Warning! Scam!! Fraud!! Alert!! You’re about to lose EVERYTHING to evil online scammers!!!!
Good grief. What the hell is the world coming to?
It appears that a brand new sub-niche of marketing has appeared – it’s a very un-healthy type of online competitive marketing, where one competitor pretends to offer an “unbiased” review (which comes up unfavorable) along with a recommendation to buy their own stuff instead. It used to be prominent in advertising for professional athletic events, but now seems quite popular in the Internet marketing community as well.
Here’s How This Scam Works:
You take the name of a prominent teacher or business person in an industry, and then advertise using their name as a keyword, and try to get the prospect that are researching the teacher to click on their ad, read some fake review, and get them away from buying their stuff to instead buy YOUR stuff as the reviewer.
Many times, the reviewer is actually a DIRECT COMPETITOR offering SIMILAR products for sale.
Nothing new about this – Kodak and Fuji engaged in this type of thing back in the day.
But what IS new are the record lows that Internet marketers are willing to take their advertising.
Check out SOME (not all) of the ads I found out there with just a few searches:
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“Ed Dale Fraud – Wait, don’t buy Ed Dale until you read this important news”
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“Don’t Join Joshua Fuson – if you are thinking of working with Joshua, you first need to know…”
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“We Left Frank Kern – And now we make $80k/month. See proof and system. No selling.”
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“Don’t Join Frank Kern – Until you watch this video report. People are being scammed because…”
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“Eben Pagan’s Training? – You can make money for a change – elite marketing secrets revealed”
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“Mike Filsaime Alert – Is Mike Filsaime a scam? View official CRA Certified Report”
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“Martin Lightbowne Warning – You need to read this before buying Martin Lightbowne”
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“Ryan Deiss Fraud Report – Wait, before you buy Ryan Deiss, read this honest report now!!!”
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“Brad Fallon Secrets? – learn profitable Internet marketing secrets even Brad Fallon won’t share”
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“John Reese – Sham? – Get the whole truth on John Reese”
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“Watch Out For Corey Rudl – Don’t be another victim falling for get-rich quick schemes”
And on and on.
The truly LAME ad that stands out from the many lame ads above is the one targeting Corey Rudl. Corey Rudl died in 2005 in a tragic car accident. His memorial site is here.
Now – are all these marketers scammers?
Hell no!
If they were all scammers, the market feedback would be overwhelming, and the Internet would be flooded with warnings from outraged consumers. Instead, we see the market flooded with “warnings” from competitors, trying to make a buck off their backs.
Are all of their products equally “good”? Probably not. But, if their products suck, the consumer has about a million ways of letting the world know their opinion. Again, the consumer has rights that they can and SHOULD use in a business relationship with any merchant – and it starts with a conversation with the merchant themselves. But these are all things that pertain to a relationship that exists between the client and merchant - it shouldn’t be coming from one merchant about a competing merchant.
The real problem with this type of marketing is the precedent it sets – both for businesses competing in that market, and for the consumers buying products in that market. The reason the Internet is such an amazing tool is the transparency it propagates. Real scammers (those who sell their wares under false pretenses and /or with malicious intent) can get reported, and get their asses handed to them by an alphabet agency or Visa / Mastercard. Word travels fast these days, and it doesn’t take too many complaints to garner the attention of the banking Gods and have them deem a merchant as an unacceptable risk.
Parasite Marketing is built on the backs of the hard-earned reputations of business owners and marketers that are working day in and day out to provide value to their clients. Yes, every business will have competitors, and that’s a good thing. Every business will also have dissatisfied customers, and those businesses should address those problems professionally and promptly with their clients. If a business can’t solve a dissatisfied clients problem, the client has the right to tell others of their experience, or seek recourse through consumer advocate programs to attempt to resolve the problem – again, all good things.
But when marketers start calling all their competitors a scam in the hopes that a gullible prospect will believe them and buy their stuff instead – that’s just pathetic, and a total disservice to the competitor, and to the potential client. It feeds the paranoia that the Internet is full of hucksters and snake-oil salesmen.
