Date Boycotted: 12-01-2008 URL: http://www.adbux.org
AdBux is primarily a paid-to-click site offering up to 1.5 cents per paid click, a $10 payout minimum and a 10 cent signup bonus. The site also offers referral earnings, and even gives members the chance to purchase referrals. The site notes that payments are made "on a NET 15 basis", though the complaints which follow show this not to be the case.
The reason that AdBux is on the boycott list is the non-payment of members. The complaints below detail how members who have reached the minimum payout amount are not being paid according to the site's own Terms of Service. Some of those members have had their accounts deleted. Support e-mails have not been properly responded to, members have not been paid, and so this program rightly belongs on the boycott list.
There are a number of other supporting reasons for this boycott. There are persistent rumors that the AdBux site is at least partially owned by the owner of the old Netbux scam site, which was very similar to AdBux. Moreover, the site appears to survive by selling "unreferred" members. Many have commented that the site seems more concerned with promoting the sale of unreferred members than actually providing paid clicks for members, or more importantly paying members. There are accusations that negative posts about AdBux are being deleted at their forum, and that free members receive very few ads to click to encourage members to upgrade their accounts. While this program is boycotted for the non-payment of members within their Terms, there are a number of other considerations which also might justify this boycott.
It would appear that this site is paying some of its members, but not all of them. This may therefore appear to be a surprising boycott for some people. However, the complaints below, messages in our discussion forum, and other posts made here and here evidence the fact that a substantial number of members are not being paid as promised.
For the reasons above, and the complaints listed below, AdBux has been boycotted!
Name: Michelle Wotton Date: January 12, 2008 Comments: The 1st time I reached payout tos was 7 days. When I kindly sent them an e=mail pointing at the tos ...they changed it to 30 days...then it still took about 2 months to receive after many a complaint in their forum- like alot of good that does!!
Name: joe Date: September 26, 2007 Comments: They dont PAY out and wth is 5 ads that gives you just under 1c a day and yet they sprout about being the leader in incentive clicking
Name: anonymous Date: January 12, 2008 Comments: I paid for the 50 ad pack, only got 27 hits to my website.
Name: Danny Date: January 12, 2008 Comments: i also know of this adbux and believe me they are REAL SCAMMERS they owed me OVER $10...Stay clear of them
Name: MysticalCat Date: September 22, 2007 Comments: I know for a fact that when it comes to the time to pay their members, they do not pay within their TOS. Members who were premium from the early days of AdBux found themselves loosing money when they suddenly changed the bennefits of premiu. There aren't any benefits now, and people are loosing money. They promised premium member $0.015 per click and $0.015 per ref click. Now they only have ads of $0.0025 and $0.0075... They are scamming members.
Name: Stacey Date: June 10, 2007 Comments: Please add AdBux to the Watch List. I am 100% sure this site is a scam... here is my backup. Sound familiar?
[Update 2007-07-20]: Not only has there been security problems on the site. But AdBux has a forum. The moderator horselover and even the administrator Tyler Gibson have made remarks or threats that really are crossing the line to extortion. Read more at AdBuxScam.com and definitely on the Uncensored AdBux forum (not affiliated with AdBux) at afez.net. This site most definitely needs to be on the boycott list. There is already one member who requested payment on the 15th and has not received her money within the payment terms of a couple of days. There are many screenshots available on the Uncensored forum. And tons of information of what is going on with AdBux. I seriously consider you quickly add this program to the boycott, instead of just the watch list. You guys really do help people and AdBux just recently changed their payment terms starting on Aug 1st to Net 15... I know you guys know that this is a god awful site... please let the GPT world know. People listen to you guys and the members who don't know what to think, you will help them. I have made a complaint with my local police department. The officer told me that I can pick up my report on monday, it is for investment fraud and extortion.
[Update 2007-09-11]: Purchased Advertising. AdBux never launched. Furthermore I invested in a membership upgrade & 25 sets of referrals. I basicly paid AdBux $755.21. I only received back $110.00. They terminated my account yesterday and refuse to give me a refund for weeks now on the refs and ads they never ran. I have filed a police report with my local police department. Made complaints with Fraud.org, FBI, FTC, SEC and various other organizations. I have previously submitted a report, but thought I'd re-file to make sure my complaint sticks.
Name: DAzHiredGun Date: July 19, 2007 Comments: Does the program have a history of paying its members? Yes.
Does the program's administration respond to members' issues? Apparently so.
Is there a forum wherein members can discuss relevant issues at hand? Yes.
So, why the complaint?
The complaint is based on the obvious direction the program is going, not what it has done in the past.
Since its inception, there has been secrecy as to the major players involved. Why secrecy if not to perpetrate some form of deception, or simply put, a lie? After denial upon denial, by certain moderators at the site's forum, there has finally been an admission as to the involvement of a person with questionable ethics, known in the virtual world as Chad French, formerly connected with the now defunct NetBux, suspected of having taken thousands from NetBux members. Had AdBux members been informed of this originally, I suspect they would have avoided the program rather than flock to it by the thousands.
