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That probably depends on your definition of a scam, but it seems fairly low. Many products and services advertised online just skirts the border of being scams

That probably depends on your definition of a scam, but it seems fairly low. Many products and services advertised online just skirts the border of being scams or fraud.

chrischen 1y ago
Agreed. At best most of the stuff I ended up buying from an Instagram ad turned out to be oversold or overpromised and underdelivered. While not a scam outright, it's sort of training me to avoid buying anything from ads...
- piva00 1y ago
  It got so bad that even non-tech savvy people around me learnt to do a lot of research about any product shown on Instagram ads. To me any product advertised on Instagram, or through YouTubers sponsorships, have become synonymous with overpromised bullshit if not outright scams. Every single time I see a sponsorship deal on a YouTube video I do some research just to validate it, and the vast majority of it are outright shitty products. It's been working great as a signal of what products not to buy.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
- mrweasel 1y ago
  One of my theories is that there isn't actually enough honest companies buying ad space to satisfy the shareholders in companies like Alphabet or Meta. If they actually care to also filter out the ads for junk products and services, there would probably be a minor collapse in the industry.
  - chrischen 1y ago
    Honest companies are priced out by scammy companies, and as long as these companies share the profits they are totally fine profiting off scams. They make more money off the scams, simply put.
- Workaccount2 1y ago
  There is an entire network of "get rick quick just by my pdf" intagramers, who peddle a pdf teaching you how to find a chinese product, make a website, and then drop ship that chinese product for 3x the cost to unsuspecting buyers. Probably 75% of products you see on instagram ads, you can go find on temu for their actual cost, usually at 80% discount.
  - zahlman 1y ago
    > Probably 75% of products you see on instagram ads, you can go find on temu for their actual cost, usually at 80% discount. But when you do buy it on Temu, is it even a legitimate product?
    - Workaccount2 1y ago
      It's the same product.
      - zahlman 1y ago
        I understand that. Doesn't answer the question.
    - LtWorf 1y ago
      There's lots of legit stuff on temu
wslh 1y ago
> That probably depends on your definition of a scam, but it seems fairly low. That probably depends on your definition of a scam but I'd argue we need to resynchronize that definition. They are scams, because the people behind them know what they're saying is plainly false, and they exploit the explosion of digital networks (like ads) to spread those lies. In the 20th century, the channels for scams were far narrower and easier to pinpoint.
carlosjobim 1y ago
Those are the other 90% of Meta revenue. Pure criminal fraud is 10%.
croisillon 1y ago
i came to say that, even outdoor advertising probably gets 10 or 20% revenue from snake oil
- AbstractH24 1y ago
  And what percentage of infomericals and other off-peek TV advertising is in the grey area around scams?
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

That probably depends on your definition of a scam, but it seems fairly low. Many products and services advertised online just skirts the border of being scams or fraud.

chrischen 1y ago

Agreed. At best most of the stuff I ended up buying from an Instagram ad turned out to be oversold or overpromised and underdelivered. While not a scam outright, it's sort of training me to avoid buying anything from ads...

piva00 1y ago
It got so bad that even non-tech savvy people around me learnt to do a lot of research about any product shown on Instagram ads. To me any product advertised on Instagram, or through YouTubers sponsorships, have become synonymous with overpromised bullshit if not outright scams. Every single time I see a sponsorship deal on a YouTube video I do some research just to validate it, and the vast majority of it are outright shitty products. It's been working great as a signal of what products not to buy.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
mrweasel 1y ago
One of my theories is that there isn't actually enough honest companies buying ad space to satisfy the shareholders in companies like Alphabet or Meta. If they actually care to also filter out the ads for junk products and services, there would probably be a minor collapse in the industry.
- chrischen 1y ago
  Honest companies are priced out by scammy companies, and as long as these companies share the profits they are totally fine profiting off scams. They make more money off the scams, simply put.
Workaccount2 1y ago
There is an entire network of "get rick quick just by my pdf" intagramers, who peddle a pdf teaching you how to find a chinese product, make a website, and then drop ship that chinese product for 3x the cost to unsuspecting buyers. Probably 75% of products you see on instagram ads, you can go find on temu for their actual cost, usually at 80% discount.
- zahlman 1y ago
  > Probably 75% of products you see on instagram ads, you can go find on temu for their actual cost, usually at 80% discount. But when you do buy it on Temu, is it even a legitimate product?
  - Workaccount2 1y ago
    It's the same product.
    - zahlman 1y ago
      I understand that. Doesn't answer the question.
  - LtWorf 1y ago
    There's lots of legit stuff on temu

wslh 1y ago

> That probably depends on your definition of a scam, but it seems fairly low. That probably depends on your definition of a scam but I'd argue we need to resynchronize that definition. They are scams, because the people behind them know what they're saying is plainly false, and they exploit the explosion of digital networks (like ads) to spread those lies. In the 20th century, the channels for scams were far narrower and easier to pinpoint.

carlosjobim 1y ago

Those are the other 90% of Meta revenue. Pure criminal fraud is 10%.

croisillon 1y ago

i came to say that, even outdoor advertising probably gets 10 or 20% revenue from snake oil

AbstractH24 1y ago
And what percentage of infomericals and other off-peek TV advertising is in the grey area around scams?

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]