This ginormous marketing spam was left as a comment on WUWT on the thread:
Seeing as to how it was left on my blog, I see it as fair game. All you have to do is add these magic tablets to your gas tank and your troubles with gasoline vehicles mileage and emissions just disappear!
Only one problem, this seems to be a reincarnation of:
Attorney General Abbott Shuts Down Pyramid Scheme That Marketed Bogus Fuel Pill
BioPerformance ordered to return more than $7 million to victims of pyramid scheme
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today stopped a Dallas-based pyramid scheme from illegally marketing the so-called “top secret gas pill” that it falsely claimed would increase fuel efficiency in automobiles. The Attorney General’s settlement with BioPerformance and its owners, Lowell Mims and Gustavo Romero, prevents the defendants from continuing to deceptively market their products and ends the State’s eight-month legal action against the company. Press release here
Apparently, there are people that fall for this “green gas additive”. With gas prices on the rise, we’ll surely see more of these. Here’s the pitch:
Tom Gregan
greengasglobal@xxxx.com
Submitted on 2011/04/25 at 6:42 pm
Hello,
I was just on your web site today and I love it. I am also an Eco Green Company
proud owner and we both have something very unique in common. My company’s
philosophy is “Be Part Of The Solution …Not The Pollution.” I am looking
to form an alliance with a company like yours that has the same vision and
mission for our families and world for the future.
I am not going to try to sell you anything but to see if both our companies can
work together and support each other’s business and help our neighbors and
the world at hand. I have been in business with my husband Tom for over 13
years and one of our main objectives is to introduce innovative, cost savings
Eco friendly proven products to our clients and friends. We have such an opportunity.
As business owners, we are always looking to the future and trying to capture the
opportunities that are ahead of the “TREND” and are positioned perfectly in today’s
world economy that also supports the “Eco Green” movement.
We have such an opportunity in GreenFootGlobal.com/freegas.
Getting more to the point:
——————————————————————————————————————————-
The “credibility and “reputation” of our Drive Green, Save Green product is as follows:
1. The engineering and chemistry of our product has won the “Nobel” prize.
No other company world wide can say this.
2. EnviroTabs is EPA registered.
3. EnviroTabs has a world wide “Patent”.
4. EnviroTabs reduces harmful emissions up to 85%……YES!!! 85%.
5. EnviroTabs increases your MPG up to 38%…(tremendous gas savings).
6. EnviroTabs lowers your maintenance costs
(truck oil changes are now at 40,000+ miles between oil changes)
………………..and so many more documented benefits….see the links below.
—————————————————————————————————————————–
At Greenfoot Global, our goal is to reduce the world’s dependency on fossil fuels
and also reduce emissions in at least 10% of the world’s vehicles. By using and
promoting EnviroTabs, you can do your part to help the planet. In looking at your
web site and the great Eco service and product you offer, it seems that our
Drive Green, Save Green product complements your company’s mission and I
would ask you to consider an alliance in marketing and advertising our product.
—————————————————————————————————————————-
You will find additional info in the links below. I know that you are really busy and
taking on another opportunity may be the last thing you want to do. But if it makes
money from day one and lines up with your mission ……..then you need to take a
serious look at it. This has a world wide impact and opportunity and is ahead
of the “TREND”.
Let’s talk soon to discuss how we can form an alliance with your business today
and the other opportunities you may have tomorrow. Or you can email with your
interest and questions.
—————————————————————————————————————————-
The following are some good links & info (a small sample of what we are about):
Copy & Paste the links below if needed
1. Intro Video
2. How It works Questions & Answers (the science starts at 2.37…one of my favorites..)
3. GFG Math Class…can I make money?
4. Testimonials
5. Testimonials #2 ….You Have To See This…Real Business Owners and People
http://www.youtube.com/djkmarkets#p/u
Thank you and have a great Eco green day.
PS: Visit my website below.
Sue
Sue & Tom Gregan
www.GreenFootGlobal.com/freegas
412-xxx-xxxx
“See You At The Pump”
Go Green, Drive Green, Save Green, Make Green
[snip – funny – but sends the wrong message that will be misused by the humorless – Anthony]
So they changed the name – from BioPerformance to Greenfoot Global. Still a scam.
Maybe someone should forward this article to the Pennsylvania Attorney General, considering they’re using a 412 area code…
Also, don’t forget to go to YouTube and rate the videos as spam/scam.
[snip – ditto from previous comment]
Its OK – when the current ‘business opportunity’ er, shrivels, they can just change the colour scheme to blue and market the pills for…another use.
