Another Computer Virus Scam

While reading an article, my computer suddenly froze and this message popped-up, along with a recording

The message reads:

**YOUR COMPUTER HAS BEEN BLOCKED**
Error 268D3
Please call us immediately at 844-576-0464
Please do not ignore this critical alert. If you close this page, your computer access will be disabled to prevent further damage to our network.
Your computer has alerted us that it has been infected with a virus and spyware. The following information is being stolen...
> Facebook Login
> Credit Card Details
> Email Account Login
> Photos stored on this computer
You must contact us immediately so that our engineers can walk you through the removal process over the phone. Please call us within the next 5 minutes toprevent your comuter from being disabled.
Toll Free 844-576-0464

Needless to say, it's been longer than 5 minutes since I saw this bullshit and my computer is still working fine.

This sort of thing is caused by a piece of malware being inserted into a website that causes your browser to freeze, with the accompanying pop-up and recording starting to play. Trying to close the browser by clicking the little X at the top or trying to switch windows won't work. The only ways to close the browser are to

• right-click the box at the bottom of your screen and click "Close";
• you can type on the ALT and F4 keys; or
• you can simply turn your computer off. 

I ran a CCleaner scan after closing my browser, to make sure there was no residual malware on my computer.

What happens if you call the number?

Well, you'll be told that it's Microsoft Support and that they received an alert that your computer had been infected. While Microsoft is very good at creatingnew computer technology, they cannot monitor the entire Internet, looking for malware infections. They can't and no one else can, because the Internet is too vast. It's the same reason we can't remove the plastic polluting our oceans. It's ust too big and the prblems could be anywhere.

Considering how much damage viruses and other malware cause computer systems around the world, if Microsoft could find it all, don't you think they would have done it by now?

I don't even need to call the number to know what will happen if I do. I'll get somebody with an Indian accent answering the phone who will then ask me what kind of computer I have. If I tell him/her, they'll begin what they'll tell you is the "virus removal process", which is actually their attempt to get you to give them control of your computer. It's a bit complicated to explain, but there's in no virus hijacking your computer, it's a simply, annoying program that convinces you to call them so that they can con you into giving them control of your computer.

So, you don't have anything to worry about. Just don't call that number from your own phone.

If you want to hit them back, here's my suggestion:

1) write down the number they gave you to call;

2) go to a pay phone and call the number. It's toll free, so it won't cost you anything;

3) when they answer, tell them that you got the pop-up and recording. Make sure they identify themselves as the people the pop-up told you to call, because the scammers may abandon using the number at some point and you don't want to victimize an innocent person;

4) when they begin asking you for your computer information (type of computer, model number, etc), tell them "FUCK YOU!" over and over again. See how many times you can tell them "fuck you" before they hang-up. Try to say it to them 100 times. If you make it to a hundred, let me know in the Comments section below.

5) since it's a toll-free number, you can call them anytime you want. Call them and start abusing them whenever you need to let-off some steam. Just remember to use a pay phone, so that they can't call you back.

Moving on.

Duane Browning

Share on Facebook

Dr Okosun Curing Tinnitus With Magic?

It seems that whenever I write blog about any scam product that touts itself as a tinnitus cure, I get a comment posted about some supposed miracle worker in Nigeria. His name is Dr Okosun and here is the post I've been finding in comments:

SPECIAL THANKS TO DR OKOSUN FOR THE TINNITUS CURED HE
RENDER TO ME.
I'm giving a testimony about Dr. OKOSUN the great Herbalist man, he has the cure to all manner of diseases, he cured my Tinnitus Ear virus, though I went through different website I saw a testimonies about this herbalist, I was like: 'Many people have the Tinnitus virus cure why are people still suffering from it?' I though of it, then I contact Dr. OKOSUN via email, (doctorokosunspelltemple@gmail.com) I didn't believe him that much, I just wanted to give him a try, he replied my mail and Needed some Information about me, then I sent them to him, he prepared the (CURE) and sent it to Airfreight Online Courier Service for delivery, he gave my details to the Courier Office, they told me that 3-5 days I will receive the package and i took the medicine as prescribed by him and I went for check-up 1 week after finishing the medicine, then the Tinnitus was no there, if you are suffering from Tinnitus virus you to contact him on his via email address: doctorokosunspelltemple@gmail.com or call him +2348107584479, 

