Matthew Lesko Websites

Beware of Matthew Lesko's Websites. Lesko's loud videos and loud question-mark suit should tip you off that something's wrong here. Is this a serious subject or not? This guy has literally hundreds of websites claiming to help you with government opportunities. The caveat: you must pay him to receive his help.

A side note on his books: Matthew Lesko's company, Information USA, has published many reference books including: “Getting Yours”, “Free College Money, Term Papers, and Sex Ed”, “Gobs and Gobs of Free Stuff”, and more. Though we have not purchased any of them to examine, we warn you that many online reviews say these books are nothing more than aggregations of public, free, government listings. Do not buy them. You can learn more on this website, and learn it for free.

According to the Better Business Bureau Lesko's parent company, Information USA, has received 16 formal complaints in the last three years. These complaints ranged from Advertising Issues to Selling Practices. The Better Business Bureau advises that Lesko's company is unable to substantiate how many of their clients were actually able to obtain grants or funds from the government.

New April 2019

We haven’t heard too much from Matthew Lesko lately but he did surface recently with comments about bitcoin and basically all crypto cash. He pronounced them scams and gambles and something he would never recommend in any of his books. Of course many feel that much the same of Lesko’s books …. he does provide some useful information but generally draws people in by giving them the impression that it’s easy to get something for nothing. And that’s definitely not true …. even grants, which are great because you never have to pay them back, require that you do some work to obtain them,

Update January 2018 Did you know that 300,000 informercials run every month in North America? Though they typically include some pretty kitschy products they’ve also created a huge market. Apparently there are still plenty of people sitting up late at night and picking up the phone to buy the latest hot kitchen appliance , “spray hair” and more. The whole tv informercial marketing genre, as well as one man’s personal experiences with late night purchases, are covered in a book recently discussed in an amusing Wall Street Journal article on this topic. Among they “colorful characters” they include in their discussion is none other than Matthew Lesko.

Update August 2017 OK this is a bit painful. One of Lesko’s recent ads features him dressed as an elderly woman. She attacks a doctor in a hospital and when he falls to the ground she starts rummaging through all his pockets looking for pills to steal. The voice-over then claims that you don’t have to resort to theft to get the health care that you need, you just need — yes — to turn to him and his information. There are allegedly thousands of health care programs you don’t know about and of course the infamous “they” are not going to tell you about them. So what you really need — of course — is to buy his book. Apparently the ad didn’t do too well and now a new one features Lesko rapping about “Getcha Money”. Please: read the parts of this article that deal with his books before you spend your money on information you can get for free…

Can you get rich by buying Lesko’s books? Lesko has certainly done well selling the books — some estimates say his net worth is around $5 million. As far as we can tell, f you read all the books and tried every suggestion in them (which would take a long time…) then you might get a few bucks. Or you could get more, depending on your luck and how diligent you are about following through on every suggestion. However, you would spend at least a couple hundred bucks acquiring all the books. And seriously, the information you would receive is available for free online (much of it on this website). So if money is burning a hole in your pocket and curiosity is getting the best of you, try it out. Or … see what you can learn for free right here — with current information that is easily updated on a regular basis (unlike a hard copy book….).

Also note that there is a link you can click to get to the latest news. One would logically assume that this news had something to do with current information about “free money” or grants or something of that nature. However, you are (as of this writing in April 2017) simply taken to a small page with just two lines, each of which highlights an “8$ annual return” and “lifetime income” aimed at seniors who are retired. Sounds like interesting news. But they are in fact just ads that will take you to a site selling annuities. And innuities are great at making only one group any richer: the insurance agents and brokers who sell them. These investments are easy to get into but hard - and expensive – to get out of. They are NOT something you want to do with your money.

It may seem curious to readers why one man would have so many websites. Indeed, you can find his posts on QuestionMarkGuy.blogspot.com, LeskoCollege.blogspot.com, MatthewLesko.com, Matthew-Lesko.com, MLesko.net, Lesko.org, MLesko.com, AskLesko.com, and more. All of these sites are filled with dozens of links to other sites. The effect is two-fold:

1. There appears to be much more information than there actually is. Notice that very little free community participation occurs. All interactions with people are through the lens of a camera in a carefully staged scene. Most of this is the run-around, meaning you browse through offer after offer and eventually are worn down to where you will actually buy a “bonus book” or “grant package”. The sites are purposefully manipulative.
2. Lesko himself openly acknowledges — in an interview with Fox News — that he is simply taking information the government provides freely and packaging it for consumers. Perhaps he adds value by publicizing the information and packaging it in a way that is easy to find. If that is worth money to you, you may want to pay for his book or services. But know that this information is freely available both from the government and from sites like the Free Grants Community. And perhaps even more interesting and timely leads can be found in articles like Free Money 2015 and Free Money 2016.
3. Noted consumer finance guide and watchdog Clark Howard warns that Lesko’s books are likely a waste of money. He points out, among other things, that much of Lesko’s advice relates to programs available from individual state agencies. And since you only live in one state, only 4% of the advice in the book could apply to you. And the rest will probably be grants for which you cannot qualify.
4. The high number of links makes the websites look important to search engines. Search engines like Google and Bing observe links on webpages and build networks based on those links. All the Matthew Lesko websites appear as a giant network of sites. Large networks boost rankings and help drive traffic to network sites. This practice is known also as “link farming” and is a malicious attempt to generate organic search traffic through higher rankings.

A 2015 review of Lesko's books makes the point that his infomercials are a lot more popular than his writings. Though there may be some useful information in there somewhere it requires wading through a lot that is not useful. As printed books they cannot be kept up to date. Links constantly change as does information. Most reviewers make the point that the information is just culled from the internet which anyone can do for free.

One of the best written reviews of Lesko's book about free money from the government makes several excellent points. First is that the book is very long – and boring – since it just lists tons and tons of publicly available government information. And the tapes tend to be a bit more than most people can bear to listen to. Most importantly, efforts to follow through on requests for information and grants from the opportunities covered proved to be frustrating. Often phone numbers had been disconnected and inquiries sent by mail never received a reply. This is a major drawback of printed material – it is difficult to keep updated.

Never pay for help receiving free government opportunities. The very idea that you must pay for help to receive “free money” is manipulative.

Lesko is well known as the “most visible” scam artist because of his crazy question mark suit and silly antics. Those antics must work because he spends $3 million a year just on advertising (according to a report from the New York State Consumer Protection Board. He sells books which according to his own words are nothing more than compilations of information you can get for free.

Matthew Lesko was born in 1943 and lives near Washington, D.C. with his third wife and two sons. After receiving his undergraduate degree, he served in the Navy and then earned an MBA. He is most famously known as an infomercial personality. His character and enthusiasm generate great appeal as a TV persona and he has a large staff of people developing Videos, Promotional Materials, CDs, DVDs and more.

Bottom line: Avoid these websites! Every site is full of links and appeals to your instant gratification. The truth is, while Matthew is good at getting people excited about Free Government Opportunities, he's manipulative and hypocritical in his practice. All the information and help you need is freely available to you online and through local community services. You should never pay for help online nor buy his books.

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