Two days ago, we wrote about FindThatCar.org, a website with a red banner at the top that appeals to visitors to “Help us,” as though it were promoting a charity such as the Red Cross.
FindThatCar.org actually is promoting Narc That Car, a Dallas-based multilevel-marketing (MLM) company that is building a database to sell information to companies in the business of repossessing automobiles. Both Narc That Car and its promoters reference the AMBER Alert program in their sales pitches.
Today we turn your attention to AmberAlertHelp.org. It, too, is selling Narc That Car. Here’s the AmberAlertHelp.org pitch on the site’s main page (italics added):
Welcome to Amber Alert Help
Our goal is to build awareness about an opportunity for you, your friends, and your family to get paid for helping build the Amber Alert system database simply by submitting 6 random license plate numbers per month online. It is so easy, and you can get started now.
Here is the pitch on a secondary AmberAlertHelp.org page (italics added):
We Joined Narc That Car and feel wonderful about having the ability to:
- Help find and save missing children
- Help build the very valuable Amber Alert system database
- Make extra money easily
AmberAlertHelp.org also has an AmberAlertHelp.com version of the domain. Both sites were registered Jan. 20, two days after the BBB in Dallas asked Narc That Car to explain its business practices. The inquiry is still open, according to the BBB website.
The U.S. Department of Justice, which coordinates the AMBER Alert program, said Wednesday that Narc That Car is in “no way affiliated” with the program. On Thursday, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), which manages the Amber Alert Secondary Distribution Program for the Justice Department and 120 Amber Alert coordinators throughout the United States, said Narc That Car “is not a part” of the secondary program.
Nine-year old Amber Hagerman was abducted 14 years ago while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas. She was brutally murdered. The AMBER Alert program — America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response — is her legacy.
AMBER Alert is about keeping children safe. It is not about keeping the world safe for multilevel-marketing profits. AMBER Alert’s name should be accorded the same dignity accorded Amber Hagerman’s name, which is to say neither name ever should be made part of a pitch fest.
That AMBER Alert’s name is being mentioned in sales pitches for Narc That Car is beyond the pale. AMBER Alert is about life-altering emergencies. It is not about MLM recruiting and pocketing commissions up to five levels deep.
Good grief. Narc That Car promoters are using .org extensions — the same extensions used by the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and NCMEC for their noble purposes — to promote a business that is building a database for the repo man — and they are implying it is a public service.
Today we call on Narc That Car to remove references to AMBER Alert from its marketing materials, including videos. We further call on Narc That Car promoters to do the same.
Not only are some Narc That Car promoters repeatedly referencing AMBER Alert, they also are referencing government agencies such as the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security as though the agencies have endorsed the Narc That Car program.
One Narc That Car promoter claims the purpose of the program is “To help The US Dep’t of Homeland Security find terrorists.†Another claims, “We are backed by the better business bureau, the F.B.I., and the Amber Alert system . . . †Yet another claims, “A company out of Dallas needs to grow a data base of license plates to use for Amber Alerts and other reasons.”
Elsewhere, a website that uses a name similar to the famous ToysRUs trade name, references AMBER Alert and tells viewers that big money is possible through Narc That Car.
“I went to Walmart,†a video narrator intones at the PlatesRUs.biz website. “It took me every bit of five minutes to write down 10 tag numbers randomly, go in my back office and log it into the national database through the company, and actually earn a check.â€
This madness must stop.