Kevin Heisler writes at Search Engine Watch that an “SEO agency” called Internet Advancement has been sued by Washington State and required to pay over $100,000 in fees for scamming its clients. Among the restitution includes penalties against offering services to new members and requiring refunds to be handed to scammed clients.

Some of their failures are outlined in this complaint (doc link) document. They include:

Defendants represent they will be able to secure top 10 search engine rankings for their customers. In fact, in many instances, they are unable to do so.
Defendants represent that their customers will obtain increased sales by obtaining defendants’ services. They have told customers to expect a “flood of traffic,” have promised thousands of “hits” a day, and have said the customers’ “only concern will be having extra employees to fill the orders.” In fact, in many instances, defendants’ services do not result in increased sales.
Defendants represent that they have a “96% success rate” with their “over 47,000 clients.” In fact, they do not.

So what did they do wrong? They made false promises and lied about their service offerings. Additionally, as Kevin Heisler notes, they made unauthorized charges to clients’ credit cards and lied about their standings with the Better Business Bureau.

Hopefully, for the sake of their clients who were scammed out of thousands of dollars, this company will be put to rest.

Forum discussion continues at Search Engine Watch Forums.