http://www.ancestordetective.com/watchdog.htm#Warning Portions follow of the MANY scams covered in above referenced site. Consumer Warning Family Discovery (3/19/01: The Web account has been disabled) 2232 Linden Drive SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 support@familydiscovery.com The Watchdog Committee has received complaints from people who have paid for subscriptions but are unable to access this service or get answers to e-mails. The Better Business Bureau in Des Moines, Iowa, provides the following report on Family Discovery, listing a different address and phone number... Education Mother Hubbard's Cupboard Genealogy Classes (http://www.rootsweb.com/~genclass/index.html#classes) are offered by Mother Hubbard's Cupboard (formerly the Iowa Digital Education Association or IDEA). These classes (http://www.rootsweb.com/~genclass/110/gen110.htm) used to be offered for free but there is now a $20 charge for each course administered by Diana Hanson (aka Diana Muir) who claims, among other credentials, that she is an Accredited Genealogist (a testing program sponsored by the Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). There was no Diana Hanson on the list of Accredited Genealogists as of 30 April 1998. The Watchdog became suspicious after reading the content of the Beginning Genealogy course formerly offered for free. There are 15 lessons in the course covering what one would expect to find in a beginning genealogy course. Problem is, much of the information is too generic to be useful and there is a lack of qualifications on how different laws and time periods affected the records available. Additionally, the beginning genealogist is frequently referred to secondary sources, with no mention of the primary sources and their availability. Granted, the course is not expensive, but the cost can be high to someone sent off in the wrong direction with bad information. Coats of Arms and Generic Surname Products ...the family coats of arms (sometimes imprecisely called "crests," which properly are the devices that appear above shields). A coat of arms does not belong to a "family name." It belongs to an individual who is acknowledged as its owner, or who receives a grant for it. Under the laws of most countries, other than the U.S., the unbroken male line descendants (and in some cases the females) of any person who has a legally recognized right to bear heraldic arms, may use the progenitor's arms, inheriting them in the same way that anything else is inherited. [Genealogical Research: Methods and Sources, vol. I (New Orleans, La.: Polyanthos, Inc., 1980), 547.] If you purchase one of these products, you are simply buying a colorful conversation piece, unless you can prove an uninterrupted male line to an ancestor who was entitled to a coat of arms. - Genealogy WebSite Sells Your Name and E-mail Address It's a tough world. Lots of businesses sell their customer lists these days. The result is that you get junk mail and marketing phone calls from all sorts of companies trying to sell you something you probably don't want. The newest twist is "spam mail", unwanted e-mails that advertise all sorts of junk. Now a well-known genealogy website is contributing to the spam mail that you receive and apparently is profiting from personal information that they obtain from you under the guise of helping you do genealogy research. In fact, the website apparently is a "front," as the main purpose seems to be gathering personal information about you and then selling that information. The Family Tree House website at http://www.usaafter.com claims that it is "the Association for FamilyTree Enrollment and Registry." The homepage says, "This site offers free family tree software and links to key genealogy sites. The software is available online. You can build your FamilyTree House in real time, no downloading is required." They also say, ".you can create and register your own online FamilyTree. And because it is online, you can enlist the help of other family members by giving them your personal access code to allow them to fill in the missing branches--it's a project the whole family can participate in no matter where they live." On another page the site advises, "When requesting information, please make sure you include your name, mailing address and the information you would like." After they collect all the personal information from you and your other family members, the owners of Family Tree House apparently package the information and sell it to other companies that send junk mail or spam e-mails. On a different website, the owners of Family Tree House offer "a file of 33,600 last-12-month registrants of the Family Tree House, an association that offers wesite members free software and links to genealogy sites." The file they sell reportedly contains information about each person 's date of birth, gender, e-mail address, state and ZIP code. The Web advertisement says that the file contains listings for 33,600 people who have left personal information on the Family Tree House site. To check for yourself, first look at http://www.usaafter.com and then look at: http://www.mediacentral.com/Magazines/DirectNewsline/Archive/1998100910.htm