IMHopeful

I'm sure a bunch of you have seen this on MSN. Thought I'd post the link just in case. It talks about online scams, facebook, etc, ect. Also mentions one of my fellow Canucks, Jesse Willms who's in some hot water over the Acai shit. Nothing ground-breaking here, but a few decent articles if you're bored.

MSN -- Scams to Watch Out For

clyde

What are you saying? The $1000 free Walmart Gift Card offer I've been pushing was a scam?

MaxSteve

What bugs me about the whiny "the interwebs are scamz!!" people is that I'm sure half of them are wearing Q-Ray bracelets and on their way to see their wellness consultants. Where are the people complaining about that crap, anything from Ron Popeil (spray hair anyone?), 99% of the exercise equipment being sold on late-night infomercials, or for that matter ANYTHING being sold via infomercials or As Seen on TV stores? It's a double-standard and it irritates the fuck out of me.
[/rant]

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moratraffic

MaxSteve, we live in a world today that people are never accountable for their own actions. It is always someone else's fault. Screw ready terms and conditions. Why do companies even put them there? No one reads them and bitches about them when the company brings it up.

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DKPMO

Our industry must work on a better public image. That's all I have to say!

There are multiple sides to any "scam" story and it is important to tell the whole picture and not just let the negative media narrative stick.

Unfortunately with so many people embracing the self-image of a rogue, outlaw or gangster this task will not get easy anytime soon - for the industry as a whole.

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IMHopeful

I'm certainly no pro, but "regulation" is the only way to convince the masses, even then you're going to have doubters.

I was talking to my brother's girlfriend the other day (she and my bro are 16 years younger than I am). I vaguely told her about some of my online interests and she got to telling me that she was brought up to fear online purchasing. Her mother is a baby boomer and of course, those who never took the plunge to "learn the Internets" continue to think it's one big scam and considers it a scammers free-for-all, because no official public monitoring is done (at least none that most lay-people are aware of.)

I tell anyone that will listen that it's no more, or less risky than ordering a product or service over the phone. You just have to be a little saavy and yes -- sometimes you're going to get screwed.

I think the biggest thing holding up and coming generations back is stereotypes from older folks, more so than the berries.

Obviously blatant articles on very public websites don't do much to help IM's progress though.

megatabbers

I think the internet has all the "regulation" it needs. It's actually self-regulating. Scams and rogue companies can only perpetuate so long now that people are getting savvier and doing some due diligence before buying.

If something's a scam, it will be all over the first page of Google (ripoffreport, compliantsboard, etc..)

IMHO, we've never had such a self-regulated medium as this (i.e. the interwebz).

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DKPMO

Sure, let's trust "Internet regulation" to the same people who overlooked Madoff scam at SEC, did nothing to prevent BP oil spill and are now trying to ban raw milk.

/facepalm

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steelpaulo

Roger that sit back and trust the federal crooks who have ruined America.

DinoVedo

its not a scam.. just false hope... for all i care they can GTFO!

transient

look where you're posting this!

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webetricky

So true - everyone is real quick to point the finger while personal responsibility is completely irrelevant to most people. If someone wants to go around blaming everyone else for everything wrong in their life they sure as hell can, but at the end of the day everything is still wrong in their life and they're not making progress to fix it because they're too busy bitching about how everything is someone else's fault. Good luck with that method, general public. Ya kinda pushed a button for me there.

IMHopeful

^^I agree. Nobody's accountable for anything. I have a much younger brother that I'm always arguing that point with. Nothing but excuses and zero accountability. It's a behavior you really have to catch early on -- to have any chance at correcting it.

mpbiz

This is all there is to it. There is not one person out there that's going to purchase something, and then not bitch later on because of additional charges or fees. We will never see the day when that person realizes and is actually willing to admit "Hey maybe I should have read the offer details instead of clicking on the flashing banner and giving up my cc info". People love to play the blame game and it'll always be that way.

moltar

Jesse Willms - that's the same dude that was running $1 trial google offer with hidden rebills innit?

jfreeberg

When people start regulating google and not just letting them do whatever they want without any explanation to their customers then maybe we can start talking about regulations helping the internet. Fuck google

Airin

Same thing with direct mail vs email... at least email only wastes electricity and not paper and everything that goes into making paper. You know the government will never regulate anything that they make money off of.

kpaulmedia

Saw a good documentary on The Secret the other day and how that scammed tons of people - killed a few too...

