I received the below e-mail, and several other subsequent ones from the outfit indicated. I mailed them a check in the amount of $49.99 per their request and have not heard a word from them since despite several attempts on my part to get in touch with them. E-mail to them bounces as fast as I can send it. I wonder if you would be interested in warning others who might be tempted to join this online library of genealogical information?

The message that was attached is a typical "spam mail" that glowingly describes a website. It says, in part:

We need to announce this is the final offer we have available to receive the extended referral offer to you for a Free 5 Day Trial to our online genealogy research library located at: www.genseekers.com. We also have an extra 25% off for genealogists joining through Mail Order or Online Check located at: www.genseekers.com/specialoffer.htm

Sadly, I receive many such messages about so-called genealogy "services" that take your money and then either disappear or else seem to deliver goods that are much less than the mental image painted by the advertisements.

What these ads don’t tell you is that the "online research library" being offered is, in fact, the World Wide Web! Each such "service" provides a simple gateway that leads you to publicly available webpages, the same webpages that you can read right now for free. You pay $30 or $50 or more to access a set of menus that, in turn, point you to free webpages. You can obtain the same information from most any free search engine or from Cyndi’s List, also free of charge.

GenSeekers is but one of a number of similar websites that have appeared recently. I don’t know if all these websites are owned by the same person or not, but they all share the same modus operandi. They send tens of thousands of e-mail messages to genealogists, claiming to offer access to an "online research library [that] can save you time and money by featuring a simple point and click interface allowing you to easily find the genealogical data you are looking for in seconds."

GenSeekers.com is the latest name used. In times past, I have written about other similar websites, including FamilyDiscovery.com, Genealogy-Developments.com, GenLocator.com, and Genealogy-Express.com. I am sure there are others, and I’m also sure we will see even more such sites in the future.

I am no lawyer, but I suspect that charging money for a site that gives pointers to free sites is completely legal. Those with more legal training than I have are welcome to discuss the finer points of law, however. I suspect this "service" is no different from paying for a book or magazine that contains lists of webpages. While the "service" may be legal, I will let you decide if such a list is worth $30.00 or more.

Many of the sites mentioned have disappeared after the word got out. Complaints often get fed to the companies that host the webpages. A hosting service typically will shut down the webpages after receiving numerous complaints; however, within a few days, a new "business" with a slightly different name appears at a new address, hosted by a different Web hosting service. The "services" provided by the new website are always similar to those of the now-defunct website.

Luckily, it is easy to find the websites with poor reputations. If you receive a suspicious-sounding offer, my first suggestion is to go to the home page for these newsletters on Ancestry.com at www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/eastman/eastman.asp. Enter the word "scam" (without the quote marks) into the box labeled "Search The Library." This will find all the articles that I have written that contain this word, along with more articles by other authors.

Next, go to any of the better search engines and search for the name of the company or website in question. You will find many references to that company and usually can find comments about good and bad experiences alike. Bad experiences are usually prominent in the search engine listings. For instance, here are some Google links that search for information about some of the companies already mentioned:

GenSeekers.com: www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=GenSeekers

FamilyDiscovery.com: http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=FamilyDiscovery.com&btnG=Google+Search

Genealogy-Developments.com: http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Genealogy-Developments.com&btnG=Google+Search

GenLocator.com: www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=GenLocator

Also look at the "Genealogy Hall of Shame" at http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com/shame/genlocator.htm. Finally, you might check Cyndi Howell’s list of Myths, Hoaxes & Scams at: www.cyndislist.com/myths.htm

Caveat emptor! (Let the buyer beware!)