quashed on several grounds.
Well I was involved in a class action suit 3 years ago with a company based in Utah.
It was a headache from day 1...it is not as glamourus as you read in the newspapers...i ended up losing more in the lawsuit than I did in paying this company.
You can only sue the company for what they took from you - you could sue for stress and all that other good stuff but its very hard to prove. Our suit totalled $340,000. We got a settlement of $120,000.00. It took 2 years to fight the case. Our legal fees at $800 an hour for a lawyer - he worked on the case for 200 hours...yup that was a total of $160,000....plus the scumbag lawyer took 30% of the winnings.....At the end - 2 people won....the Lawyer and the company we sued!!!
The most distasteful thing was that I lost my job because I had to fly to Utah to fight this case....we got into this massive sparing match with a member of our team because she was ready to pull out. If one person pulls out of a class action lawsuit - then the other party wins. I now wish she would have pulled out because I ended paying another $10,000 in legal fees myself.
I really suggest anyone considering a lawsuit takes into account 1 thing: You are fighting somebody you DESPISE, but you're hiring (lawyer) somebody who is worst than that person!!! The lawyers are worst than the enemy.
Looks like there's only 3 people in this class action lawsuit.
I studied class action law suits in law school and I can tell you first hand that you have absolutely NOTHING here.
Here's why: Did you sign a contract? The obvious answer is yes - therefore you can't just magically round up 3 disgruntled clients and say "Let's do a class action".
Why wouldn't this work? Because you're assuming every client of PushTraffic is dissatisfied - and from the video testimonials I found on YouTube, you'll have a very hard time proving that. All they need is ONE happy customer to step forward.
The court will then want to know why you signed a contract that doesn't hold the company liable for your success, however now you want to hold the company liable for your success???? Case dismissed but I'll go on prove more points below.
The person above said "False naming" is a crime - In all the years I've studied law I never even heard of "false naming".
Have you ever called a place and asked for their name and they said something like "I can't give you my name but I can give you a customer service ID?"
Well that's because they are protecting their identity - and from all the name dropping I found on this post you could see why someone would want to protect their identity.
This is a great forum for disgruntled clients, but in no way, shape, or form would this ever result in a lawsuit that the court would take serious.
I'm not a client, employee, or anyway related to the company. I stumbled upon this post and found it necessary to add my expertise.
Best,
Jason Amit
poor communication (no emails responses) was a feature of my contacts with PT from the outset, and it deeply worried me, too. I wondered how I was going to meet my goals on the lazy timetable they worked to.
But my first mentor, Ron, blew the gaff when he admitted he had never built an internet business before, capable of generating $2000/week, and if I wanted to try to do it, it would cost me big extras in ppc traffic, etc. I told Hamilton this heavy traffic expense was a breach of a very specific agreement their salesman Mitchell made at sign-up, but to no avail.
I now know they are tricky, deceitful and without honor or sense of obligation. About the same sense of responsibility as a juvenile delinquent. What an example to entrepreneurs!
Chris,
I knew something was up at Push Traffic when my last coach scheduled a call and then rescheduled, only to be cancelled without explanation. I contacted Harwood who reassured me the "problem" was resolved and that my coach would be contacting me. Well, that never happened so I called several times, leaving messages on Harwood's phone, but haven't gotten a call back.
I recently received an email from the BBB stating Push Traffic was rebutted my claim stating that I got several hours of coaching, with more to be scheduled. I guess that was good enough in their minds. I also rebutted back stating I can't even get them to return my calls to schedule those "coach calls".
I am a familiar poster on the forums, and Gail will recognise me. I contribute to pushtrafficswindle.com, too.
The use of names becomes confusing, because some of them probably use aliases, for one reason or another. False naming is also characteristic of a scam. (I know that, from another scam.) Joel Lansky... is that the same Joel I spoke to? Maybe.
Bad service is typical. The newchum gets bewildered by non-return of calls and messages, and bamboozled about service entitlements.
I told Hamilton at one stage I needed expert help daily to reach my goals. He had no answer to that one.
If you protest too much, you will get a phone session with their lawyer, Fitzpatrick, who will begin by telling you that you must work harder! How do you like that for chutzpah? You pay all this money, and they try to deny any obligation. They thrust the burden back on you!
I wonder if Hamilton is so dim-witted as not to be aware he is a tool of Mr Big. Just because he takes the phone call and makes excuses does not mean Hamilton is innocent.
But the point is this: a firm that refuses to discuss a refund is fundamentally unethical.
I am joining Gail in the class action.
Thank you for your comment you made on my blog at http://www.pushtrafficswindle.com. We need the stories of all who were scammed, swindled and otherwise taken advantage of.
Be sure to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, the California Attorney General, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, and the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau. The links for all those are on the Push Traffic Swindle blog at http://www.pushtrafficswindle.com.
This is commonplace with PushTraffic. They just want the money and don't give a damn about their "victims".
Contact urlybird@gmail.com to report any problems experienced with PushTraffic. We are preparing a class action.
The PushTraffic con artists should be VERY afraid.
james paul 19 months ago
he is a scammer