Lest you wonder, we had this in Oz a few years ago – as an ASX listed company even. The promoter is doing fine, but the shareholders lost all their shirts.
Excellent marketing. They know there is one born every minute. Guaranteed profit.
Who was it said “There are none so blind as those who will not see”?
I took two of these after adding some to my tank and now I have a new, luxuriant growth of hair (I even have to comb a center parting in my back), my libido has been transformed and my appendage has doubled in size.
I believe this was Al Gore’s plan for us all along…./sarc off
sick. nearly as upset that there are people stupid enough to be taken in by this as I am upset that these sorts of people can sleep at night.
cut the offending tonges from their very heads…. and no, I don’t think its a bit much.
Such pitches reek of con. If their so-called product had any merit, they would have the OTR & LTL trucking community lining up in droves and the trade pubs would be abuzz with stories of fleet fuel costs being cut. Hmmmm … nary a peep.
“I am not going to try to sell you anything ”
=
I just plan to take your money for nothing.
I hope the Australian Government never sees these ads – they will swallow them hook, line and sinker.
The mirthless First Law of Marketing is this:
1. Half the populace is dumber than average.
Nice to know that it’s only the non skeptics being scammed this time.
Gosh that takes me back
In the late 60’s in the UK with its heavily taxed petrol there were inummerable devices to improve your car’s mileage as well as additives for petrol and oil. Some I remember were the superspark system, essentially a capacitor which gave an impressive spark indeed, the fuel system pressure supply regulator and so forth. Many others too no doubt I have long forgotten. All with wonderful claims.
Petrol additives again many, from Redex, often kept on garage forecourts in a squirty can, and supposed top end lubricant, to carburretor cleaners and even one firm who marketed little lead[ish] balls to put in your fuel tank to Improve Combustion.
Then there were oil additives of course, STP made a major marketing effort, Wynns less so. No idea whether they worked but were much loved by the motor trade for keeping up oil pressure in clapped out engines. Hence the famous 50/50 warranty, fifty yards or fifty seconds.
The only oil additive which did work but was expensive was molybdenum disulphide. This was never used in motor oils but is and remains an essential component of the oils used even today in heavy low speed marine diesels of the larger size. It is far superior to graphite and you can get it as dust in small quantities, something to remember when you help out with your next super mini racer Anthony.
The only motor manufacturer I know of that used it was Ford [England] at Dagenham who not only puzzled other rivals by using a cast iron crankshaft, nodular graphitic iron, and by now long their engines lasted. Molybdenum was their secret.
It was important to the British motorist back then in other ways. The UK had largely gone over to constant viscosity blended oils which can be used all the year round given the mild climate, whereas the Germans stuck to their single grade rock [shale] oils changing grade between winter and summer.
But the blended oils have drawbacks, they could sometimes cause early top end failure and did not work well with vane, as opposed to gear, oil pumps. causing sudden loss of pressure. if a van stuck Molybdenum cures all this.
Today with modern synthetics it is hardly necessary in motor engines with their low loadings.
People forget that modern motor engines can be so compact and light not because of better alloys or design or changes in fuel but essentially because of modern lubricants which allow tiny bearings and give remarkable bore life.
Kindest Regards
Perhaps someone should link to this on 4chan. Anonymous may be interested. No matter what your politics are I think we can all agree this guy is lower than a snake.
“1. Half the populace is dumber than average.”
But it’s generally the other half that have the money.
Amusing stuff.
But compared to Jones, Briffa, Hansen, Mann and all the others, these are just rank amateurs.
The cAGW rip off more from the taxpayer every minute of every day. And the politicians and media think they are heros.
Why, Gore and Pachauri got a Nobel prize for their SnakeOil selling.
My employers in the UK fell for this and had us in the transport department put these things in the petrol tanks of our fleet vehicles. All that happened was the tanks rattled and one or two had fuel gauge problems. No cleaner exhausts or fuel economy but it did give us grease monkeys a laugh that our bosses had fallen for it!
James Bull
Tom Gregan may be considered fair game, however when the EU carbon exchange is shut down due to the Fraud – O – Meter being pegged on 11 for months, Tom appears a mere carpet bagger in comparison. A single drop in a endless putrescent ocean of green fraud.
Richard111 says:
April 25, 2011 at 9:57 pm
Excellent marketing. They know there is one born every minute. Guaranteed profit.
Who was it said “There are none so blind as those who will not see”?
St.John Chrysostom, the Catechal Homilies.
“It’s morally wrong to allow suckers to keep their money.”