It also sets an amazingly low precedent among competitors – instead of competing on an even playing field, it’s now every man/woman for themselves, and anything goes.
It’s fun to watch Football, hockey, the Olympics, and other spectator sports where we get to see professional athletes compete. It wouldn’t be quite as fun to give the Football players loaded guns and tell them to do whatever it takes to smoke the competition.
Half the fun and sport of competition is the process that people go through – the creativity, strategy, and passion they are able to inject into the game. Far from encouraging this type of process, Parasite marketing is corrosive. In lieu of healthy competition, it encourages a protectionist attitude of withdrawal, with the spoils going to the business that plays dirtiest.
I’ll be the first to admit that there is no established code of ethics in marketing (unfortunately). But there is a fine line between healthy competition and pseudo-marketing in the false name of “consumer activism”.
If your business model depends on using the names of prominent marketers to get their traffic in order to succeed, that’s one thing. But if your campaign has ads and landing pages that slam or knock other people in the hopes of getting people to turn away from them and buy from you instead, then it’s crossing the line.
Think about it:
What if Wal-Mart did a nationwide campaign talking about how every other retail outlet is a SCAM because they can’t offer you the low prices that Wal-Mart can?
What if Exxon did a nationwide campaign talking about how every other oil company is SCAMMING you because they happen to sell petroleum at the lowest price to refineries, while other companies need to sell it at $0.05 more to make a profit?
What if the USA ran a worldwide campaign telling every citizen of every country that WASN’T the U.S. how the political system employed by their country is SCAMMING them because it doesn’t offer the freedoms that ours does?
I’m sure you get the drift.
The bottom line is that if a marketer has to call all their competitors a scam under the false pretense of consumer activism in order to make any money, they need to either improve their marketing skills (which they could, ironically, by learning from the very people they are slandering) or find a different line of work.
Anyone who would be willing to call a marketer who DIED in a tragic car accident (and who probably taught them everything they know about Internet marketing) a “get rich quick scammer” would be willing to sell their kids for the right price (and throw grandma in as a limited-time bonus!).
Unfortunately, there is really no way to regulate this type of activity, as the Internet is still very much the wild-west of free speech – you can say whatever the heck you want, and not have to be accountable for it. The result is that many people will say things under the anonymity of the Internet they would never say in public or if there was a fear that anonymity would be removed. For mutual respect to be given by marketers, they will have to regulate themselves in an effort to preserve what little integrity is left in in the industry of online commerce.
I for one am hoping that marketers will stop trying to tell their potential clients what they think about their COMPETITION, and instead listen to their current and future clients about how to produce better, more effective products that give their clients exemplary experiences with their businesses. If they do that, they won’t have to worry about what their competition is doing.
June 16th, 2009 at 11:09 am
It\’s sad but true that people will always try to badmouth their competitors and it is also a shame they can\’t be punished for it. Unfair business practices have been around forever, but with the internet, the potential audience is so much bigger that it makes it that much nastier.
June 16th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Excellent informative article on website.We know many of us are dying to earn or even receive a pie of the money rotating in the internet on these days.I think they are not duping people,there are thousands of people all across the globe are ready to be cheated.Money can lure anyone.
June 17th, 2009 at 8:52 am
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I totally agree with this statement. I feel like Internet users have a deep distrust for marketers that is getting deeper, so marketers feel like they have to go farther off the deep end to catch our attention. Sometimes I wonder if advertising needs to go back to being simple and straitforward and people would pay attention.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:13 am
it is sad but true. What people does these days. Most of us is out here trying to work on line and then a few end up getting hit with a scam.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
@ Suz – agreed. @ Jennifer – too many. @Connie – I’m not sure that external regulation is the answer. The freedoms of the Internet need to be protected, and one of those freedoms is privacy. I think there is a need for a self-governing body in the marketing field where instead of getting fined / regulated from an external agency, they are regulated by their peers and peer pressure. Just my 2 cents.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:39 am
Thanks for blogs like this one cause it exposes scams like this one.
We should be careful especially where we are required to give some
cash.
