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WooMe: TechCrunch40 Finalist, $20 Million In Funding – And One Huge Scam

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Re: WooMe: TechCrunch40 Finalist, $20 Million In Funding – And One Huge Scam

#101

Post by mthoms »

unreal37 wrote: post #98

I realize I'll probably spend some karma here, but after reading TC and checking out the site (and the blog post by the site), I see what's happening. And there is a LOT of misunderstanding in the TC article and in the comments of HN. One of the services WooMe offers is to automatically introduce people they think will get along. They do NOT make it clear its the system doing the introduction, nor that its automated.…

Except that the screenshots clearly say "(so and so) has sent you a message", which is plainly false. I'm not sure how you could see it any other way.

Re: WooMe: TechCrunch40 Finalist, $20 Million In Funding – And One Huge Scam

#103

Post by lsc »

zoomzoom wrote: post #77
pavel_lishin wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe we should change that.

The question is: how? The sentiment (in the US, at least) still seems to be towards less regulation at the moment. Enforcing ethics as well as laws would seem to require even more regulation, unless you have a magic potion that will convince all business directors to self-regulate all at once!

reputation.

If we socially scorn businesspeople who only focus on extracting value without adding any, if programmers who work at those sorts of companies feel ashamed rather than proud, we won't eliminate the behavior, but we can certainly make it more expensive.

Re: WooMe: TechCrunch40 Finalist, $20 Million In Funding – And One Huge Scam

#104

Post by iloveyouocean »

I launched an online dating site FlowMingle.com in 2008 (since closed down). When we were building the site on '07 and looking for investment, over and over we heard 'Your site isn't viral/social enough. Look at WooMe, look at Zoosk, etc. They will eat your lunch!' and with regards to OKCupid "It's at best a niche site for geeks and freaks, it's growing too slowly, it's not viral enough."

Although this TC article is hardly news for anyone who has examined the WooMes of the world for even 15sec., I find the fact that WooMe is outed as a scam and that OKCupid is acquired by Match.com to be hugely vindicating.

By providing users an honest, transparent service that legitimately helps them achieve their aims, you CAN and eventually WILL profit and grow. The damage in investors betting on companies like WooMe is that 1) they scam bunches of online daters and turn them off from the whole industry, they disappoint and lie to people 2) other entrepreneurs see big investment and media coverage for a company like WooMe and think they should chase after that model and mold their businesses to what investors want rather than what users want. 3) ultimately, investing in WooMe doesn't create any long term value and is a waste of time/money and starves other legitimate businesses of opportunity.

Just because a company is getting investment $$, press, meteoric growth, etc does NOT mean it is actually delivering anything of value and/or helping its users achieve their goals. There is always opportunity to win against ANY competitor by doing those simple things.

Re: WooMe: TechCrunch40 Finalist, $20 Million In Funding – And One Huge Scam

#105

Post by elliottcarlson »

minouye wrote: post #91
elliottcarlson wrote: post #66

There is a huge industry going on on these kinds of sites - not necessarily done by the site owners... Generally there are two monitizations for a third party; first of all being an affiliate and sending traffic can be big bucks (I paid for my wedding as a referrer for SexSearch and AdultFriendFinder - I'm not ashamed because I didn't use necessarily shady practices to accomplished this). With big bucks, I mean an ea…

I'm not really understanding the second method. I don't see how a rival "dating" site would have any incentive to get a customer to pay for a rival service. Are you saying that once affiliates drove a user sign-up, they would engage the user via messages to get them to sign up for a paid plan so they would get a greater payout? If so, how did they find the specific users that signed up via their affiliate links? Just…

It wouldn't be rival dating sites; it would be affiliates to rival sites. I guess the best way to see it is; once you have identified a sucker, take them for all they are worth.

Possible scenario:

1) User signs up for free on WooMe

2) User is enticed by fake account to signup because the picture alone suckered them in, and the unknown of their message just made it too much.

3) Fake account tells user to check out their profile on fake account's website

4) Fake accounts website is a redirect with affiliate code to rival site

5) User signs up for rival site, thus giving the commission to the fake account's holder.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it's all automated and easy to pull off.