– Canada Bill Jones
As Millers Oils says, Using this diesel additive will give 10% increase in power due to cleaner burning but this extra power means extra acceleration which gives a higher fuel consumption if used to the full.
So if you exercise the extra performance you get no benefit from the use of any additive, apart from the Millers’ which also lubricates fuel injectors needed with low sulphur diesel fuels. (Yes I still use the English spelling).
The Obama administration is doing its bit to make sure there are a continuing and growing customer base for this type of scam.
a jones says:
April 25, 2011 at 11:00 pm
Gosh that takes me back
In the late 60′s in the UK with its heavily taxed petrol there were inummerable devices to improve your car’s mileage as well as additives for petrol and oil. Some I remember were the superspark system, essentially a capacitor which gave an impressive spark indeed, the fuel system pressure supply regulator and so forth. Many others too no doubt I have long forgotten. All with wonderful claims.
Those were the days for sure. I put the superspark plugs in, (25% saving), the little flat plate with the vacuum operated flapper valve between the carburettor and manifold, 40% saving), the special formula fuel filter on the petrol line, (30% saving), the pellets of Higher Octane Activated Pellets into the tank, (20% saving)
I’d only driven 3 miles when the tank overflowed.
we both have something very unique in common
Sorry to be the pedant around here, but always be warned off anything that starts with “very unique”. Ain’t no such thing. Unique is unique, one only.
Warren says: (April 26, 2011 at 1:58 am)
I’d only driven 3 miles when the tank overflowed.
Beautiful, Warren!!!
Cold Englishman says: (April 26, 2011 at 2:20 am)
Sorry to be the pedant around here, but always be warned off anything that starts with “very unique”. Ain’t no such thing. Unique is unique, one only.
Place no money on that, Cold. I objected to such use on an “educational” website for children in the States and was hammered. I tried it on the old U S A Freedom Forum and was nailed and countersunk. Even had Mirriam Webster quoted against me.
Quite a few of these snake oil vendors were spotted in former East Germany after the fall of the Wall, ca. 1990-1992, peddling steel wool mats to improve the somewhat low milegae of those Trabbis and Wartburgs. But why “Climate craziness of the week”? As far as Green Solutions & Schemes go (think biofuels), these guys definitely belong to the saner of more realistic end of the spectrum.
It strikes me how even a savage can miss the obvious point that if this worked, the fuel producers (Exxon, BP, etc.) would be scrambling over one another to gain licence to the product, or to reverse engineer and improve upon it. If Exxon could gain exclusive rights and add it to their own fuel, who would buy obviously inferior fuel? Of course it DOESN’T work. I simply do not understand how people can be so shortsighted and gullible.
The one that worked, tetraethyl lead, was removed by edict following some rather suspect Establishment science and suppression of minority views. Is there a lesson there?
Think of it as carbon credits for the poor. Doesn’t do a damn thing, but it makes you feel better about yourself, and who is to say that’s not worth a couple bucks? /sarc
Really, this product sums up the entire green movement nicely.
And then there’s Van Jones and the Pachamama Alliance . http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/04/25/obama-adviser-van-jones-helping-push-rights-mother-nature/
I’ll just wait until The Doctor can wave his sonic screwdriver at my current vehicle and improve the performance and mileage at the same time. After all, I don’t want to contribute to the Sonaran invasion force which needs to transform our atmosphere into clone feed. /humor begin cup of coffee
Hey,
I bought some of those. Great stuff with some unadvertised features. Here’s the before pic and, after a week of these tabs, here’s the after pic.
Great stuff man, I’m tellin’ ya.
(wink, wink)
Actually,
I invented a gas saving device that’s guaranteed to work. And I even describe it here for free!!
Screw a 1 inch (25mm) thick piece of wood to the back of the gas pedal. What costs fuel is having the gas pedal go to its built-in stop as designed by the car manufacturers (no doubt encouraged by the sleazy oil companies). Moving that stop up by about 25mm will allow you to thumb your nose at those money grabbers.
(/sarc off)
Seriously,
in 2008, during the last run-up in gas prices I saw a post on a car enthusiast forum:
The poster noticed that his gas gauge was indicating higher when going downhill. He also noticed that his car uses less fuel going down a hill. His suggested solution was to put really tall tires on rear of the car. His reasoning was that this way the cars fuel injection computer “thinks” its going down a hill and injects less gas.
Berényi Péter says:
April 25, 2011 at 10:20 pm
“The mirthless First Law of Marketing is this:
1. Half the populace is dumber than average.”
Dumber than the median, actually. 😉
I worked for a fellow back in the 80’s who had this brilliant idea of pressure carburetor
and heating the gasoline to vapor then injecting it into the carb, problem: Vapor of gasoline is highly volatile. Explosive. Especially in your Chevy van full of petroleum
products.
