by Structured Settlement Watchdog
That latest solicitation scheme used by cash now pushers in their under regulated industry segment is paid reviews
We recently posted something about one settlement purchaser that denied it had paid for reviews, yet posted its "top rankings" without disclosing on its own website that the review website that "ranked" them clearly said the reviewers and the owner of the review site received compensation.
Another website of the many that have recently sprouted is Settlemoon.com, a website whose owner is listed to be in Sarawak, "Land of the Hornbills", 
but having an IP address in New York.
The owner of settlemoon.com also owns omgunderwear.com
Yeah, you guessed it (eyes rolling) , of the "Is there a party in your pants? Now that's what I call awesome party" fame. Whether that gives him or her sufficient bonafides to provide credible information about structured settlements or review cash now pushers is a matter of debate.
Despite the Sarawak address that shows up in the whois records, the Google + shows a stock photo of New York City.
Settlementmoon.com Disclosure is Telling
But for the purpose of consumer protection I would like to point readers to the disclosure page on settlemoon.com which states in pertinent part (highlighted for emphasis)
- Settlemoon.com "is a personal site written and edited by Settlemoon.com staff. This site accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation".
- "The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made on Settlemoon.com. "
- That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.
- "The owner(s)" of Settlemoon.com "is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this site receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this site are purely the sitegers’ (sic) own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question".
- This site http://www.settlemoon.com admits that it "does contain content which might present a conflict of interest. This content may not always be identified". [ MUST WE GET ANY CLEARER ON THIS?]
Oh, The Irony!
It should not be lost on you that one of the biggest cities in Sarawak is named "Kuching". The Urban Dictionary defines "ka-ching" as "An imitation of the sound made by a cash register, used when someone's action will result in mo' money". The question is mo' money for whom?
The structured settlement watchdog is examining the recent emergence of such websites and how they are being used in the under regulated industry segment.
One question is the quality and credibility of the information
Zac Johnson, of Zacjohnson.com , in a May 20, 2009 article on Non-US affilate netwprks states "Something I’ve heard from many networks, is that a big majority of new foreign affiliate signups are usually very low quality. In turn, this wastes the time, money and management of the network, to work with these affiliates, then weed out the garbage. This may just be due to lack of english skills, they are farther behind in the affiliate marketing learning process, or they simply have no idea what they are signing up for".
Are those that pay to benefit from those reviews deceiving the public?
I caution settlement purchasers from using such paid review sites such as settlemoon.com unless conspicuous disclosures are made by those companies. I really wonder what benefit Stone Street Capital. Liberty Settlement Funding, Imperial Structured Settlements (DRB), J.G. Wentworth and Peachtree Settlement Funding hope to accomplish with the contextual link back from settlemoon?