June 18th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Oh, this is so shocking. It looks so real that people can fall for it so easily. Thanks for the alert, otherwise most of us would have falllen for it.
June 18th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Its disappointing to see to what extent people can go to tarnish a competitor’s image and establish a good image for their product. Whatever happened to healthy competition these days? People are busy badmouthing others instead of creating a niche for themselves.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
@Zeenia – yup, it’s stinky. @Samar – Shocking? Not really. It’s actually really common (unfortunately).
June 18th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Thanks for the blog, it was eye-opening to say the least. I really can’t believe these kind of things go undetected for such a long period of time. Thanks!
June 18th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
This is really a very shocking news. We should be very very careful with these scam works and especially when they ask for cash. I should say that this is such an excellent informative article on website. Everybody should be aware of these things. Thankyou for posting.
June 19th, 2009 at 12:36 am
haha
Thanks for reporting it.Atlist few people who read this will save themselves from marketing traps.Scammers every time return with new tricks and people fall in their trap very easily.It funny to see.I often wonder why people trust these people so easily.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:36 am
thanks for the heads up. i have been scammed many times online. hopefully obama promises to improve cyber security is true!
nice post
June 19th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Excellent article about the shark pool out there. You make a very good point that if these people just put their considerable effort into learning what the successful people are teaching, or putting into practice what they have learned, they’d be a lot better off and probably much more successful.
There might not be a formal ethical code for internet marketers, but there’s a basic ethical code of business and just being a decent person. Sad there are so many that eschew common decency in order to make a fast buck.
June 19th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Thanks for sharing your views about this scam site. It is very easy to scam people especially in todays’ time. People are very eager to make money through internet as it provides quite flexible timings and that can be done from home also. But blogs like this will help them a lot to remain safe from such scams. You have done really good work and I hope that you will keep your good work up in the days to come.
June 20th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
This has been going for a while, it shameful. There is some people that lower themselves to the level of worms to make a buck, some people kill, others steal, these people smear.
I say they need to be tracked and crashed.
June 20th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
i really appreciate people like you who inform others of dangerous situations and help us to avoid scamming. i hope that this information reaches the masses who are currently unaware. thnx for the blog!!
June 21st, 2009 at 6:16 am
This is very unusuall. We should be very very careful with these scam works and especially when they ask for cash. I feel like Internet users have a deep distrust for marketers that is getting deeper, so marketers feel like they have to go farther off the deep end to catch our attention. This article is very informative and a fact oriented. I totally agree with this writes. Keep up the fact finding..
June 21st, 2009 at 9:06 am
Thanks for the advice it will help me greatly as I enjoy shopping on the web.
June 21st, 2009 at 11:33 am
Very informational though.I have surf a lot of website and have seen many of this scam.It is really unmoral to do thing like this.
June 21st, 2009 at 2:35 pm
hey thats a great video, just now got a overall idea on how to earn from google , the way their system works, thanks for the wonderful posting , keep going with the good work with lot of posts!!!!!!!!1
June 21st, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Wow, that\’s really disgusting. I often Google companies and products to get reviews before committing but now it seems I can\’t even trust that. It\’s very disappointing. Thanks for pointing out this scam.
June 21st, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Thanks so much for providing us information about scams such as this one. With the current state of the world, socially and financially speaking, it is so nice to know that there are people looking out for us. How sad is it that people are not capable of handling competition in a professional manner instead of trampling on the little people! Thanks again!!!
June 21st, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Wow great article! It’s very similar to how the news and media stations rely on instilling fear into their audience to get more of an emotional response. Fear of marketing scams vs. fear of market crash. I think the idea of a scam resonates more fear in a prospect especially during these economic times.
June 21st, 2009 at 11:45 pm
The experience helps the others to be safe and prevent from being cheated .It is a nice work and it shows the kind heartness..
June 22nd, 2009 at 1:38 am
I do appreciate the tip very much. I’m tired of being misdirected in this way.
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:03 am
It’s too bad that people can’t focus on providing a good product or service at a good price as the best way to gain a competitive advantage. I was taught: “Underpromise, then overdeliver.”
