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This is amazing. Here I've been slagging off Frank Kern all over the net to find that he's posted a fascinating explanation of what happened on his website. Hmmm. I might have to re-think my opinion of this guy. Although some of his stuff is a bit...well..."flaky" - but that's no crime. And you got to admit the guy is very entertaining. Here...read it for yourself Frank Kern FTC

UPDATE: More on this later but I contacted Frank and apologised. His reply read (in part)

Thanks for writing me. I saw your blog and was like, "what the hell did I do to piss this guy off?" I even searched our records wondering if you are a customer we dropped the ball on. I have to admit, I'm an easy target.

Anyway I offered to crawl butt-naked over a bed of burning coals to atone for my sins but he has another idea. Watch this space.

Hey guess what? I'm #3 on Google for "Frank Kern" (broad & exact search) and #1 for "Frank Kern FTC Bust" and #1 on Google for "Frank Kern Asshole" and #2 for "Frank Kern Conman" and #6 for "Frank Kern Con Artist" and #1 for "Irwin F. Kern IV". Sorry about that Frank. But you had it coming. But by the same token if you Google "Malcolm Lambe asshole" - there I am in poll position.

I was just over at Google checking it out when I found a new post from Duff McDuffee, a real-life Philosopher (Paris is full of them)commenting on the so-called "awesome video" that Kern, Robbins and Reese are touting. Here's an excerpt from it and I'll give you a link to the rest of it.

Personal Development guru Tony Robbins is known for his infomercials in the 80’s advertising his “Personal Power” motivational audiotapes, as a “life coach to the rich and famous,” and his appearances in movies like Shallow Hal.

Robbins, who has over 1.2 million followers on Twitter, has recently released a couple of videos on his “training blog” interviewing internet marketers Frank Kern and John Reese. What most people watching these videos don’t realize is that they are highly-manipulative advertisements, almost certainly for an upcoming get-rich-quick-on-the-internet product–the field of expertise of both Reese and Kern.

Creating hype before the launch of an information product is a cutting-edge sales tactic that Frank Kern and John Reese both promote in their products. Here’s how they do it:

Release “free” videos of “authentic conversations” that aren’t apparently about any product, identifying a problem and creating buzz while distracting from any critical faculties a customer might have because you don’t realize you are being sold. This also creates a kind of guilt-tripping response in the customer if you give away a lot of free content, making the potential customer feel like they owe the seller for being so “generous.”

Then sell a very expensive product with a flurry of hype and a limited quantity available, increasing the sense of scarcity. This eliminates any possible conversation between customers as well as feedback to the company, as there isn’t enough time for anyone to discover if the product lives up to the hype before they are “sold out” (which is arbitrary for information products, as more 1’s and 0’s are of negligible cost).

Selling a very expensive product and creating the conditions for it to sell out quickly reduces the public conversation around it for customers will be less likely to share it with others, due to how much they paid for it. This creates cultish ingroups due to lack of feedback, further entrenching customers to purchase additional products, and reduces effective criticism for critics can’t know exactly what the products are. Often the marketers will take down their sales pages and videos afterwards, which further reduces potential criticism, and checking hyped-up promises against delivered products. This is bad for consumers and bad for business (unless you only care about your own bottom line).

Robbins’ “reality infomercial” videos celebrate the get-rich-quick gurus John Reese and Frank Kern as heroes. The videos reframe the fact that their products don’t work as the fault of customers not having enough “certainty” and “not taking action.” This is a tactic for distracting from the impossibilities of everyone “succeeding” in an extremely crowded make-money-online market, and distracting from the highly manipulative sales tactics Kern, Reese, Robbins, and others use to sell information products on the internet. Interestingly, nowhere in the videos is there any mention of what Kern and Reese actually sell!

Let’s look at the specific tactics used so far in this campaign:

First off, Robbins sent an email with “IMPORTANT” in the title, with a link to his video. To whom, Mr. Robbins, is this video important? Why is your sales cycle important to me?

If you pay very close attention at the beginning in this first video, Robbins implies that the three men were spontaneously getting together to chat, and says “we might as well film it.” Then why is there “spontaneously” a shot of the car driving down the road (camera #1), and two more cameras “spontaneously” in the backseat of the car ready to film before Kern calls Robbins to meet?

This is the first of many bold-faced lies in the Robbins’ video. If he had not lied about the obviously planned nature of this advertisement, perhaps the rest of it would be more trustworthy. Ironically, the tactics employed attempt to convey trust by portraying this advertisement as a spontaneously recorded conversation, thus bypassing critical faculties that consumers have when in sales situations.

