About 12 years ago, I attended a barcamp (blast from the past) where someone gave an SEO talk about how to hack search and adwords to provide no value but captu

About 12 years ago, I attended a barcamp (blast from the past) where someone gave an SEO talk about how to hack search and adwords to provide no value but capture eyeballs and trick people into clicking on things to make money. I recall many references to a wider community they were a part of that did this, traded tips and tricks, and generally evolved their trade of grifting at scale. I can't help but feel there's a whole community of people out there with few morals who are trading tips on how to set up scams like this. The "web of lies" seems so deep and complicated I can't imagine this whole thing was built in a vacuum by one person.