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:37 am
It just doesn’t happen in the world of work at home marketing. I just saw a Google ad for Fox News that takes you to ABC News. It doesn’t go completely ripping on Fox, there’s some deception involved here. As far as the marketing world goes, I’ve always taken them with a grain of salt. I’ve had a few bad experiences, and I’ve come to the point where if they weren’t working with each other, I would have been surprised.
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:21 am
Wow does that seem dishonest! Great article to get the word out on how this happens.
June 24th, 2009 at 10:30 am
It is a good article and very well written and everybody should read this article because experience for sure will help others to be safe and then prevent them from being cheated. Thankyou very much for providing information regarding the topic.
June 24th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Lately, I’ve started noticing more and more ads mentioning reputable people, but that don’t seem to pass the “sniff test”. I’m sure those folks would be shocked to be associated with a scammer they have never met nor heard of. That’s a really icky business practice. And slamming one’s business competitors as thieves is over the top. What will they escalate to next? Thanks for your efforts to bring this stuff to the light of day.
June 26th, 2009 at 2:24 am
Good, came to know and got clear idea on hackers. Very nice article. Thank you.
June 26th, 2009 at 4:31 am
If there’s a way for people to get ahead, they will, even if it means stepping on others. Sad …
June 26th, 2009 at 6:08 am
I loved your article. I have felt that the internet is marketing had be becoming a sea of fakes and half truths at best. Keep up the good work.
June 27th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Really the article is very nice and the explanations are crystal clear… From now onwards I will be little careful about scammers…
June 27th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
You use an important word in here-slander. Is this illegal or not? Maybe there needs to be some kind of legal recourse for the people being maligned by these unscrupulous ‘marketers’. It seems so unfair, you work hard to get a good reputation, then someone lies and your reputation is ruined.
June 27th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
I totally agree with this article. This is really a great article. I really enjoyed reading this article.
June 28th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Thanks for the informative article, it’s really useful to know what to look out for in these scams. Internet marketing can be difficult to navigate, this blog gives some guidelines we can use.
June 28th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Unfortunately unscrupulous people will take advantage of the internet to con people, it’s just another way to make money. it’s important to know about these things so thanks for the information.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:09 am
@connielee – technically, yes it is. But a law is only as good as its enforcement, and with slander it’s pretty difficult to win a case in a court of law.
June 30th, 2009 at 2:09 am
People will constanty use the internet to make money unfairly. Both an interesting and enlightening article.
June 30th, 2009 at 9:57 am
I found this to be very informative towards scams online. I will definitely check out.
June 30th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
What is the world coming to?? Well people have been \"stealing\" from others in many ways for a long time. If it isn\’t the internet then its the tv, radio, newspaper adds and even magazine. People use any type of media to make money unfairly.
June 30th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
I hate all the fake online scams and advertisements, especially those loose weight scams where someone claims to have lost a lot of weight and clearly the before and after pictures are not the same person. They just want your money.
June 30th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
i fully agree with this article. This is great article. I enjoyed reading this
and informative article.
June 30th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
I agree with this article as it gives a new meaning to caveat emptor – let the buyer beware.
Sometimes there is no way to substantiate the claims made on the internet and this is the risk we take.
July 1st, 2009 at 5:19 am
As people become smarter about what constitutes a scam, we can only hope they become smarter about questioning those who proclaim something is a scam. As far as I can tell, people not making much on the web will stoop very low indeed to force their yukky products onto an audience which doesn’t want them. Supply and demand is the law these idiots forget! Great article.
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Scams are so out of hand nowadays. Our information is so out in the open now. We really have to be careful and keep track of what gets put out there. I guess scams aren\’t going away anytime soon.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm
The scams are crazy these days. I have been spending alot of time on the computer and recently I have had alot of random charges on my credit card from websites that advertise on the web pages I am on.
Everytime we learn how to ferret out a scam, a new one comes along
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Great article, thanks for sharing such information, still its not the worlds end, lets see what future holds..is it gets worse or gets better
July 5th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Parasite Marketing indeed.
