Intervest Global Live Pty Ltd - s.87B undertaking

The ACCC has accepted an undertaking from Intervest Global Live Pty Ltd (Intervest Global) in respect of advertisements it caused to be published on the SeekCommerical website between November 2007 and 18 February 2010.  The advertisements were for Intervest Global's horse-betting software called 'Trilogics'.

Intervest Global acknowledges that representations in the advertisements were likely to be misleading or deceptive and may have breached sections 52, 55 and 59 of the Trade Practices Act 1974 for the following reasons:

• Intervest Global represented that the software was a franchised business, when it was not.
• Intervest Global represented that it guaranteed that customers would earn $50,000 - $70,000 from home by using the software, when it did not offer a guarantee of that nature.
• Intervest Global stated that customers earned on average $56,855 in 2008 and that many customers had earned significantly more, when it had no basis for making that representation.
• Intervest Global represented that many customers had been with Intervest for 10 years, when it had no basis for making that representation.
• The ACCC was concerned that the advertisements misrepresented the risk of purchasing the Trilogics software by making unsubstantiated claims about its profitability and other characteristics.

Intervest Global is required to publish corrective notices on its website and to display the notice in the reception area of its premises.  Intervest Global is also required to email a copy of the notice to all potential customers that responded to the advertisements.