He can also cure you from others sickness such as.
ALS cure.
you need your EX husband back.
you need money ritual.
DIABETES
CANCER
Asthma
STROKE
INFERTILITY
HEPATITIS B
HEART DISEASE
HAPATIS C
Thanks for taking time to read my post, again his email on DOCTOROKOSUNSPELLTEMPLE@GMAIL.COM or call or whatsapp him on +2348107584479. wish you good luck

I decided to find out a little more about this guy. A quick Google search reveals this exact post, word for word, has been posted numerous times across many forums and there are several Google + accounts which seem to exist solely for the purpose of advertising him and I've seen many posts on Facebook on his behalf. It's pretty obvious that the individual(s) posting these messages don't speak English very well, which is obvious from the poor spelling and grammar. They don't seem to be medically informed either, since tinnitus isn't caused by a virus.

Since these idiots have pestered me before, I sent him an email and received this reply

You are welcome to DR OKOSUN home is a great temple which has been in existence for the past 67 year and it has been past from generation to generations.
What I do here is 100% guaranteed and no matter what the problem is, my spell must work for the power behind it is very powerful and secured, no harm and very easy, And this temple is a place of seriousness what I want here is real people who really want their problems to be solve and not a playing ground. And in this temple there are rule that can never be violated: {1} Do not tell anybody about the spell until you have seen result {2} Do not work with me and the same time work with another spell caster it is either you make a choice {3} Do not come here for jokes or take spell casting for granted 

This are the rule and regulation you must follow in other for a good spell casting and to get good result of 100% guaranteed. But before i start with the cure your info will be needed,As the info you will provide below will be fine and OK.
YOUR NAME:
YOUR SEX:
YOUR COUNTRY:
YOUR STATE:
FORUM WHERE YOU FOUND OUR ADVERT: 
YOUR MOBILE:
AGE 
YOUR PICTURE:
ADDITIONAL INFO NEEDED FROM YOU: 
If I get the detail I will proceed with the cure, for you have make the right choice for contacting. 

Hope to hear from you. Best of luck 

Attention:

I actually had to clean up the above reply that he sent to me because it had sentence breaks everywhere and it looked like he just copypasted it and sent it out without checking it first. Notice, it says "Attention" at the end? At the footer of some of his emails to me, I noticed that he had sent it out using his Blackberry phone, which explains the sloppiness.

The name "Okosun" is a real name that seems to be rather common in Nigeria and searching for a Doctor Okosun turned-up several legitimate medical doctors. There's also a famous evangelical preacher, Sonny Okosun. Aside from a Google + page and a Twitter account that hasn't been used in a long time, this guy doesn't have an Internet presence, aside from his people posting anywhere and everywhere. I'm certain of two things:

1. he's not a doctor or even a witch doctor;
2. "Okosun" isn't his real name

I had asked him if he had the cure for tinnitus and he sent this short follow-up to the first email:

My child I have the cure

Knowing a bit of how magic is supposed to be done, the requests for my name, gender, age and picture don't seem to be unusual. But, why would he need my mobile number? My picture could likely be used as part of some other scam or to tell falsely people that I'm one of the people he's cured.

I sent another email, asking if he needed me to travel to him so he could work his magic with me there and if he required some sort of financial "donation" before he could get to work. I received this reply

hello my child,
i am going to prepare the herb and send it to you in your country through coral service, so before i can proceed forward you have to provide the details needed.
hope to hear from you soon.
best regard.

I think he meant to say "courier service", not "coral service". Aside from the obvious fact that English is not his first language, he didn't seem to read my email all the way through the first time and had to later send this response to whether a financial donation was required

You are paying 200 $ only to purchase the items, that will be used to prepare the herb.

Being curious as to how I would send him the $200 he's asking for, I sent him a reply with some bullshit information I made-up. I told him that I didn't have a mobile number because tinnitus made me deaf in both ears. I also didn't send him a picture. I figured that he'd let those slide in anticipation of my sending him 200 dollars. Here's what he said

Hello my child,

now that i have receive your information i want you to know that your sickness will be cure with my herbal medicine okay?

so my child i don't ask money for me to cure you but after i have prepped the herbal for you,immediately after using it you will go for

a test and you shall be tested Sickness negative okay.but you are only going to pay for the herbal items. which i am to use to prepped the

cure of your sickness okay?

items needed

1. Essin Atalodo

2. Udurele

3. Owewe

4. Upakensi

5. Ogili and Umelen

total is 200usd

as soon as i get this herbal items i will prepped the cure of your

sickness, so that you can leave a peaceful with your love once okay.

