We're sending this e-mail to inform you that you can receive Unlimited Access to billions of genealogical records connecting to your family within seconds for a low One Time Access Fee & Never have to Pay Anything Again!

The ad went on with glowing words about the number of records available. It even proclaimed, " . . . search billions upon billions of genealogy records all across the Internet all at once." Billions upon billions? That sounds like an incredibly large number to me!

All of this was to be accessible for a "One Time Access Fee of Only $59.00," and the advertisement cautioned that the offer was only good until October 15, 2002. It looks like the person or persons that sent the e-mail messages encountered a bit of a problem before the deadline date: GenealogyExperts.com has now been offline for several days, apparently shut down after the hosting provider received complaints about the site’s "services."

The "billions upon billions of genealogy records all across the Internet" that were advertised apparently are the same records that you have access to right now at no charge. The only "service" that this website provided for $59.00 was a bunch of links to other websites. That’s ironic, given that you can find a much larger list of links at Cyndi’s List, a well-known free service.

Similar offers have appeared in the past few months from other company names. They all claimed to offer access to huge numbers of records but never gave details about where these records were obtained. In each case, the company disappeared within a few weeks after their first e-mails were sent.

I suspect this latest outfit and others will soon reappear under new names. The names will be slightly different each time, but the spam mail messages will all be quite similar. Each e-mail message will claim to offer access to huge numbers of genealogy records but will not mention the actual origin of those records. GenealogyExperts.com is simply the latest name used, but I am sure new names will pop up in future "offers."

If you paid money to one of these "services" and were disappointed with the results, contact your credit card company to obtain a refund. You are entitled to your money back. Most credit cards have the appropriate toll-free customer service telephone number printed on the back of the card. The same number will also appear on your monthly credit card statement. Call them.

To discuss this story further on the message board for newsletter readers, go to www.RootsForum.com and click on "Message Board."