Journal tomhudson's Journal: Doing this sort of scam takes lots of nerve ... or stupidity 4
Here's the text of a 3rd article that exposed a really weird tactic of starmedia.ca - listing companies as business partners
On a side note - it only took a few hours today for a couple more companies who Cholella claimed were sponsors for his 770star.com "group buying" site to get back to me and deny that they had ANY connection with him whatsoever.
Starmedia's "partners" never heard of them
Friday, June 10 2011 @ 09:56 EDT
Submitted by: barbara
Fake business partners
Summary: You have to be desperate or stupid to put up a web site with links to all sorts of "partners" in the hope that everyone will be so impressed that they DON'T try to do any sort of verification. Much hilarity ensues at Alex Cholella's expense when a Starmedia "partner" spends most of the day trying to reach owner Alex Cholella to remove their logo because they don't know him from a hole in the ground.
The "starmedia fake partnerships" investigation begins
As you can see from this screen capture below, taken on May 17th, 2011, Starmedia claimed to have the following partners:
Quebecor  Astral Media  Phipps, Dickson Integra  Corbis  Viacom  Urbano
On May 17th 2011, I sent the following email to each of the first 5:
Good morning.
I am about to publish the first part of a series on tax, employment, and other frauds perpetrated by Alex Cholella and Starmedia Communications.
I see from their website that you are listed as a partner of Starmedia.
http://starmedia.ca/starmedia-partners-affiliates.htm
Can you confirm or deny that your company is a partner of starmedia communications?
Thank you.
Two of them responded quite quickly, and you can read their denials below.
First up was Viacom,
Some background
I sent them a snapshot of the partners page from August 31, 2006 showing Viacom listed as a partner, and gave them Alex Cholella's private email alex@starmedia.ca if they wanted to follow up with him.
Viacom denies it
By the end of the business day, Viacom bows out.
From: Corporate Relations
Hi Barbara,
We have not been able to confirm that Starmedia Communications is a partner of ours. Thank you.
While not a flat-out denial, considering the source, it's good enough for me.
Just after 6PM, PDI weights in
Phipps Dickson Integria have just found out that Starmedia is using them as part of a scam to make Starmedia look better than it is. Do they sound like happy campers? Judge for yourself.
From: Jamie Barbieri
I have left several messages for Mr. Cholella at Starmedia Communications - we do not know why our logo is on their site
... we are in no way affiliated with this company. To answer your question clearly, we are NOT partners of this company. Please call me to discuss.
Jamie Barbieri,
President,
pdi
Phipps Dickson Integria
Alex Cholella is really quite the character. It takes a lot of gall (or supreme stupidity) to list companies as "partners" that aren't your partners.
Panic time - Starmedia replaces PDI with Google
As you can see, PDI is out, and amazingly, google is now in!
So, is starmedia a google adwords partner?
By now, I hope you realize the question is rhetorical. A quick check shows that starmedia is NOT a google adwords partner.
https://adwords.google.com/professionals/search/text?q=starmedia
https://adwords.google.com/professionals/search/text?q=starmedia+communications
http://adwords.google.com/support/select/professionals/bin/answer.py?answer=165647&lh=en
Google AdWords Certification Program > Help articles > For Advertisers > Working with a Certified Partner > What is a Google AdWords Certified Partner?
What is a Google AdWords Certified Partner?
Share Comment Print
Google AdWords Certified Partners are not Google employees, but rather are online marketing professionals, agencies, and other individuals such as search engine marketers (SEMs), search engine optimizers (SEOs), and marketing consultants. They have been certified by Google to manage AdWords accounts. To become qualified, professionals must demonstrate an in-depth understanding of AdWords by passing exams, and they must meet all our qualification guidelines,
Different professionals have different areas of expertise, so you should talk to them or look at their profile page to get a better understanding of their service levels and specializations.
I'm not buying Cholella's latest claims of having google as a partner - not even in their adwords program. Who would be stupid enough to use Starmedia for their adwords spend when there are so many legitimate partners available?
Time to follow up on the rest
Gee, do you think that maybe, now that I'm posting some of the stories, that I should send everyone who is still listed as "partners" a follow-up? I'm certainly interested in what Google for one has to say
Also, a search on the net turns up another interesting angle - once again, interns from CEGEP John Abbott College were involved in the Starmedia website. I hope none of them went to any of the companies listed and said they interned at their "partner" Starmedia.
Updates? (Score:2)
I was interested to updates to this particular story. Anyone else contact you with denials? I'd go look at Starmedia's page, but I don't recall the other companies listed (I liked the before/after graphic you had with PDI replaced with Google AdWords.) Oh, that's right, you did a little research showing that even the Google AdWords association was fake.
Re: (Score:2)
There'll be updates :-)
As former prime minister Pierre Trudeau once said - "Just watch me."
iWeb has created a tempest where before I had only a teapot ... and of course, that works for me.
They have agreed that reporting on a former employers' business wrongs is legitimate. The claim that some of my stuff was personal "harrassment", and I've asked them to point out even ONE instance of where I commented on Alex Cholella's personal life, as opposed to his business practices.
Of course, since they sus