Burned a nice crater in the local county road.
Only the left and right wheels were recognizable.
His wife was driving. she had the good sense to get out
when she heard the *pop* .
She also got behind a bridge abutment, for the inevitable BOOM.
Called the fire dept from a nearby farm.
Then her attorney….
I read on the Greenfoot Global site that their product is registered with the EPA. It’s true, I checked.
According to the EPA site, registration of a product, “involves providing a chemical description of the product and certain technical, marketing and health-effects information.”
Thus, despite the fact that the public may never know what Envirotabs actually are, the EPA does and is also well aware of how the product is being marketed. Isn’t it funny how these “scams” are shut down because they are pyramid schemes, not because their products are a rip-off. If that were the case, the EPA would certainly share in the financial responsibility.
a jones’s reminiscences remind me that similar scams popped up in the US during the 70’s fuel crises.
One idea was to stick magnets on the carburetor; I guess they magically aligned the fuel molecules in perfect harmonic convergence or something.
I can also remember people (well actually engineers, not people) making the same joke as Warren’s above–use all those products guaranteed to reduce fuel consumption by 10%, 20%, 30% and produce more gas than you burn.
reminds me of those claims to get 150 miles a gallon to the heavy 1960 era cadillacs.
sorry you cannot move X tons of steel 150 miles without considerable energy.
no magic out there no matter how many liberals think there is.
We shouldn’t be surprised, automotive snake oil fuel/ignition/whatever schemes come around every few years.
I enountered a sports car racing team who believed the scam of little plugs to be installed between ignition wire and distributor. But they were open enough to later tell people it was nonsense, that they made a mistake in believing the hype.
When I see scams like this, I realize that I would be a whole lot richer if I didn’t have any personal ethics…
Some folks might be in a position to do this for improved gas mileage…Find a junk yard and a differently geared rear-end. I did and saw immediate changes to my wallet.
John says:
April 26, 2011 at 12:07 pm
hey John I hope you changed your speedometer drive as well or what you are measuring would not otherwise be accurate. normally it is driven by the transmission and is set to the factory rear end gear ratio.
There is one useful thing you can do to improve fuel burn efficiency by a small percentage in a gas engine. Clocking the spark plugs – old racers trick. I won’t describe it here, since the technique is widely available on the web.
“Registered with the EPA” doesn’t mean the EPA endorses the claims of emission reductions, fuel economy improvement, etc. The EPA is interested in only two things: (1) that the additive doesn’t increase pollutants, and (2) it doesn’t damage the emission control parts of the engine, including the exhaust catalytic converter.
So “registered with the EPA” only says it probably won’t hurt your vehicle. It says nothing about whether it works or not.
See:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sec_42_00007545—-000-.html
Which says in part:
“(a) Authority of Administrator to regulate
The Administrator may by regulation designate any fuel or fuel additive (including any fuel or fuel additive used exclusively in nonroad engines or nonroad vehicles) and, after such date or dates as may be prescribed by him, no manufacturer or processor of any such fuel or additive may sell, offer for sale, or introduce into commerce such fuel or additive unless the Administrator has registered such fuel or additive in accordance with subsection (b) of this section.
(b) Registration requirement
(1) For the purpose of registration of fuels and fuel additives, the Administrator shall require—
(A) the manufacturer of any fuel to notify him as to the commercial identifying name and manufacturer of any additive contained in such fuel; the range of concentration of any additive in the fuel; and the purpose-in-use of any such additive; and
(B) the manufacturer of any additive to notify him as to the chemical composition of such additive.
(2) For the purpose of registration of fuels and fuel additives, the Administrator shall, on a regular basis, require the manufacturer of any fuel or fuel additive—
(A) to conduct tests to determine potential public health and environmental effects of the fuel or additive (including carcinogenic, teratogenic, or mutagenic effects); and
(B) to furnish the description of any analytical technique that can be used to detect and measure any additive in such fuel, the recommended range of concentration of such additive, and the recommended purpose-in-use of such additive, and such other information as is reasonable and necessary to determine the emissions resulting from the use of the fuel or additive contained in such fuel, the effect of such fuel or additive on the emission control performance of any vehicle, vehicle engine, nonroad engine or nonroad vehicle, or the extent to which such emissions affect the public health or welfare.
Tests under subparagraph (A) shall be conducted in conformity with test procedures and protocols established by the Administrator. The result of such tests shall not be considered confidential.”
