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The Mysterious Case Of The Craigslist Writing Gig Scam

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Re: The Mysterious Case Of The Craigslist Writing Gig Scam

#11

Post by pyoung »

wccrawford wrote: post #3

I'm throwing my vote in with the guy who suggested maybe he's getting money from the companies for getting more people to call about their services. Both ends are getting scammed, but it costs one of them time, and one of them money.

In the comments section on the blog, someone mentioned that the scammer might be running a call-center for the companies, where they get paid by the minute for their services. I think that would better explain the 6 minute requirement than the 'lead generation' argument.

Re: The Mysterious Case Of The Craigslist Writing Gig Scam

#12

Post by jfruh »

gojomo wrote: post #5
wilkenm wrote: post #2

This sounds like a creative way of scamming a pay-per-call advertiser. But, I can't imagine any of the 'big boys' in the pay-per-call market risking something like this.

The 'big boys' might avoid it by policy, but perhaps a rogue affiliate/commissioned-salesperson benefits. Or, it could be competitors doing a denial-of-service attack on inbound calls, or a marketing-budget-depletion-attack on a pay-per-call campaign. One way to deduce more: were the numbers he called the most commonly-advertised numbers for the target businesses, or other numbers through some tracked dispatch?

Can't tell if the numbers were the most commonly advertised ones, but he does note that "Aaron" told him this:

"...all you are doing is calling a company that we provide the number for, pressing the correct (1) or (2) – which we specify..."

If I'm interpreting that right, they're using inside information to get him up the phone tree to the right person (whatever their definition of "right" is).

Re: The Mysterious Case Of The Craigslist Writing Gig Scam

#13

Post by elliottcarlson »

Personally it sounds like a creative way of lead generation. Guys personal information gets submitted to the lead generation system, and the follow up call, with the scenarios that are played out make them "legit" leads. Scammer then cashes in on the leads. Keep in mind that these leads can pay from $20 to $150 easily per legit lead and it's a shady business (worked at a company dealing with lead gen at one point). Could be wrong but personally it makes the most sense to me...

Re: The Mysterious Case Of The Craigslist Writing Gig Scam

#14

Post by elliottcarlson »

eridius wrote: post #4
wilkenm wrote: post #2

This sounds like a creative way of scamming a pay-per-call advertiser. But, I can't imagine any of the 'big boys' in the pay-per-call market risking something like this.

Doesn't make much sense given that one of the companies was a free service.

Lead generation for universities makes the most money of any of them, why do you think University of Phoenix ads are (or used to be) everywhere.

Re: The Mysterious Case Of The Craigslist Writing Gig Scam

#15

Post by ilamont »

davidu wrote: post #10

I do not think this is an advance fee scam. I think the pay-per-call commenter is closest. Here's what I think is happening. A marketing firm has told some local businesses that it will do online marketing and other marketing activities to drive leads in the form of calls to the business. The marketing campaigns will focus on specific issues (like insurance coverage for weight loss). It's not atypical for a marketing…

If it's a lead-gen scam, shouldn't bogus contact/address info be the central part of the scheme?

Also, the six-minute requirement on the first call doesn't fit with a lead-gen scam. It actually seems like it would really drain the resources of a small company trying to drum up business.

Re: The Mysterious Case Of The Craigslist Writing Gig Scam

#16

Post by badmonkey0001 »

ilamont wrote: post #15
davidu wrote: post #10

I do not think this is an advance fee scam. I think the pay-per-call commenter is closest. Here's what I think is happening. A marketing firm has told some local businesses that it will do online marketing and other marketing activities to drive leads in the form of calls to the business. The marketing campaigns will focus on specific issues (like insurance coverage for weight loss). It's not atypical for a marketing…

If it's a lead-gen scam, shouldn't bogus contact/address info be the central part of the scheme? Also, the six-minute requirement on the first call doesn't fit with a lead-gen scam. It actually seems like it would really drain the resources of a small company trying to drum up business.

The phone number and extension is probably what's used to identify where the "sales lead" came from. As for the long-calls, there's probably a minimum connection time before the lead is considered "valid". "aaron" is probably telling everyone 6 minutes keeping in mind that this is a Craig's labor pool and they will probably only really do 2 minutes on average.

Re: The Mysterious Case Of The Craigslist Writing Gig Scam

#17

Post by badclient »

Pay per call scam. Chances are the phone number or extension maps to "aaron" who is an affiliate of said companies, except instead of sending legit leads, he's sending fake ones. Still, any company worth their dime should be able to track actual conversion from their affiliates and spot scammers. That's affiliate 101.

Re: The Mysterious Case Of The Craigslist Writing Gig Scam

#18

Post by yarian »

eric-hu wrote: post #9

My vote is for "advance fee scam" as mentioned in the comments of the article. It plays out something like this: He shows up at a coffee shop after a few days worth of work with a check for $1000. The actual "work" done was worth $700, so he says "just give me $300 and we'll call it even". He'll be nice and wait for OP while he goes to the ATM, but the check will be a dud. If I'm right about this, I think there's a p…

If you read carefully, I think that email was sent after they were supposed to meet at the coffee shop.

Re: The Mysterious Case Of The Craigslist Writing Gig Scam

#19

Post by diN0bot »

lots of people just have fun playing with craigslist. this really could just be that.

a friend of mine used to write beautiful 'perfect girl' ads (written from the perspective of his version of the perfect girl), just to see what kinds of responses he got.

i don't think i'm explaining very well what's interesting here about this kind of social interaction. anyway, making money isn't the main goal in my head when it comes to craigslist.

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