Almost immediately after its launch, the business of displaying ads to AdBux members turned into the business of selling "unreferred users." If memory serves me, originally these "unreferred users" were sold at a rate of $59.95 per set of 100, then $59.95 per set of 50, arriving at the current price of $39.95 per set of 25. The sale of "unreferred users" was, at first, sporadic; however, this soon changed to at least twice weekly, due to the high demand for referrals. At the same time, the number of ads available to members dropped from 22 to 9, then 5, then 3 and now 0 ... for most, due to the implementation of a "new ad system" offering "unique targeting options, lower prices and bigger packages"; yet, the sale of "unreferred users" continues. At the rate of 0 ads available to members in certain areas, the members viewing 0 ads are left with two options: either purchase "unreferred users" in hopes of buying referrals living in an area where ads are available; or, cut their losses and quit the program, forfeiting any balance due them, not having reached the payout minimum.
Members who have upgraded to one of the premium memberships are indicating concern because their premium memberships did not get the ads they expected; and, they are essentially in the same posture as those having "free" membership, seeing 0-3 ads. Members having purchased referrals are expressing concern their referrals will drop their respective member accounts due to the lack of ads; complaints apparently falling upon deaf ears as the sale of "unreferred users" continues.
In my opinion, the areas I have covered are indications of intent to defraud; and, there is more. Joining AdBux gains access to their forum. I challenge anyone to join, access the forum and read for themselves the members' complaints, see the threads closed for asking questions deemed inappropriate because they were "bad for business" and see the lack of ads present on the AdBux site itself; then, formulate your own opinion as to the direction in which the program is heading. Knowing I have seen no ads since the implementation of this "new ad system" and am likely to remain at 0 ads, with a pending balance in my account, having no reason to believe the situation will improve, I have seen enough to recommend this program for Boycott.
Name: Steven Charteris Date: July 20, 2007 Comments: I have several complains about this program.
1.) It is a ponzi scheme by definition (members are paid through the upgrades of other members, although the site denies it.)
2.) The owner (Tyler Gibson) threatened to close my adbux account due to another website that I operate (does not relate to adbux at all.)
3.) Adbux deceived it's members into believing the "new ad system" would bring more ads for everybody, but it was in fact a select few.
4.) In an Adbux newsletter the administrators suggested using adbux like "an investment tool" which is against the Paypal AUP.
thank you very much.
Name: Hashem Date: July 21, 2007 Comments: Adbux deleted many of my posts at their forum, along with other members who had complaints. They raised the payout from $5 to $10 without notice. They are now taking more than the 3 business days promised to make payments. They suddenly put in a new ad system that cut off ads to most countries to make it impossible to reach payout. For many screenshots of what happened to members like me please visit adbuxscam.com.
Name: kelly Date: July 21, 2007 Comments: no ads as promised for more than 2 weeks!they sell inactive refferal sets at high prices and because their new "adsystem" has failed...the refferals they sell you leave the program..they are conducting their business in an illegal manner..i also beleive they are creating fake signups to sell as refferals...the whole site has failed yet the member count keeps climbing and they keep selling refferals...they are breaking paypal policy by selling refferals and charging to upgrade to be able to earn more...which has also failed for the premium members that paid to upgrade on the site.-StalkingButler
Name: Matt Date: July 23, 2007 Comments: 1) I purchased an advertising package on this site which had been recently altered so each advertisement could be targeted to a particular country. One key feature of the advertising program is that all ads would be available to non-members or members who were not logged in. Knowing this, I purchased a 50 click ad package and targeted a country with only 1 member, know that the ad would last for at least 50 days and would get maximum exposure. While this may have not been ideal for AdBux, it was entirely within the rules of the program. After several other pursued the same strategy, the advertising program was altered so these ads were not displayed to non-members and those not logged in. Several days later, the ability to geographically target an ad was removed and all ads were shown to all members.
During this time period, I contacted AdBux administration numerous times for an explanation and a request that I receive a refund since the program changed after my purchase was made. I received a non-response to my first private message saying they had fixed a bug and no further responses thereafter.
2) AdBux sold me a package of 25 referrals of which 7 were inactive and had never clicked an ad.
Name: Amy Date: July 23, 2007 Comments: I would like to submit a complaint against Adbux for many things. They have lied and covered up the fact that Chad French has a hand in this company. Then they turn around and deny that they ever said he didn't have a hand in it. That's two lies.
Reason enough not to be trusted. They sell referrals & I bought 2 sets of referrals & immediately paid for them. Their listed join date was after I bought them.
How can this be? Adbux is selling referrals before they even sign up??
They are constantly re-doing the ad system and we see just a few ads a day. This is scaring away all our referrals (that most of us bought from Adbux). And when members bring up this issue
we are told not to complain.
