Craigslist Now Warns About Affiliate Scammers and Tells Users
How to Get Back at Them Where it Hurts – Right In the Wallet!

Affiliate Scammers Give the Industry a Big Black Eye!

I think (hope) most affiliates know that they aren’t supposed to do affiliate marketing on Craigslist. Not only is it against Craigs TOS, but many affiliate networks prohibit CL marketing and will withhold your commissions.

The underbelly of affiliate marketing, has all kinds of scammy ways to try to game the system and trick CL users into pulling out their credit card or filling out a lead form. I won’t go into some of the creative marketing these guys do, but they are giving the affiliate marketing industry a huge black eye. Millions of CL users (consumers) are now probably going to link the word ‘affiliate’ with the word ’scammer’. :-(

Craiglist’s enlists the aid of users who report affiliate spamvertising and anyone who has tried posting blatant affiliate links there, knows just how easy it is to get flagged.

But now Craigslist is resorting to more extreme measures to curb affiliate scams. They issue a full page warning to users entering certain parts of the site (dating and jobs sections are the two I know of) and tell them how to get back at affiliates. This affiliate foiling tip is on the warning page:

FUN FACT: If you are able to determine a scammer’s “affiliate ID” and report it to their affiliate marketing program, this will often result in termination of the scammer, and confiscation of the scammer’s ill-gotten gains by the affiliate program.

Here is an example of the affiliate scam warning that comes up before entering job sites. Below is the copy, just in case you read this blog a month from now and that page is no longer working.

SCAM ALERT – affiliate scammers are posting bogus ads promising (nonexistent!) employment, paid research trials, or other compensation, but then notifying repliers that they’ll need to jump through a hoop first, directing them to:

* background checking services
* credit checking or reporting sites
* sites where you are instructed to enter your resume or personal information
* sites where you are asked to sign up for a “free” trial offer
* sites offering training or education
* sites offering a “system” for making money
* survey or focus group sites
* sites designed to deliver malware or misuse your identifying information
all in hopes of earning affiliate marketing commissions or otherwise profiting at the expense of persons seeking employment.

Lots of variations on this scam, but each generally involves dangling (nonexistent!) compensation, and then directing you to a website where you are asked to sign up for something, use your credit card, or input personal information such as your email address.

The disclaimer page that comes up before entering the personals section is a little different. It says in part…

SCAM ALERT – scammers posing as potential romantic partners are directing CL users to age and identity verification sites, dating/adult/cam sites (where you can see their “pics” or chat with them), even sites designed to deliver malware — all in hopes of earning affiliate marketing commissions at your expense.

FUN FACT: Reporting a scammer’s “affiliate ID” to their affiliate marketing program often results in confiscation of the scammer’s ill-gotten gains by the affiliate program.

Market responsibly folks! Do we really want millions of consumers thinking affiliates are scammers?

Story lead came from the Warrior Forum:
Craigslist SCAM Alert: Against Affiliate Marketers!