From Dave Bob on April 26, 2011 at 9:29 am:
Nowadays they sell magnets that are stuck onto the gas lines. The magnetic field must really penetrate the steel wall of the line to make such impressive changes. It must be a good product, they’ve been selling them for decades. Just look at this Google search. They even sell them on Amazon! What greater assurance of their quality do you need?
To General P. Malaise:
sure did…measuring correctly…savings are real…estimated time to recover investment ~6 months
I remember in the sixties being told by a workmate that he was buying a special additive that gave him more than a 10% increase in his mpg. All he had to do was add a pint bottle of this wonder-working additive for every gallon of petrol he put in his tank. I had a look at it, and what do you know, it smelled just like petrol. The clever part was that the con-man told him that he would get a 10% improvement, when of course it would be more than that. My workmate was impressed by the modesty of his claims!
“”””” DirkH says:
April 26, 2011 at 8:29 am
Berényi Péter says:
April 25, 2011 at 10:20 pm
“The mirthless First Law of Marketing is this:
1. Half the populace is dumber than average.”
Dumber than the median, actually. 😉 Well of course the sample size is large enough and normal enough to follow a Gaussian Distribution; in which case the mean and the median would be the same.
Blimey, I bet the tab is also good for cleaning the loo!
This falls somewhere between Eco-fraud and Eco-marketing.. may be we need a new term ‘Eco scam’…
Mods:
Please break the links in the post – or redirect them elsewhere. At the moment you’re giving the scammers a massive boost to their google ranking, which was the whole point of their posting here in the first place – WUWT comments are indexed by Google.
While we are on scams . . . . I could use some advise!
Rep. Allen West Visits Cyclone Power Technologies to Explore Cost-Saving …
SYS-CON Media (press release)
Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. (Pink Sheets: CYPW), developer of the award-winning Cyclone Engine, announced that it spent the morning introducing its patented, external combustion engines to Rep. Allen West (FL-22). Cyclone demonstrated the engines’ …
http://www.cyclonepower.com/ Their website which shows how the engine works . . .
(Pink Sheets: CYPW), Are they jerking our chains?
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CYPW.PK+Basic+Chart
Just something I ran across last week . . . .
Cuiousgeorge, the clocking trick is to keep the plug from being hit by a piston or vavle during runs. The tolerances biult into the engines are so tight that if not done a piston or valve would smack the electrode shut, effectivly shutting off the spark or destroying the plug and causing major damage to said motor, never heard of improved effieciy from this but no doubt possible.
Richard111 says: April 25, 2011 at 9:57 pm Who was it said “There are none so blind as those who will not see”?
Ayn Rand wrote a version of that, to the effect of refusing to see (which is evasion).
Yup, saw lots of this kind of stuff back in the 70s, when gas prices tripled.
No such thing as a free lunch….
Dave says:
April 27, 2011 at 5:25 am
I do not understand what that means: please explain.
grayman says:
April 27, 2011 at 9:22 am
You are correct Sir, with the exception of certain exotic types of two strokes orientation of the plug electrode makes little or no difference to power output or fuel economy.
Bowen says:
April 27, 2011 at 8:59 am
Not another steam engine, as if we hadn’t seen them all before. Was is it not Mr Lear, he of the jets, who advocated steam cars to solve pollution in the sixties and then went round with a hatbox which he said contained his new steam engine?
If they can achieve the 30% they claim it is a pretty poor design and forty years behind the times. And none of this rubbish about it is cheaper to make, perhaps true if you are going to completely retool a mighty industry at who knows what cost.
Kindest Regards
Bowen
“(Pink Sheets: CYPW), Are they jerking our chains?”
Interesting question!
According to the latest Auditors’ Report on Cyclone Power, April 18 2011:
“[T]he Company’s dependence on outside financing, lack of sufficient working capital, and recurring losses raises substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”
See http://www.cyclonepower.com/PDF/Annual_Report_2010.pdf
In spite of this, enthusiasm seems to undampened. According to a penny stocks news sheet
http://news.wooeb.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=726397 (26 April)
“Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. (PINK:CYPW) reached up 20.69% in morning trading to $.35 with 400K shares traded.”
There is an enthusiastic promoter of the company, See
http://nickelpower.org/
The Rossi cold fusion wonder contraption to which the nickelpower site is devoted is pretty generlly dismissed as a scam. See
http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2011/05/09/rossi-ecat-cold-fusion-reactor-update/
and the long discussion and scholarly discussion of these claims at
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=198040
Please let me know what you think of all this.