Which was soon followed by this

Alright my child, so I will start working immediately so I will send you the items am to buy so that I can prepare the herb and send it to you

Not surprisingly, the entire email he sent to me is an almost exact copy of a post from a forum that was placed several months ago by a user called kelvin Marty on January 19, 2016. I was somewhat surprised that he didn't press me for a mobile number, but I suppose the story I gave him was convincing.

I Googled the names of the items he says that he needs and only one came back with a result. "Owewe" is the word for "cannon", so I'm guessing it's not some sort of herb or plant. While it is possible that all of these things are real herbs and these are simply the names they are known by locally, I think it's more likely that the names are made-up.

It didn't take long for this guy to smell blood and that the moment had come for him to cash-in. Shortly after he received the information I sent to him after pulling it out of my ass, he finally sent this

Hello you are to send the money through western union money transfer, these are the details you are to send to Receivers name: Ebhohimen innocent Receivers Country : Nigeria Receivers State : Edo State Security questions : My favourite colour Security answer : RedAfter sending you send down the following Sender full name..........Sender country.......Sender state..........Amount sent.....MTCN pin......Text questions....Text answer....

At this point, it's pretty clear that there is no "Doctor Okosun". It looks like the name of the person I've been corresponding with actually is named Ebhohimen Innocent. This name does appear to be rather common and I found several people on Facebook with it, all of them Nigerians. I'm not accusing any of them of running this scam, though.

How this scam was supposed to play-out, as the scammer had initially planned it was:

1. I contact him and ask for his help;
2. He replies and asks for my information, not including my mailing address;
3. I send him my information;
4. He sends his thanks for my info and tells me to send $200 to him via Western Union while he gets to work on brewing the potion;
5. I send him the money;
6. He asks me for my home address so he can have it delivered to me;
7. I send him my address;
8. He tells me the potion is on its way;
9. When it doesn't arrive, I contact him;
10. He tells me to wait a few days;
11. When it still doesn't arrive, I contact him again;
12. He probably tells me that there was a problem with shipping and asks me for more money to hire a different courier service;
13. When it still doesn't arrive, I contact him again;
14. He probably tells me that it was lost and asks me for more money so he can start all over again;
15. and so on.

Where my personal information winds-up is anybody's guess, of course. At the very least, if I just give-up right away, he's still got $200 of my money burning a hole in his pocket. If he notices that I've given-up on him, he'd likely use the information I've given him to pester me into giving him another try

This isn't something new for him, either. While he's been using the name "Okosun" recently, he's used names like Lano, Suku, Dibia Agbakor, Ezomo and many others.

At least with Tinnitus Remedy, Tinnitus Miracle and Tinnitus Terminator, you'll get something for your trouble. A book, some CDs or a digital download. They're all useless, but you're actually getting something for your money and none of them costs as much as Dr Okosun's magic formula.

My "Witch Doctor"Collection

It seems that either Dr Okosun is running scams under other cover identities or some other con artists have followed his lead and set-up shop for themselves. The following is a list of other "witch doctors" who have either spammed this blog (those comments get deleted) or have contacted me privately. I'll add more as they become known to me. I am listing them alphabetically.

24hourslovespell
24hourslovespell@gmail.com
whatsapp +2347059073543

Dr Abumere
abumereherbalcentre@gmail.com

DR ADAGBA
adagbaspiritualtemple@gmail.com
Whatsapp +2349057354407

Joseph Alberto
josephalberteo@gmail.com

Dr Azuka
dr.azukasolutionhome@gmail.com
WhatsApp +2348132777335

Doctor Dada
drdadaspellhome@gmail.com
Whatsapp him +2349053287581

Dr Ebhota
telephone +2347086564868
email drebhota123456@gmail.com

Dr Enato
dr.enatosolutionhome@gmail.com
Whatsapp (+234) 8158836717

Dr George
drgeorge2580@gmail.com

Dr.Lewis Hill
drlewishill247@gmail.com
lewishill247@gmail.com

Dr Kemi
kemilovespelltemple@gmail.com
mobile number +2349066484033
whatsapp +2349039545297