Edited for formatting

Re: WooMe: TechCrunch40 Finalist, $20 Million In Funding – And One Huge Scam

#106

Post by minouye »

elliottcarlson wrote: post #105
minouye wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really understanding the second method. I don't see how a rival "dating" site would have any incentive to get a customer to pay for a rival service. Are you saying that once affiliates drove a user sign-up, they would engage the user via messages to get them to sign up for a paid plan so they would get a greater payout? If so, how did they find the specific users that signed up via their affiliate links? Just…

It wouldn't be rival dating sites; it would be affiliates to rival sites. I guess the best way to see it is; once you have identified a sucker, take them for all they are worth. Possible scenario: 1) User signs up for free on WooMe 2) User is enticed by fake account to signup because the picture alone suckered them in, and the unknown of their message just made it too much. 3) Fake account tells user to check out the…

So the user signs up for paid accounts on two different sites? Sounds lucrative and very shady.

Re: WooMe: TechCrunch40 Finalist, $20 Million In Funding – And One Huge Scam

#107

Post by diziet »

robinwauters wrote: post #62
noodle wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's the whole concept of showing nothing unless you hand over your credit details this is how a lot of dating sites work. no contact unless you pay, no receiving messages unless you pay. its also how classmates.com works, not just dating sites. and one of the reasons they were sued recently is due to business practices similar to this. > pretending hot women are dying to contact you even though you're obviously no…

There seems to be a notion that I shouldn't call out WooMe because other sites are doing it too. I don't know where that is coming from.

My notion is that you should call out WooMe. Go for it. However, as an author it is your responsibility to try to research as much as possible. It does seem, from the surface level that you described, that those messages are spam/automatically generated. However one could come up with a semi-plausible bordering on the edge of legitimacy rationale why you had received those messages. Maybe WooMe discovered a novel way of nudging users towards communication with each other, maybe they get Achievement Points for sending messages to new users? Likely? Not really, However, chatting with a very cleverly disguised CTA does not constitute thorough research.

Re: WooMe: TechCrunch40 Finalist, $20 Million In Funding – And One Huge Scam

#108

Post by nikcub »

edw519 wrote: post #35

The only thing more frustrating than an ethically challenged business is the investment that came its way instead of going to legitimate start-ups that may die on the vine for lack of capital.

WooMe hasn't raised a round in three years. The company they originally invested in is very different to the company you see today.

Give the investors the benefit of doubt.

That site is a total mess now - full of ads, spam and upsell. It is totally unusable.

Re: WooMe: TechCrunch40 Finalist, $20 Million In Funding – And One Huge Scam

#109

Post by elliottcarlson »

minouye wrote: post #106
elliottcarlson wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wouldn't be rival dating sites; it would be affiliates to rival sites. I guess the best way to see it is; once you have identified a sucker, take them for all they are worth. Possible scenario: 1) User signs up for free on WooMe 2) User is enticed by fake account to signup because the picture alone suckered them in, and the unknown of their message just made it too much. 3) Fake account tells user to check out the…

So the user signs up for paid accounts on two different sites? Sounds lucrative and very shady.

If the user is gullible enough - or at least that is the hopes of some of these fake accounts. It pays off even if you convert 10 people a day - and most likely that is a very easy target number to hit.

Keep in mind this is all playing on human emotions; sex or the desire to be wanted being a huge one; and for some lonely souls out there, it makes them easier prey. My history with doing affiliate programs with that industry has proven that if marketed correctly, it can be a very rewarding business, and even with some seriously scary a/b tests (let's just throw the term farm sex out there) you can still get good conversions. People's desires and curiosity gets to them - and in to their wallet.

Re: WooMe: TechCrunch40 Finalist, $20 Million In Funding – And One Huge Scam

#110

Post by minouye »

elliottcarlson wrote: post #109
minouye wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the user signs up for paid accounts on two different sites? Sounds lucrative and very shady.

If the user is gullible enough - or at least that is the hopes of some of these fake accounts. It pays off even if you convert 10 people a day - and most likely that is a very easy target number to hit. Keep in mind this is all playing on human emotions; sex or the desire to be wanted being a huge one; and for some lonely souls out there, it makes them easier prey. My history with doing affiliate programs with that i…

I'm not judging you, but an activity where you view your "customers" as prey seems really depressing. I certainly couldn't sleep at night knowing I was taking advantage of people yearning for some happiness in their lives.
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