Fake News Scam Sites Advertising On Real News Sites 128
Virtual_Raider writes "Wired is running a story about a new twist in the never-ending quest to prove P. T. Barnum's adage. Old: Scammers are creating fake news sites that look almost like the real thing. New: They are advertising on real news sites, making it difficult for unwary readers to catch on they are being duped with fake coverage of get-rich-quick scams. Among those running the scam 'news' ads are the Huffington Post and Salon. From the article: 'The story has art, it has a sidebar, there's weather, supposed reader comments — even ads. Steadman is described as "a mother from San Francisco" — at least, when I read the article. Thanks to cutting-edge reporting techniques perfected by News 5, she will automatically move to the geolocation of your internet IP address when you read it. Look, she lives right in your neighborhood!'" Forbes also wrote about the scam news sites a couple of weeks back.
they are even moding the story for other countries (Score:3, Informative)
I get
"Mary, a mother from Crowborough, E2 is thriving"
Here is how it works (Score:3, Informative)
For those wondering how these advertisers make money here is the basic rundown.
1. They pitch you the product with a news site as mentioned above or a flog (fake blog) posing as a midwestern housewife giving a legitmate review of the product. Unauthorized endorsements by Ophrah and Barbra Walters are also popular.
2. Rebills, you pay the $2.00 you think it costs to buy the product. Turns out that's only for the 15 day free trial and so they can get your credit card. If you don't call them and cancel within that time they will charge another $100/month or so to get the product shipped to your house ever month. They bury this fact in a page long terms and conditions no one ever reads.
3. Acai, Resveratrol, Colon Cleanse, bizops (get rich quick), Google Money Tree and the like are popular products.
4. Most of the people doing this aren't big companies, but affiliate marketers who get a substantial cut every time they refer a sale.
5. Thankfully the FTC and state attorney generals are trying to crack down on this sort of thing.
Re:ABC Should Crack Down (Score:5, Informative)
The only out the shadow company has is in their fine print, as always - even that is obscured as some of the shell sites have a timer running on their T&C page - it redirects you back to the entry page shortly after you start top read the T&Cs. Of course the rates are listed at the bottom of the page. Using noscript will allow you to view them at your leisure, but how many average Americans are using noscript and researching this in the first place?
A shame really - just one more example of how P.T Barnum was right, but also more disgusting is how some folks are willing to dup others out of their cash.
Served by Pulse 360 (Score:4, Informative)
For your amusement, here is another one that is running: http://the-daily-tribune.com/breaking/13/?t202id=4693&t202kw=6417707
I see a ton of these ads served by a company called Pulse 360 [pulse360.com].
Collectivism?! (Score:0, Informative)
Conservatives are the biggest "collectivists" there are. Big Religion and Big Corporations don't tolerate any dissent. Anyone that dares to deviate from the norm is called an "activist" and a "lib'rul."
Re:Barnum (Score:3, Informative)
The misattribution occurred during his lifetime.
rj
Actually the spammers have already started that (Score:4, Informative)
Haven't got my first one of them yet, but the news reports have been saying that Twitter, Youtube, and ITunes have been getting swamped with Jacko traffic, and spammers have already started firing out scams, probably "Click here to install the video player so you can see Michael Jackson video" etc.