LOVE RE CONCILIATOR
payospiritsshalospells@yahoo.com

Dr Luka
lukagozorspellhome@gmail.com

Dr Miracle
miraclespellhome@yahoo.com

Dr Odinaka
dr.sunshineherbalhome@gmail.com
odinakaspiritualtemple@gmail.com
whatsApp +2349051208634
call him +2348147673395

Dr. Ogudo
dr.ogudoherbalspelltemple@gmail.com
dr.ogudoherbalspelltemple@hotmail.com
dr.ogudoherbalspelltemple101@yahoo.com
Whats App +2349031726182

Dr.Ogudugu
GREATOGUDUGU@GMAIL.COM

Dr Okosun
doctorokosunspelltemple@gmail.com
Whatsapp +2348107584479

Dr Omoa
dradanikesolutionhome@outlook.com
Telephone  +2348141309378

Dr ODUSODO
drocusodospellcaster@gmail.com
drocusodospellcaster@yahoo.com
contact number +2349067457724

Dr BABALORIXA
babalorixaharbalhome@gmail.com

Dr Osas
doctorosasherbalhome@gmail.com
osasspellcaster@gmail.com
Telephone +2349036919200

Dr, Sebi
drsebicellfood1@gmail.com
Telephone 19147094469
WhatsApp 2348158836673

Dr.Agbazara Temple
agbazara@gmail.com
whatsapp +2348104102662

Dr Kpelede Temple
kpeledesolutiontemple@gmail.com
Telephone 2347038111854

Dr Tunde
drtundeherbalhomeremedy@gmail.com
cell phone: +2349065367145 or +23451095232

Dr Uze
druzespellhome@gmail.com
Telephone: + 2348126257125

Dr Wafe
drwafesolutioncenter@gmail.com
Telephone +2348158836717

Dr William
drwilly37@gmail.com

Dr Williams
drwilliams098765@gmail.com

Some individuals who have been running witch doctor scams have branched-out and are now also attempting to pass themselves off as the Illuminati. Since I find this rather amusing, I'll list them below:

The Illuminati
Email officialilluminatiwealth@gmail.com

Illuminati World Money
ymcmbworldmoney@outlook.com
ymcmbworldmoney@gmail.com
call Mr Andrew +2349035553397


Duane Browning

An Honest Review of "Tinnitus Terminator"

UPDATE: All of Tinnitus Terminator’s websites listed in this blog entry have either been switched to sell another product or have been shutdown. It appears that Tinnitus Terminator has been discontinued. I hope this blog post may have played, at least, a small part in this outcome.

Tinnitus Terminator is the latest in a long line of supposed "cures" for tinnitus. I found out about it when I clicked on a link to what I thought was a news article, but was just an advertisement.

The video was different from the others because it showed the actual person who was speaking. If they thought they'd garner some automatic credibility with this, they were wrong.

The presenter is a man going by the name Timothy Seaton and he claims to be a music executive. He never says what company he worked for, though. Doing a search on LinkedIn showed many professionals with that name. However, only one had anything to do with the music industry and he worked at DMX MUSIC as vice president of premier accounts. The person in the video claims to live near Denver, CO and the executive at DMX lives in Austin, Texas. So, it's obvious that they are two different people.

But, the Timothy Seaton shown in the video also presents an interesting problem: what does he really look like?

I know, the answer seems obvious: he's in the video. You can see him, so you know what he looks like, right?

Actually, no we don't.

Here's Timothy Seaton #1 from the video posted at tinnitusterminator.net showing this picture and the voice of the speaker identifying himself as Timothy Seaton.

But, there's a problem. This man's name isn't Timothy Seaton. This is actually a picture of Todd Bradley, who is a software designer from Denver, Colorado. Mr Bradley actually did have surgery on his left ear back in February 2015, but it wasn't for tinnitus. It was for autophony and here's the link to Mr Bradley's blog where he talks about it.