In Adbux's forum there is a moderator that bashes the members, is rude & sarcastic to them when some of them are just asking a simple question. Legitamit questions in the forum being asked by members are often unanswered and when there is a reply it is often sarcastic & rude esp by a certain moderator. We were told by a moderator that our payouts were not an important issue at the moment and we shouldn't complain about it if we want to continue receiving payments in the future.
That to me sounds like a threat.
Name: Cooper Date: July 24, 2007 Comments: Noy given any ads to click , every day less and less ads.
Name: Mrs.Elvina Dumoulin Date: July 25, 2007 Comments: Hello, I am writing to boycott the online scam Adbux. They have been running for over three months, and I feel that it is scamming its members. First off, its owner, Chad French, was also the infamous owner of Netbux, a company who scammed its users in a Ponzi Scheme. He is doing this again, with Adbux, who for the first 3 months, hid who their owner was, as they were afraid people would find out it was Chad French. They finally admitted it, and now it is all clear that Adbux is a Ponzi Scheme! They sell referals which generally recieve complaints for being unexistent, or 'inactive'. They indirectly force free members to be premium by providing the free accounts with no advertisements to click and the premium members with only a few. Its staff in the forum is extremely rude to their members. Any member with a complaint will get banned for bashing, or be rudely responded by the moderator and then get banned for bashing. Please boycott Adbux, as it is a PTC Scam.
Name: Camro Camro Date: July 26, 2007 Comments: They are too secretive, and complaints of no payouts and no purchased ads being placed.
I support the boycott.
Name: Amy keen Date: July 30, 2007 Comments: I have had a premium membership on that site since the beginning of June. I have been able to cash out at other PTC sites but I have barely made it past $6.00 over the last two months. I feel as if I have been scammed out of my money! They promised 10 ads a day, and I am receiving only one a day, if I'm lucky. I NEVER see ads on this site and the mods/admins are extremely rude and try to hide the complaints of others. It is a scam!
Name: Pushpendra singh chauhan Date: August 21, 2007 Comments: this site is a PPC site and after reaching the payout the site owner simply deleted my account so I request Boycott of this site
Name: Gaz Denley Date: August 25, 2007 Comments: My account was hacked late July and since then I have not been able to login. I have contacted Adbux nearly 20 times to sort this out, but they have never acknowledge my contact or sorted out the problem. I became a Premium member just after they first started. But cannot access my account. Admin do not answer.
Name: Nicola Bavaro Date: March 12, 2008 Comments: i'm waiting for a payment from 01/15/08. Still waiting
01/15/08 - 10:44 am $ 10.75 AlertPay Payment in Queue
Name: Dwayne Date: November 17, 2007 Comments: Seems like a total scam I check my stats everyday. on 11/16 it was 6.98 with a ten dollar payout so I was getting close and on 11/17 it was .69 cents
Kinda Pisses you off after you spent all that time clicking all those adds just to have them deduct your money for no reason
Name: graham coad Date: December 2, 2007 Comments: they dont pay up they supposedly pay on the 15th of the month but they have not payed me
Name: Patricia Date: January 27, 2008 Comments: Adbux no longer uses Paypal, no longer sends postal checks, even though as of today, the faqs state they support both. They want you to jump thru hoops of fire and send your life history to Alertpay to get paid. Adbux owes me over $10.00 as of today and that Sux.
Name: kandy perkins Date: March 5, 2008 Comments: im still waiting on payment and its been past 2 months
Name: Amy Simpson Date: March 9, 2008 Comments: I wasnt credited 14.00 for an offer(bidz.com) I completed over 4 mths ago and ive emailed 4x and was told I would be credited and then I have had a pending payment for over a mth and still havent been paid...very dissapointed I paid for a premium membership and bought referrals!!!
Name: Kristine Date: March 25, 2008 Comments: I made a comment in their forum before I quit the site about them not following their own TOS. One ad they were running at the time was a known scam and I posted to warn other members NOT to fall for it. I was pm'd not to post that in a public forum because it was "bad for Adbux's reputation" and then told to be quiet. Then that whole topic mysteriously disappeared. Their TOS stated they checked every ad to make sure it wasn't a scam, before they accepted it. Then in a PM I was told they DON'T check them as it would be too time consuming! The ad they were running at the time was the "Satellite TV on your PC", FYI you can get that programme free from the creators website.
Name: fotis259 Date: March 29, 2008 Comments: I have request 13,09$ from 15/01/08 and after 2,5 months i dont have payment
Name: Bullfrog Date: April 8, 2008 Comments: Request 12$...
3 Months later still no payment...
Name: GIUSEPPE Date: April 9, 2008 Comments: My payment of $ 16,89 is in queue since last January 15.
They assured to pay within march 15, but after 3 month i have no notice...
Name: blueyesco Date: May 5, 2008 Comments: Reached payout finally and requested pay. Was told that paypal is no longer accepted.
SCAM!!! Ripped offf
To find out more about our boycott processes and to see our other boycotted programs, please visit our Boycott List page.