I’m always curious as to what kinds of people really fall for that sort of scam…especially in this economy where money is tighter than ever.
Great article!
July 8th, 2009 at 2:15 am
I hate all the online scams you see now, they\’re everywhere! And they\’re getting more and more tricky! It\’s almost scary to fill out any thing online, and I\’ve even considered deleting my myspace and facebook to avoid further scam attempts.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
This is quite a valid point you make, honestly, i’ve never though about this before. Next time I buy something online I will be sure to not only read the costumer reviews on the website but also take a look around on my own.
July 21st, 2009 at 9:48 am
That was an important point from your part. We always have to be careful when you buy something online.
July 21st, 2009 at 10:09 am
@Julie – don’t do that – they’ll win!
@Jillian – thanks. Tip – if the “reviews” are all positive, and all have links to buy the stuff being reviewed, you might question the objectivity of the review.
@Frankkern – In my opinion, we always have to be responsible when buying anything, anywhere. BTW – if you’re not the real Frank, please don’t comment on this blog using other people’s names.
July 30th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Perhaps this isn’t illegal but it is immoral. Hopefully businesses who use this practice will run themselves into the ground without making too much money.
August 9th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I can’t agree more. This is a very cheap marketing technique which someone with very low conscience can only execute or even think of doing it. If only the marketers would concentrate on improving their own quality of products, there won’t be any need for creating such a fuss.
This is a wrong practice going on in the market and I truly appreciate your effort to create a concern and awareness about it.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
OMG!!! I wasn’t aware that this kind of fraud is in effect online. I’d have almost bought any of such scam stories on the face value. However, from now on, I’ll prefer to make some more checks by myself before getting assured that some business party is a fraud only because its competitor claims so. Thanks a lot for this eye-opening article.
August 23rd, 2009 at 11:36 am
Great comments Josh. This self serving scamming is something that we each need to call attention to for everyone to see. Are we not the \"keepers\" of our own profession? We don\’t have regulations because WE don\’t want to have the creative and professional opportunities in our business controlled. It moves MUCH too fast. Lets all strive to keep our industry as competitive as hell…with professional integrity.
October 13th, 2009 at 6:17 am
What goes around comes around. Scammers will get their just desserts! People eventually see the light and with watch dogs that can alert us to these frauds, the word gets around much faster through the internet.
Thanks for being on top of the issue.
October 13th, 2009 at 7:18 am
I was just on a free webinar Oct. 1 and these are the exact methods that were being taught. Jonathan Budd & Mark Hoverson were giving up secrets to PPC Marketing and one of the secrets was all about using other companies names to target their market and using negative statements as a call to action. So don’t be surprised if there is much more of this in the future because they were gearing up for a large campaign. Sad.
November 1st, 2009 at 7:45 am
Thanks for that very valuable info.it’s so important to do your research on things that seems to good to be true.keep doing what you are doing by letting everyone know what’s still going on out here in the real world and the Internet. Remember it’s a jungle out here and when you don’t know what’s going on it will eat you alive.
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
think for the warning i am every new to internet marketing i did’n know
that their was this tipe of scam in the internet business please inform
me of anything that is’n good for the truely competitive professinoal.
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:30 pm
It is a shame people go to this much trouble to be dishonest. If they put as much energy into doing something honest, they would make much more money and feel better about themselves.
Most people, however, are honest. We just don’t see enough of themj.
January 2nd, 2010 at 12:59 am
Internet marketing, YUK! What happened to the good old days when people talked by phone and built relationships??? If you want to succeed today, you have to not do what everyone else is doing, yes internet is great for some things but lets get real I want to know who I am going into business with, don’t you??? contact me personally at amerifest@gmail.com lets do real business and build a strong network together.
JLEW
January 8th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
I work for a company called Enagic that manufactures super water generators. Our competition, if you want to dignify them with that title, sling mud all over the place to keep people from buying our equipment. I wish I could say we do it to but we just don’t stoop to their level.
Try Google with ‘Enagic’ and see what you find. Exactly what is in this article. Nice work guys.
