I have been seeing a strong wave of posts and discussion threads on the topic of the Google Money System or Google Kit. In short, there are emails going out telling people Google will pay you by using Google's services. I did not get into the details on how they work, but I can tell you, Google is not paying you for these services.
I see tons of threads, tons of them, in the various forums, asking why hasn't Google paid me for this yet. Or asking more questions about these services. Google has not yet responded officially because Google isn't offering any of these programs. I am sure their lawyers are on it, trying to crack down on these people using Google's name in part of this scam.
One thread at Google Web Search has a confirmation from a third party member, who responded to this claim. The person said:
Just because the Google name is mentioned does not mean that Google has anything to do with it. There is wide-spread use of the Google name in relation to money-making schemes. You will have to use your common sense as you evaluate anything like this (even when the Google name is not mentioned.) Read the fine print on the sites. Search the internet for other discussions about the specific offer that you are checking into. A search on this site for [ money ] [ cash ] [ scam ] should provide you with a variety of opinions about these types of schemes.
I assume Googlers can't officially respond until their lawyers look into it. But Google should do something, because it seems like this issue is getting worse. I guess an official blog post on the issue would do good. If that blog post ranked #1 in both the organic and paid listings, it might save some people from signing up to this possible scam.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search.
