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Click farms: a shadowy internet industry is booming in China

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Re: Click farms: a shadowy internet industry is booming in China

#61

Post by skunkpocalypse »

wpietri wrote: post #7

There was a reply here, now dead, that I wanted to discuss: "Hey man, I'm just trying to feed my family. I have kids so that means I can behave however I want so long as it benefits my kids. And rather than trust some reviews on a platform anyone can sign up for, how about you do some reading on the app developer and their ToS and Privacy Policy." I'm adamantly opposed to spam, and back in the early days of the web (…

> I have kids so that means I can behave however I want so long as it benefits my kids.

This is so full of awesome I am at a loss for words to describe it.

Re: Click farms: a shadowy internet industry is booming in China

#62

Post by trilila »

wpietri wrote: post #7

There was a reply here, now dead, that I wanted to discuss: "Hey man, I'm just trying to feed my family. I have kids so that means I can behave however I want so long as it benefits my kids. And rather than trust some reviews on a platform anyone can sign up for, how about you do some reading on the app developer and their ToS and Privacy Policy." I'm adamantly opposed to spam, and back in the early days of the web (…

I live in a certain east European country, where the excuse for petty and serious crime is always: "Hey man, I'm just trying to feed my family.". People doing this, and those tolerating it, don't realise that this type of behaviour leads to a bad reputation for that country, and in turn to loss of business. Believing that poverty is a valid justification for continuous shady / criminal work is a fallacy.

Specifically, in the same country, fake reviews are a real issue. I ended up in way too many shady restaurants and dealt with way too many dodgy businesses with 5 star reviews thanks to click / review farms to know that this type of business is actually criminal. I am now at a stage where I simply don't trust reviews anymore.

Re: Click farms: a shadowy internet industry is booming in China

#63

Post by C1sc0cat »

dmix wrote: post #16
wpietri wrote: post #7

There was a reply here, now dead, that I wanted to discuss: "Hey man, I'm just trying to feed my family. I have kids so that means I can behave however I want so long as it benefits my kids. And rather than trust some reviews on a platform anyone can sign up for, how about you do some reading on the app developer and their ToS and Privacy Policy." I'm adamantly opposed to spam, and back in the early days of the web (…

You had me until the part you suggested there was some subset of the upper class conspiring to keep an underclass of poor people... in order to make/keep themselves rich?Wouldn't rich people get much richer if there was more economically healthy middle class people buying their products and real estate or w/e they are making money off of? What could they possibly gain from ruining the economy and keeping others poor.…

And the leadership in china is terrified of the now quite large middle class losing out in an economic down turn - they don't want to end up hanging from the lampposts.

Remember revolutions ae carried out by the middle class.

Re: Click farms: a shadowy internet industry is booming in China

#64

Post by [deleted] »

troymc wrote: post #33
Trias11 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it will work well to launder $50.00

I wasn't familiar with schemes that use app stores for money laundering so I did some basic web searches and it seems it can been used to launder more than $50.00. Here is one example: https://complyadvantage.com/blog/blog-money-laundering-via-a... Just to be clear: I don't condone money laundering and I don't suggest you do it!

[deleted]

Re: Click farms: a shadowy internet industry is booming in China

#65

Post by bjhkx »

troymc wrote: post #33
Trias11 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it will work well to launder $50.00

I wasn't familiar with schemes that use app stores for money laundering so I did some basic web searches and it seems it can been used to launder more than $50.00. Here is one example: https://complyadvantage.com/blog/blog-money-laundering-via-a... Just to be clear: I don't condone money laundering and I don't suggest you do it!

>Then set up a MongoDB database to automatically generate Apple store accounts to create game accounts,

Anybody without a technical background could read this and think that MongoDB is some kind of Apple accounts generator software.

Re: Click farms: a shadowy internet industry is booming in China

#66

Post by belorn »

marak830 wrote: post #43
wpietri wrote: post #7

There was a reply here, now dead, that I wanted to discuss: "Hey man, I'm just trying to feed my family. I have kids so that means I can behave however I want so long as it benefits my kids. And rather than trust some reviews on a platform anyone can sign up for, how about you do some reading on the app developer and their ToS and Privacy Policy." I'm adamantly opposed to spam, and back in the early days of the web (…

Just before my son was born, I was struggling to find a stable job. So I worked on online web dev jobs for some seriously shady characters. I made between 10 and 15 sites that they would buy databases and mass mail users in various industries to try and get them to sign up for really shitty programs. (One for example was a roofing company promising 100's of clients). The amount of work I did on the back end to track…

It is understandable to be willing to do anything for ones family. I also think it is equally understandable if society put people in jail who do cross the line.

If you had ended up being charged for spamming, hacking into bot catchers, breaking data protection laws (like GDPR if you live in EU), would you accept that as a acceptable consequence and still have done it to get money for the family? Or would you think that is unfair?

This crossroad is for me the line where social support networks should exist. If people find crime to be the only solution in a situation and the legal repercussions to be a fair trade then it is cheaper and more humane to fix the original situation. Your wife's country of birth should support her while she is unable to work because of the pregnancy, and the child should be supported similarly as long they are a child.

Re: Click farms: a shadowy internet industry is booming in China

#67

Post by danielscrubs »

mrep wrote: post #13
Trias11 wrote: post #3

That's how they perpetuate "Made in China"===(Fake|Crap) I was wondering why is obscure, crappy apps in apple store get so many positive reviews. Apple/AMZN need to up their game in reviews/ratings domains.

App stores are also used for money laundering. Create a bogus app, spend a bunch of money "buying" your app and now you have "legitimate" money.

Is that really a big problem? I mean, Apple would take a 30% cut AND you'd have to put the money in the bank first which would make it traceable if I'm not missing something?

Re: Click farms: a shadowy internet industry is booming in China

#68

Post by pharke »

nitwit005 wrote: post #41
onion2k wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can afford buying a thousand used iPhones to start such a business, you aren't exactly living in poverty. Or you start small and grow. Or you borrow money to start. Or you find an angel investor who is rich. Etc. Kind of like any other start up really.

There's a minimum scale below which no one would bother to hire you. No one is going to hire someone with 4 phones set up. If you can get business loans and financing, that's just another version of not exactlty being poor.

There are grey and black market equivalents of those that someone on this end of the scale is more likely to use. No one's walking into a bank to ask for a loan to start a click farm.

Re: Click farms: a shadowy internet industry is booming in China

#70

Post by ryanlol »

troymc wrote: post #33
Trias11 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it will work well to launder $50.00

I wasn't familiar with schemes that use app stores for money laundering so I did some basic web searches and it seems it can been used to launder more than $50.00. Here is one example: https://complyadvantage.com/blog/blog-money-laundering-via-a... Just to be clear: I don't condone money laundering and I don't suggest you do it!

Is this really money laundering though? No attempt is made to obscure the source of the money.

This looks very much like standard credit card fraud to me.

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