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kpaulmedia

lol one of their intext ads...

known to consumers as the Free Trial Offer

links to bing

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loaked-out

They had the same shit in a readers digest which I found in the back pocket of a seat in an airplane... I ripped it in half.

yao1994

Slignin berriez that has no link to weight loss whatsoever and then claiming it made Jenny/Pamela/Jessia lose 40 pounds in 2 weeks by following the 2 step combo on her blog, which then goes to offers where the whole business model is based off people forgetting to cancel their $149 trial, is a scam. Period.

It's one thing to have model based on customer lack of responsibilities but offers a genuine product (such as gyms, weight loss programs, genuine biz opps), and another to have that model but also offering a shit product.

No one would give a damn if they got rebilled $79 or $149 if the product worked.

It's obvious people who fall for jennifersweightlossblog.com or alexsrippedblog.com are the kind of people who will blame shit on others since they believed they could look good with out even getting their ass off the couch. But that's not the point. It was a scam. No matter who buys it's still a scam.

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IMHopeful

I agree. Affiliates did what they did and told themselves what they had to for a goodnight's sleep...I'd be too wrapped up worrying about all the credit issues and other horrendous problems my "deception" caused.

Not judging anyone, just sayin' I couldn't have done it.

hyerutko

Great post. Thanks for the heads-up
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transient

seriously? do you even know what board you're on? if i had a dollar for every affiliate marketer i've sold backlinks to on WF that was SEOing their fake blog, i wouldn't have to sell backlinks anymore.

you're not here to save the manatees, you're here to make money. as long as you're covering your ass with disclaimers, then it technically doesn't matter if you're whole story on the flog is made up or not. and it's the merchant's job to make sure the customer knows there's a rebill. so stop trying to make affiliates look bad and go work on your own flog... or just STFU!

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transient

see, to me affiliate marketing is not something i want to be known for anyway. it's something i do to make money, and that's it. i'm not interested in how the public sees me for my marketing, i care about my public image for my music or for my web design business or for my volunteer work. it's the merchant who should care about their image and if the affiliates who are pushing their product are making them look bad, then the merchant should pull out of the network.

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sgtryan

all you have to do is ignore bloggers and journalists and your life will be great success and happiness

profuse

From the Boondocks.
- boondocks

Personal responisbility is to read the disclaimers, research before you buy. just about every product is called a scam by one person or another. If more customers hold themselves accountable for their actions we wouldn't have these issues.. So Ima keep slangin'

negro2k

i have to know what this is

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aparadekto

The Secret killed a few people? Source pls

markhellbent

James Arthur Ray's Secret Warrior excursion did.
James Arthur Ray Deadly Sweat Lodge Ceremony Netted $500K, But He Can't Make Bond, Lawyers Say - Crimesider - CBS News

cheshire

The problem is those same people have a right to vote, and they continually vote for people that promise to take things (freedom, money) away from me and give it to them, or worse taking those things away from all of us because they're too ignorant to see the real problem is them, not everyone else. Essentially they vote to make their problems my problems.

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McBob

Correct! if there's anything the internet doesn't need, it's government regulations. Government regulations only benefit the big players by wiping out the competition and preventing the little ones from growing.

If people don't trust what you are selling, it's up to you to convince them they'll be safe. No one is stopping you from informing people about the different ways to protect themselves, about what you are doing to protect them, about how to recognize scammers, about... No one is stopping you from starting a company that reviews webshops and offers a seal of approval if the webshop adheres to your security guidelines. No one is stopping you from starting a "myths about online shopping" blog. No one is topping you from publishing a "how to use the internet" book and explain a thing or 2 about safe online shopping. No one is stopping you from being creative....

The only one that can stop you from being creative is the government.

McBob

If you don't like the way Google acts, just don't use them. It's their company, their product, their TOS. If you don't agree with their TOS, don't use them. Vote with your dollars.

Alternatives:
*scroogle (scrapes Google, same resutls, no ads, no tracking): Scroogle Scraper
*ixquick:Ixquick Search Engine

goddesspoo

haha, there are scams everywhere, just gotta play the right cards.