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| Is the company sequencing a scam? Yes and no by Mary Cummins genealogist |
UPDATE: Sequencing just sent me an email reply to my post. It's below my original article.
ORIGINAL:
Sequencing is a company which does health analysis of your DNA. You provide a cheek swab just like other DNA sites such as Ancestry and 23andme (23andme is in bankruptcy proceedings). Within a few weeks they analyze your DNA against disease databases to give you a health report based solely on your DNA for a cost of $400. You can find out if you are genetically predisposed to certain diseases and conditions. Keep in mind genetic predisposition is just one factor in actually contracting some diseases. Lifestyle choices are a huge factor which influence disease.
Sequencing is running ads all over the internet for their service. They also offer a free service where you can upload an existing DNA file which you may have from Ancestry, 23andme, Geni, MyHeritage... They offer free DNA analysis of your existing DNA file. The scam part has to do with the "free" services they offer.
Sequencing said you can load up an existing DNA file to find out your blood type. A friend loaded up an existing DNA file. They then requested the free blood type analysis. You have to sign up with your name, address, email address to get this "free" service. They tell you it will take a few days for this analysis. The results are "your file did not contain enough data to determine your blood type. Please, pay us $400 for a full analysis." Mind you they told you, you could load up an ancestry or 23andmefile to find out blood type.
The friend then deleted the existing DNA file and then used the $400 sequencing file for analysis. They got the same result. That means they never even bothered to look at the data file or the full analysis will not provide that result. When they finally got the results of the $400 sequencing it didn't tell them blood type either. This means they lied when they said they could tell you your blood type based on DNA. They just wanted to sell you the $400 service. That is scammy and dishonest.
Another example. Sequencing ran an ad saying "Am I an Einstein?" They allegedly were offering to check your existing DNA file to see if you have genius level intelligence. The ad stated intelligence and not kinship. Again, they make you wait a few days. They do this so you think it must be a lot of time consuming work. Days later you get the results which state "Am I related to Einstein?" Now it's a different test to see if you just related to Einstein. They only look at your haplogroup to see human migration patterns. Albert Einstein's Y-DNA haplogroup is E1b1b1b2 (or E-Z830)*, specifically the "Jewish cluster." No one ever tested Einstein's DNA. They only tested a descendant of his great-grandfather, Naphtali Hirsch Einstein, and found him to belong to the E-M35 haplogroup and its subclade E1b1b1b2. If you already took a DNA test, you already know your haplo group. You would already know if you are a part of Einstein's haplo group and don't need Sequencing to tell you. Worthless test. Then they tell you to buy their $400 test for better analysis.
Back in the day around 2019-2021 Ancestry offered DNA health analysis. It was $59 for basic
AncestryDNA then $30 for AncestryHealth analysis of the same DNA file. The results came back at the same time in a few weeks. Sequencing is saying your Ancestry test doesn't have enough data to run their health analysis. This isn't 100% true. They used the same oral saliva swabbing. The Ancestry results were pretty robust showing likelihood of having cancer and many other diseases. I would agree that Sequencing probably has a more robust report today in 2025.
In summary Sequencing offers these "free" services to lure you in to buy the $400 sequencing test. 23andme offers a similar ancestry and health service for $199. With 23andme you can also find relatives and work on your family tree online. Ancestry now only offers DNA to find family. They also offer a very robust database of genealogical records. The monthly subscriptions are more expensive than the basic test but you get access to the database and millions of other people's family trees, photos and records.
*I have the screen captures from the results of the various "free" analysis which support every statement in this article.
EMAIL REPLY FROM SEQUENCING
"This is Ryan, and I’m a representative of the Customer Success team at Sequencing.com. As a small startup, we truly value every customer and want you to feel confident in your experience and satisfied with your results.
We’d really appreciate the opportunity to follow up on your recent review of our products and services to clarify a few points and offer assistance, especially if anything didn’t work as expected, such as our free reports.
We offer users the ability to upload third-party DNA data and run some free basic reports. However, depending on the type of file uploaded, results may be limited. We accept files from services like 23andMe, AncestryDNA, and MyHeritage. If the file is compatible, users can access free reports like the ABO Blood Type Analysis or “Am I Related to Einstein?”
That said, if the uploaded file doesn’t contain the necessary genetic markers (rsIDs) required for a report, you may see a message such as “Not enough data available.” While many ancestry files contain the relevant data, there are cases where they don’t. Unfortunately, this is outside of our control, as it depends on what was included in the original file by the testing company.
In your review, you mentioned a friend who had issues even after purchasing our $400 Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) kit. We’d be happy to look into their experience and help resolve it. If you can provide their account email or have them contact us directly, we’ll gladly investigate.
I also noticed in your account that the Blood Type report was unable to fully complete. This can occasionally happen even with WGS data if a required variant is missing. In many cases, we can work with the developer of the report to resolve this, though it may take a little time.
Please also note that while our saliva-based DNA test provides valuable insights into genetic predispositions, it is not intended to replace a medical-grade blood test performed by a healthcare professional.
Regarding reports like “Am I Related to Albert Einstein?”, these are meant to be lighthearted and engaging ways for users to explore how their genetic data can be used. In your article, you mentioned we claim to "check your existing DNA file to see if you have genius-level intelligence,” but that is not the intended purpose or how it is advertised. The actual description of the report reads:
“Are you an Einstein? Do you and Einstein share the same genes? Find out for free! Albert Einstein's genes played a large role in who he was, just as they do for all of us. Now you can find out if you have genes in common with one of the most intelligent people to have ever lived.”
“Albert Einstein's DNA is not publicly known, but in broad terms we have some ideas for his haplogroup.”
This is not a clinical or diagnostic report, it’s intended as educational value and does not reflect the full range of our platform’s capabilities.
You also made an important distinction between ancestry testing and Whole Genome Sequencing. You're absolutely correct that they are very different. Ancestry companies use microarray technology, which analyzes around 600,000 specific data points, less than 1% of your genome. In contrast, Whole Genome Sequencing captures over 3.2 billion data points, covering nearly 100% of your genome.
Because of this, our more advanced reports, such as the Next Gen Disease Screen, are designed specifically for the depth and completeness of WGS data. When using an ancestry file instead, the insights are limited to what’s available in that file.
Lastly, I’d like to assure you that your privacy is a top priority for us. We do not sell or share your DNA data, and we do not participate in family-matching services. Our primary focus is on health and wellness insights. While we do offer some third-party ancestry reports, these are smaller in scope and not as in depth for ancestry information especially compared to specialized ancestry services like those from 23andMe or Ancestry.com.
If you'd like us to look into your friend’s situation, we’d be happy to do so with their permission and account email. We’ll follow up with them directly to ensure everything is addressed.
I look forward to hearing back and the opportunity to work together to resolve everything."
Genealogist at Geneanet and Geneastar
https://en.geneanet.org/profil/marycummins
Mary Cummins Investigative Reporter
https://marycumminsrealestatemarycummins.blogspot.com
Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser
http://www.marycummins.com
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http://www.mary.cc
Mary Cummins Biography, History in Wikipedia format
http://wikipedia.marycummins.com/
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