4 ms·

Scamworld: 'Get rich quick' schemes mutate into an online monster

63 points by NZ_Matt 14y ago

gyaresu 14y ago
Hey, fuck you Verge. I'm reading this heart wrenching story and then suddenly "Boo Hoo! This video can't be played with your current setup". Way to fuck up.
pranaya_ghimire 14y ago
While I agree with the author that there are so many scam artists out there and you do need to do your due diligence, I do not think how the following sentence defines marketing on the internet is correct: "The term Internet Marketing describes both a particular business model used to sell fraudulent products and services online, and the community or subculture that embraces it."
thedz 14y ago
scammer on stage: "the economy is crappy, so there's never been a greater need for contrarian financial advice" wut scammer on stage: don't worry i'll explain to you how to make products and everything; that takes 4 minutes" facepalm
edwinnathaniel 14y ago
It's too bad this article didn't make it to the front page. I've seen a few of these in HackerNews albeit not as complicated as the ones in the article. Typically around teaching developers how to get extra income, becoming a millionaire, running a startup, having your own businesses, etc.
- tdfx 14y ago
  Sorry, but this article was written by an idiot. Please see the line: Raygoza is an Internet Marketer — a 21st century snake oil salesman. or The term Internet Marketing describes both a particular business model used to sell fraudulent products and services online, and the community or subculture that embraces it. Equating get-rich-quick scam artists with the entirety of the internet marketing spectrum is absolutely ridiculous.
- kitsune_ 14y ago
  Indeed.
dantheman 14y ago
Interesting article, it could've used a little editing - too long, fluffy, and has unnecessary descriptions that hurt the piece, e.g. "(which, for some reason is rated “M for mature,” like Grand Theft Auto IV)."
petercooper 14y ago
The biggest pile of biased crap I've read for a long time and confirmation for me, at least, that The Verge is ultimately no better than any of the outlets it was trying to replace. They take some bad apples from a niche and use that to extrapolate a whole business model and set of practices as being bad. I think it's sloppy, non-objective, ersatz journalism that merely peddles FUD. And even their choice of "bad apples" is questionable: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Frank-Kern/137568852956377 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Frank-Kern/137568852956377 I can only speak for Kern and Jenkins but they've both put out some good products and are essentially info publishers who use certain high exposure and highly effective marketing techniques. But if using cheap products to build leads who you then sell bigger ticket products to is a scam, well, a large amount of HN readers are involved in that "scam" too (yes, offering a webinar or a PDF to get people to sign up to your e-mail list is a "scam" supposedly!) Except, it's not a scam.. and this article is just a badly written pile of crap, all IMHO, of course.
- kitsune_ 14y ago
  I disagree. What are these great products you talk about?

63 points by NZ_Matt 14y ago

Hey, fuck you Verge. I'm reading this heart wrenching story and then suddenly "Boo Hoo! This video can't be played with your current setup". Way to fuck up.

pranaya_ghimire 14y ago

While I agree with the author that there are so many scam artists out there and you do need to do your due diligence, I do not think how the following sentence defines marketing on the internet is correct: "The term Internet Marketing describes both a particular business model used to sell fraudulent products and services online, and the community or subculture that embraces it."

thedz 14y ago

scammer on stage: "the economy is crappy, so there's never been a greater need for contrarian financial advice" wut scammer on stage: don't worry i'll explain to you how to make products and everything; that takes 4 minutes" facepalm

edwinnathaniel 14y ago

It's too bad this article didn't make it to the front page. I've seen a few of these in HackerNews albeit not as complicated as the ones in the article. Typically around teaching developers how to get extra income, becoming a millionaire, running a startup, having your own businesses, etc.

tdfx 14y ago
Sorry, but this article was written by an idiot. Please see the line: Raygoza is an Internet Marketer — a 21st century snake oil salesman. or The term Internet Marketing describes both a particular business model used to sell fraudulent products and services online, and the community or subculture that embraces it. Equating get-rich-quick scam artists with the entirety of the internet marketing spectrum is absolutely ridiculous.
kitsune_ 14y ago
Indeed.

dantheman 14y ago

Interesting article, it could've used a little editing - too long, fluffy, and has unnecessary descriptions that hurt the piece, e.g. "(which, for some reason is rated “M for mature,” like Grand Theft Auto IV)."

petercooper 14y ago

The biggest pile of biased crap I've read for a long time and confirmation for me, at least, that The Verge is ultimately no better than any of the outlets it was trying to replace. They take some bad apples from a niche and use that to extrapolate a whole business model and set of practices as being bad. I think it's sloppy, non-objective, ersatz journalism that merely peddles FUD. And even their choice of "bad apples" is questionable: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Frank-Kern/137568852956377 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Frank-Kern/137568852956377 I can only speak for Kern and Jenkins but they've both put out some good products and are essentially info publishers who use certain high exposure and highly effective marketing techniques. But if using cheap products to build leads who you then sell bigger ticket products to is a scam, well, a large amount of HN readers are involved in that "scam" too (yes, offering a webinar or a PDF to get people to sign up to your e-mail list is a "scam" supposedly!) Except, it's not a scam.. and this article is just a badly written pile of crap, all IMHO, of course.

kitsune_ 14y ago
I disagree. What are these great products you talk about?