Now, here's Timothy Seaton #2 from the videos posted at

• tinnitus-terminator.com (website shutdown)
• tinnitusterminator-program.com (website shutdown)
• tinnitus-terminator.net (website shutdown)

Obviously, they are two different people and other reviewers have noticed this, too. This should be a deal-breaker, right away. Why trust a product that uses two separate people going by the same name, both posing as executives in the music industry and using the exact same script in both videos? Between the two men, it is the second one whose video has been distributed more often. But, I wonder what enormous idiot forgot to take the first one down before someone like me found it?

It is possible that the scum behind all this would have been aware of potential problems if/when Todd Bradley became aware of their unauthorized use of his image in their video, so they got a second actor to play the part, but kept the backstory. Still, why leave the video online?

Fucking morons!

As I said, Tom Bradley did have ear surgery and here is a picture of him in bed shortly afterwards.

This picture is of Timothy Seaton #2 and you can tell that the picture is photoshopped and very badly, too.

Unfortunately, you'll have to watch the video to see where they use it, since you have to watch the video straight through and you can't jump around.

I don't know if Todd Bradley is aware that his image has been used to sell this product, but I intend to inform him at my first opportunity. (UPDATE: Mr Bradley was contacted)

I didn't make this one myself. I got it from their website. Can you tell me, with a straight face, that it isn't the most obviously 'shopped picture that you've ever seen? Would it have been so difficult to have the guy lay in a bed and wrap a bandage on his head? It would have taken only a few minutes. It's like they aren't even trying!

Okay, now for the websites:

But, tinnitusterminator.net is registered in Panama (UPDATE: changed from Iceland), which puts it outside of US law enforcement's reach. However, its registration expires in August 2016, so it probably won't be around much longer.

UPDATE: the website  has been renewed and expires in 2017
ANOTHER UPDATE: tinnitusterminator.net now redirects to noiseaway.com, which is also anonymously registered in Panama. So, Todd Bradley's picture doesn't appear there anymore. The site noiseaway.com was created in November 2015 and updated in October 2016. I recently wrote a blog post about NoiseAway and you can read it here.

The other websites mentioned above have William Doil of Glenview Partners Inc as their domain registrant. Mr Doil isn't only putting up websites for Tinnitus Terminator, he's also registered numerous other sites that deal with stuff like hair loss, erectile dysfunction, diabetes, winning the lottery and numerous other subjects. Most of their websites have videos with a person speaking on-camera, which makes them a little better than Tinnitus Remedy or Tinnitus Miracle that I blogged about previously. People tend to trust a product more if they can actually see the person trying to sell it to them.

Given the involvement of William Doil in such a large collection of websites hawking such questionable "cures" for such a variety of ailments, it doesn't lend much credibility to Tinnitus Terminator, does it?

At the bottom of one of the Tinnitus Terminator websites I mentioned, I noticed this:
"Copyright © Timothy Seaton"

Well, if it's copyrighted and Mr Seaton lives near Denver, Co as he claims, then his copyright should be listed with the US Copyright Office. It should be, but it isn't. There is no copyright held by a Timothy Seaton, for anything and there is no copyright listed for Tinnitus Terminator.

I'm not surprised. Not at all.

But, what about Timothy Seaton's life history with tinnitus and the claims he makes about Tinnitus Terminator? How does they stack-up?

Not very well.

Mr Seaton claims that his doctor recommended a surgical procedure because it seemed that one of the three bones of his inner ear was broken and this was causing the ringing in his ears. So, they had to open him up to fix the problem.

He doesn't explain how one of these bones could possibly have been broken and I don't even know how that would be possible, aside from a traumatic head injury. But, the only surgery that I've heard about performed on the bones of the inner ear would be a stapedectomy which would be done as a treatment for osteosclerosis which is an abnormal hardening of the bones of the inner ear due to mineral buildup, not a breakage.

All these supposed "cures" for tinnitus claim that doctors and the pharmaceutical industry would rather sufferers paid for drugs or expensive surgeries to treat tinnitus, rather than giving them an outright cure. But, as I've said before, there are no drugs prescribed to treat tinnitus nor any surgical procedures recommended to correct it. So, Big Pharma is making diddley-squat from it!

While Tinnitus Terminator claims to use sound as a way to "retrain your bran" to cure tinnitus. use of sound therapy has already been used for years. So, this is old news, not a new revelation. As an example of how long sound therapy has been used, this is how William Shatner has managed to live with his tinnitus after being injured on the set of the Star Trek episode, "Arena".