There's a link to that video in one of the latest comments on the Frank Kern Mass Control or Mass Con? post below this.
Oh yeah...here's the link to the full enchilada from Duff McDuffee Robbins, Kern, Reese

Well, well, well. Three holes in the ground. I've been messing about with so-called "Belcher Buttons" recently - "Buy Now" buttons that Perry Belcher invented. These ugly-assed buttons are supposed to out-perform any other website buy button. Belcher tested every element in over 10,000 trials. He found that the broken red coupon style line, "Add to Cart" and that vomit-inducing orange were the triggers that got people to click through and buy. Fair play to him. So I Googled his name today and look what I found -

Agrees to forfeit $1M in assets, Web pages

By Lawrence Buser (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Tuesday, September 30, 2008

A Shelby County man who scammed thousands of hopeful customers worldwide with bogus health-remedies pleaded guilty Monday to computer fraud and agreed to forfeit cars, motorcycles, bank accounts and other property.

Perry Belcher, whose name still rings up more than 20 pages of hits on Internet searches, received a 10-year suspended sentence, but agreed to six pages of special conditions that include the forfeitures and an agreement to place his professional life under a law-enforcement microscope.

The stocky Belcher, 44, who owned property in the Cordova, Eads and Lakeland areas, sold and shipped homeopathic remedies for everything from hair lice to varicose veins. Prosecutors said the promises of cures were fraudulent and that the remedy ingredients were common items available in drugstores and supermarkets.

Beginning in 2002, he created Web sites for Selmedica, Increase Media and numerous related enterprises offering scientific research by fictional doctors and fake testimonials from users attesting to the value of his products.

"We have victims from virtually every continent and there allegedly are several thousand victims," said Steve Crossnoe of the District Attorneys Office White Collar Crime Prosecution Unit. "People were not receiving what they thought they were receiving. The medical research was fictional. The doctors were fictional."

Belcher declined comment.

Under the special conditions of probation Belcher must end his career of false and misleading sales and marketing and forfeit his many Web page sites.

He also must forfeit three cars, a pickup truck, a motorcycle, four all-terrain vehicles, camcorders, two televisions, four luxury watches and bank accounts totaling more than $1 million.

Belcher agreed to the destruction of thousands of bottles of his homeopathic and herbal remedies, e-books and health books seized by the Shelby County Sheriff's Department in a raid in March.

The agreement will allow him to keep $150,000, computers, a gold ring with an amethyst stone and autographed pictures of Muhammad Ali, George Burns, Bill Clinton, Morgan Freeman, Willie Nelson, Babe Ruth, Tim Robbins and three unknown autographs.

Frank Kern Busted by FTC!
If you're trying to make a living online, sooner or later you're going to run across an entertaining character called Frank Kern. He's a good old boy from Georgia who apparently has made a killing touting various money-making schemes online and now lives the surfer-dude life in la Jolla, California. The photo on the far left is how he looks now. The one on the left was taken five years ago when he listed his "Relaxes By" as "Driving his BMW M3, hanging out with his wife, or playing tennis". More here at Six Figure Income

Lately he's been fiddling around with video - they're a bit rough and ready but he's a natural behind the camera. And just like all the other online marketers he claims to have a fantastic system to help you make millions online - just like he has. I'm on his email list and he bombards me regularly - sometimes two or three times a week, with the latest get-rich-quick scheme he's flogging. Not only does he promote his own stuff - Mass Control and the new Infomillionaire launched this week - but he seems to be an affiliate of every major online asshole...I mean marketer...out there. Which is a bit of a worry. Some of the stuff he touts is definitely on the nose - like the Australian shonk flogging a Law of Attraction type scheme - "Make as much money as you want! Magically attract your perfect mate!" - based on the teachings (and I use that word lightly) of his fellow-Australian Rhonda Whatsherface's best-selling book The Secret (and the less said about that bullshit the better).
Anyway, although I find Franky-Boy somewhat entertaining I've always been rather sceptical of his claims. If you join his opt-in email list he'll send you all sorts of free information on becoming an online internet marketing millionaire. Some of its useful. Especially if you're a rank beginner. But there's not much meat in the sandwich if you know what I mean. It's all smoke and mirrors. And really - ask yourself one question Why would this guy share with the world his exact scheme for making millions online? There's only one answer isn't there.
But I had to laugh when I saw the latest Frank Kern video. He emailed me -

Remember the guy I told you about in my last video? My best student, who made over $3,800,000.00 in his first two years online?