January 9th, 2010 at 7:35 am
Its so wonderful to share such true information as I hope soon it will benefit other readers like myself . At the end truth shall be revealed.
January 20th, 2010 at 3:24 am
Thanks for that.
When I was deciding whether or not to join FLP I googled them and came up with a few “before you decide to join read this” type pages. Happily for me, my friend had been in FLP for years and I knew that there was nothing dodgy afoot. I have to say that I prefer speaking to people than online work, much more personal.
Thanks for sharing that informative article.
March 5th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Rock on dude!!!
March 21st, 2010 at 9:26 pm
The truth is that the world is falling apart and the crooks are trying to save what they can. Ethics, honesty, common sense, decency, fair play and much more are words and terms lost in today’s world. One has to really stand on his/her toes and keep a sharp eye open to everything. My experience is that too many people just don’t inform themselves enough. I can understand them not listening to the news and newspaper because of all the blood and guts pouring out, but the media sometimes and I say sometimes, does inform about the world. Be on your toes at all times and you might survive?
April 21st, 2010 at 11:37 am
Very good information, thank you very much by the article and the quality of your Web site.
May 12th, 2010 at 5:27 am
It’s a grubby old world, and the unfortunate fact is that the internet makes it easy to scam people long distance – and these aren’t even necessarily scams, just dodgy marketers that are playing the same numbers game as ‘proper’ internet marketers.
May 15th, 2010 at 8:58 am
Then there’s Quackwatch….it’s a website owned by Steven Barrett. In a court battle in 1976 a federal judge ordered the AMA to shut down its covert operations referred to as the “committee against health fraud”. Immediately following the shutdown, the AMA files on the case inded up in Barretts 1800 square foot basement in Allentown, Penn. An authoritative book by James Carter, MD, “Racketeering in Medicine” explains in detail the Quackwatch conspiracy. Barrett claims publicly to be a psychiatrist yet has had to repeatedly, under oath, testify in court that he has never been alicensed psychiatrist – stating “he failed the test.” He also has testified that he has no knowledge or experience in alternative medicine, and theat he receives donations from, and has close ties to the AMA, as well as to the FDA. Despite this history, Barrett has testified in court as an “expers” witness with no credentials to support his “expert” status. There are literally thousands who Barrett targets, including: chiropractors, homeopaths, nutritionists and others who practice complementary alternative medicine (CAM). He openly critizes Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling, PhD and Dr. Koren, of Koren Publications. In summary, Barrett is a blatant liar and unfortunately, too many decent, honorable, unssupecting people are influenced… influenced away from natural health alternatives. or other companies that are highly regarded as health leaders in the community.
May 17th, 2010 at 6:05 am
@Nyla – wow – thanks for sharing.
July 7th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Thanks for writing about this subject. Very helpful and enlightning. I have seen a few of these myself, and really do not have any respect for a marketer that has to resort to such a misleading form of advertising to make a buck.
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:31 pm
i found your article quite uplifting as i feel your pain, if you know what i mean.i find myself inundated with emails to the tune of 80 or more, usually a hundred. anyway, most are from someone selling their program and then i get slammed with whoever they are associated with, another words: everyone is selling the same program from a multitude of websites: another words:information overload.i have found that using imreportcard and two other sites to get a feel of whats going on with this program or that program. some like howie schwartz or mike joyner will nail me with 2 to3 emails a day. hey these guys are good and i have a ton of their ebooks, but if i spend the time to read all my email on internet marketing plus read all these ebooks: guess what! there is no time to actually implement anything. analysis paralysis, and info overload. the funny thing is they all preach this yet they are the ones that cause it. i guess it goes with the territory.its like someone once said: if you have too many choices you will windup making none. thanks to imreportcard and other websites dedicated to letting the general puplic know what is and what aint, we can now make an educated decsion as to where we go with what we want to do. i myself am leaing towards chris farrell’s program. i could write volumes on everyones sales pitch but then i would not get any thiing done. perhaps after writing this comment i might have a calling in article writing, hmmm?