For all their claims that there have been clinical trials for Tinnitus Terminator and that actual researchers have been involved in testing the product, they never provide you with the names of the people or institutions who conducted the trials or the actual scientists who did the work. You're simply supposed to take their word for it.

Here's something from their own website (scroll to the bottom) that you should see. I have not altered the text in any way.

All information and results stated on this website are for information purposes only. The information is not specific medical advice for any individual. The content website and product should not substitute medical advice from a health professional. If you have a health problem, speak to your doctor or a health professional immediately about your condition. The statements presented here have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Neither the retailer nor the author are engaged in rendering medical or similar professional services or advice via this website or in the product, and the provided advice is not meant to replace the professional medical advice.

Naturally, Seaton claims that the Tinnitus Terminator videos are under constant threat of being taken offline because Big Pharma "doesn't want the Truth to get out". But, there are four registered websites and seemingly hundreds of people out there hawking this product. So, there's no danger of it being silenced.

But, what about the product, itself? What do you get in exchange for your money?

You get a digital copy of the book and some music files to download, which are sent to you via email.

"But, wait!" you say, excitedly, "what about the picture of the book I saw on the Interwebz?".


It doesn't exist. There is no physical copy of the book that you can hold in your hands, which again is different from Tinnitus Remedy and Tinnitus Miracle, which do provide you with books and even CDs.

You have to admit that it makes sense. Since there's less money that Tinnitus Terminator has to spend printing books, burning CDs and sending that crap out in the mail, there's more of your money that they can keep for themselves. Genius!!!

Of course, if you have a problem downloading it from your email, there's no way to contact these people to correct the problem. Either way, you're pissing away your hard-earned money.

***New Information Added on October 15, 2016***

Sometimes, when I blog about the various "cures" for tinnitus, people ask me if I've even read the book(s) the sellers are offering. Of course, I don't. I don't need to, since I have their websites or videos from which to draw my own conclusions.

However, I was able to obtain - for free - a copy of the "Tinnitus Terminator" book and I'm able to comment about its contents. No, I didn't hack their website or borrow someone else's copy. The link showed-up in a Google search because these guys are apparently morons.

UPDATE: The people running Tinnitus Terminator apparently discovered their screw-up and closed the link. 

So, here we go.

On the very first page of text, there is this:

No part of this document or the related materials may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior permission by the author/ publisher. The service and the materials contained in this eBook are based on the author’s research and experience. The research has been done through credible sources to the best of our knowledge.

In no event shall the author be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, or consequential damages of any kind whatsoever with respect to the service, the materials and the products contained within. This eBook is not intended to be a substitute to professional medical advice.

Apparently, they weren't counting on the Fair Use Doctrine, which allows limited parts of a book, video, etc to be duplicated for the purposes of review and commentary, which is what this blog is about.

The "research" that supposedly went into Tinnitus Terminator was done by the author, along with his "experiences". However, the author is not mentioned by name, so we are left to assume it was done by Timothy Seaton, who never even claimed to be a physician. So, a guy who doesn't even have a medical degree is going to give me advice about a medical condition? No, I don't think so.

The second paragraph is supposed to protect the author from any harm that may come to anyone who actually follows his advice. So, if anything good comes from you following Tinnitus Terminator, it's because of the author. But, if anything bad happens, you're on your own. See how that works?

On top of all that, they say that Tinnitus Terminator isn't meant to be a substitute for medical advice, which is interesting when you consider how they claim that physicians couldn't help Seaton with his tinnitus and would simply prefer to have their patients spend their money on drugs and surgeries that don't work.

Even without delving into the specific claims made in the book itself, I quickly realized that the book probably isn't copyrighted. The reason is that it contains other people's copyrighted material. You cannot copyright something that contains other people's copyrighted work without first getting the permission of the original copyright holder. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• a photograph of Jimi Hendrix on page 3. All images of Jimi Hendrix are the property of Experience Hendrix, LLLC
• a cartoon illustration is placed on page 10, but with the artist's signature edited out. Despite this rather dirty trick, I was able to find the original and discovered that it's owned by Canadian artist, Brian Fray;
• a picture of Macaulay Culkin from "Home Alone", a film owned by 20th Century Fox, is on page 25; and
• on page 62, there's a picture of the character Nemo, from the Disney-owned film "Finding Nemo".