Turned out the guy was his cousin. No matter. It was somewhat interesting to hear what he had to say. But again, I was sceptical of the claims. But then Kern sends me another video a day later titled Surprise. In this one Frank Kern and his cousin Trey talk to a mate of Trey's who chucked in his real-estate job to try and make money online using the Frank Kern Infomillionaire model - and God aren't they cheesy names these guys come up with. The video has either been compressed wrong or edited in the wrong format or shot in a fairground hall of mirrors - the three of them are seated facing the camera looking and sounding like they've been pulling on the bong all afternoon. But I found it quite interesting anyway. I don't know whether I'd buy a used-car off them though. Here's just a snippet of it -

So I dunno about this guy and his hick cousins. Today I did a Google Search with Frank Kern Conman and Frank Kern scam and Frank Kern asshole and finally Frank Kern dishonest and lookee lookee at what popped up - a November 2003 bust by the Federal Trade Commission on Frank Kern and Instant Internet Empires for operating a chain marketing scheme that necessarily enriches only a few initial participants at the expense of the majority of other participants. The complaint read, in part,

Instant Internet Empires, based in Macon, Georgia, touted the money-making potential of five pre-packaged Internet businesses, promising that buyers could make more than $115,000 a year using the product. For their $47.77 investment, consumers received the right to reproduce the defendants' Web site and the right to try to resell its contents to other consumers, according to the FTC.

To achieve the promised $115,000 in earnings, consumers each would have to sell the product to 2400 additional consumers, who would each need to sell to 2400 additional consumers to achieve the same earnings, according to the FTC. By the third generation of the scheme, participants would need to make more than 13.8 billion sales, more than twice the earth's population, for each of them to achieve the advertised earnings.

The stipulated final judgment and order with Instant Internet Empires and Irwin F. Kern IV, also known as Frank Kern, bars them from making false or misleading income claims, from participating in chain marketing schemes, and from providing others with the means and instrumentalities to violate federal laws. Based on their financial statements, defendants will have to pay back $247,000 to the victims. Should the defendant's financial reports be found to be inaccurate, the total of their ill-gotten gains, $634,222, will become due.

That is a bit of a worry. I've never bought anything off Irwin F. Kern the Fourth - the nearly $2000 price of Mass Control was enough to turn me off but now and again he points me to something interesting - like the guys that were using a program called Traffic Geyser to get videos on the the first page of Google overnight. And as I said he's hitting me up a couple of times a week with every affiliate program under the sun from the usual suspects. And frankly that just gets my back up.

Anyway, now Frank Kern is putting disclaimers on his sites. Like this one on Infomillionaire -

* Results not typical. Your results will vary. You may very well lose money. All business entails risk. To our knowledge, there is no single product in the world that will generate wealth from the mere act of purchasing it. If you find one, let us know. We'll purchase a bunch of them and hand 'em out to you and the rest of our friends.

Frankie seems to think it all a bit of a hoot. But when you go through the Final Judgement there are a few conditions that he should perhaps be taking more note of. Like this -

Failing promptly to investigate any consumer complaint concerning any marketing material used by Defendants or the failure of any product sold by Defendants to meet any representation made in any marketing material used by Defendants...

and another pertinent to anyone who wants a refund -

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, for a period of seven (7) years from the date of entry of this Order, in connecton with any business that any Defendant directly or indirectly manages controls or has a majority ownership interest in...maintain Copies of complaint and refund requests (whether received directly, indirectly through any third party) and any responses to those complaints or requests; and Copies of all sales scripts, training materials, advertisements, or other marketing materials.

In other words the Federal Trade Commission are still keeping a close eye on our Frank until October 1, 2010.

The final page of the judgement concludes with -

TRANSFER OF CUSTOMER LISTS IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Defendants are hereby permanently restrained and enjoined from selling, renting, leasing, transferring or otherwise disclosing the name address, telephone number, credit card number, bank account number, e-mail address, or other identifying information of any person who paid any money to any Defendant for any product known as "Instant Internet Empires" at any time prior to entry of this Order, in connection with the advertising, promotion, offering for sale, or sale of any business opportunity or business development aid (including but not limited to Instant Internet Empires).

Hmm...now that's interesting. Frank says in one of his recent videos something like the money's in the list. He claims to have an email list of 800,000 names of which probably half are active. I guess technically he's not selling, leasing, transferring or disclosing his List details when he works as an affiliate for other internet marketers.

Here's the FTC Frank Kern Final Judgement document in a downloadable pdf.

Five years ago Frank Kern was asked who was The Person Who Most Influenced His Life. His answer? His grandfather, E. Raymond Smith -

He built an empire starting from nothing and with no formal education. And he did it by always maintaining a high level of integrity and by making sure the people he did business with were happy. The greatest thing he ever did for me was to set a standard to live up to. I'm still working on it.