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A slew of media marketing companies have been charged by the Federal Trade Commission for violating a multitude of rules that protect consumers, including the FTC Act and the Business Opportunity Rule. AWS LLC, FBA Stores LLC, Info Pros LLC, Online Auction Learning Center Inc. (Massachusetts), Online Auction Learning Center Inc. (Nevada), and individual officers Christopher F. Bowser, Adam S. Bowser, and Jody Marshall are the defendants who have allegedly misled purchasers in a business scheme claiming to provide the “secrets for making money on Amazon”, calling it the “Amazing Wealth System”, as released by FTC.

The FTC has barred the defendants from making marketing claims as well as frozen their assets during investigation with the intention of shutting down these schemes and reimbursing purchasers of invalid products created by the defendants. The defendants used their product to promise purchasers a successful, profitable Amazon store that they can make money from and find “financial freedom”. However, the claims made by the companies to consumers are anything but honest. Their promise of making anywhere from $5,000-10,000 in the first month has been unfounded, with no proof from any of their customers to have made such wealth.

Among other improper advertising techniques, the marketing companies were suggesting for Amazon sellers to create fake product reviews. The defending companies are unaffiliated with Amazon, the electronic commerce company, who suspends users that violate its terms of service in order to maintain a high-quality site.

The scam product that consumers purchased in order to create an online livelihood for themselves costed a minimum of $995, with the end result being an account shut down by Amazon whose strict policies pick up on bad practices quickly. Luckily, sellers can retrieve their shop by submitting an appeal.

If a consumer is seeing red flags in a product that seems too good to be true, it’s probably because it is. According to Scam Watch, many companies producing bad products use personal development schemes to profit off of individuals looking for a new income. Common places to find these scams are in employment sections in newspapers, social networking sites, and community magazines.