Other pictures featured in the book may also be copyrighted works, but most appear to be clip art.
It appears that whoever put this book together didn't spend a lot of time worrying about other people's copyrights, though warning people to respect his own.

Much of the book consists of describing the different types, causes and treatments of tinnitus that are already available to read online in various websites, so you didn't need to buy the book to get this information. In fact, you can browse through the forum at Tinnitus Talk and get all that information and more for free. To me, it looked like the author is trying to impress people with his knowledge. In my case, he failed.

In my opinion, the book makes a rather idiotic claim that

By the time you have finished this book, you will no longer be yourself. This book can help you find a better life for yourself, one where you can be more relaxed, more at peace, more in tune with the world and, above all, completely and utterly happy.

I'll admit that, for many people with tinnitus, having it gone from their lives would lift a tremendous amount of personal stress off their shoulders. But, for most of us, tinnitus isn't so crippling that our personal happiness is impossible. Even if my tinnitus were gone tomorrow, it wouldn't necessarily mean that I'd spend the rest of my life "completely and utterly happy"; I'd simply have one less bit of stress in my life.

I also found it laughable that the book recommends and gives instruction for meditation, as if no one else would have thought to use it to cope with the stress caused by tinnitus. I've read numerous books about meditation, all of them written by authorities in their field. I'm certainly not going to take any tips from some clown selling a supposed "cure" for tinnitus when I know absolutely nothing about him. You can learn about meditation for free from watching YouTube videos, browsing the Internet or reading books from your local library.

In Chapter 4, as part of the Tinnitus Terminator program, two forms are provided to print out and use as part of a self-evaluation test. Supposedly, the test was developed by "reputed audiologists", but the reader isn't told who these audiologists are and what credentials they possess. Sure, audiologists work with people suffering from tinnitus, but we don't know how much experience the test developers have in that field. They could have a lot, a little or none at all.

As far as the actual program is concerned, it consists of using sound therapy. You can download some music files to listen to which are supposed to "retrain your brain", but that's not how sound therapy works. It's more like a masking effect that covers the tinnitus sounds you're hearing. Again, such masking sounds are available for free download off the Internet. Personally, I just turn on my electric fan when I'm home.

Despite admitting on the very first page that Tinnitus Terminator isn't a substitute for medical advice, they say this on page 5:

This program uses sound therapy to physically re-train how your brain works – cutting off tinnitus without the drawbacks of drugs, doctor visits or surgery. You’ll stimulate the parts of your brain responsible for properly perceiving sound and even cure your tinnitus within 30 days.

The author has no medical experience, but he knows how your brain will be affected by the program? Where did he get this information from? Nowhere in the entire book is the name of a single medical doctor who will vouch for Tinnitus Terminator and back-up the claims presented in this book. No qualified physician is going to put their name out there and risk their reputation on this quackery!

Essentially, Tinnitus Terminator tells you to relax and feel good about yourself, keep a "Can Do!" attitude and listen to some music. That's about it.

You can go to the link I provided above to read it for yourself.

***End of New Material***

These people are parasitically feeding off the frustration felt by many people living with tinnitus, especially those whose condition causes disruption of their personal and/or professional lives. While tinnitus doesn't physically cause you pain, you can suffer on an emotional or psychological level, due to the nonstop noise. There have even been reports of people committing suicide because they couldn't live with tinnitus anymore.

If you really want to talk to people who know what you're going through and you want to keep informed about the latest research on tinnitus, I strongly suggest that you join the forums at Tinnitus Talk. Members of this forum do live with tinnitus of various degrees of severity and they do keep abreast of ongoing research. They all know what you're going through because they're going through, too.

For the sake of Full Disclosure: I have tinnitus in my right ear and I have been living with it for most of my life. Most of the time, it isn't too bad. But, sometimes, it seems like I can't hear anything else but the constant buzzing in my ear. I've learned to live with it.

Legal stuff: My posting of pictures from Tinnitus Terminator affiliated websites, as well as from Todd Bradley's blog are covered under Fair Use. So, there!

If you would like to make a donation in support of the blog, in order to encourage me to post more articles like this, you can send it via Venmo.

Duane Browning