Haha! Ok, besides the really cute accent (I’m sorry, I was bursting out laughing when I watched it) I think this video is a really great warning to Internet newbies out there that what you see is not always what you get on the Internet.

If it’s so easy to just do stuff like this, you bet your ass that there will be people out there who have no qualms using these methods to hook you, sell you their crap, and make off with your dough.

In fact, here’s a forum thread I stumbled upon where this bozo who had the nerve to actually fake his Clickbank earnings and sell his ‘system’ to the forum. Now that’s not the dumb part. The REALLY dumb part is that even when some pretty sharp people spotted the obvious signs that it was scam, there were still people on the forum still DUMB enough to buy his shit. Can you fucking believe it?

Omigod! Are those people dumbasses or what? Ha!

Anyway, thanks Charles for the heads up on the video!

http://www.adam-wong.com/75/avoid-crap-like-this

OK, now that you’ve got some background, let me proceed with my frank opinions.

The site in question had obviously been updated since I wrote about it last year. When I came across it back then (someone pointed it out to me), I had a look at the salesletter elements and the whole thing seemed extremely dubious to me.

Alright scratch that. It wasn’t dubious, the salesletter was outright LYING to the reader. If you take a look at my screenshots and my reasonings, you’d agree with me totally, especially if you have your own Clickbank account and you’re making money online yourself.

So in response to a question left by a recent commenter whether the site is a scam? Well, the previous incarnation of the site was a scam to me because it outright LIED to readers with the fake screenshots they used and everything.

In its current incarnation however, there’s no obvious sign to flag that it’s outright lying to its readers. i.e. no obviously fake Clickbank screenshots or cheques or anything to give itself away. Heck who knows, maybe ‘she’ really did make all that money online! (maybe.) If this site can use fake screenshots in the past, what do you think about its legitimacy even now? I think you’re smart to decide that for yourself.

Also keep in mind though that the salesletter wasn’t selling its own product at all; it’s order link was actually an affiliate link promoting another Internet marketing product. Now whether that other product is a scam is an entire matter altogether. That other site may have been entirely legitimate but then you had this affiliate that was using very questionable means to promote its product.

For example, I could have an affiliate promoting my products proclaiming that he become a trillionaire and bought freaking’ Mars because of my product. In that case, the affiliate is being scammy (yea.. and I own Jupiter!) even though the product he’s promoting (mine) is entirely legit. So there’s that distinction there and I think you get the point.

Just to let you know, this site is promoting a new affiliate product. Back then, it was affiliating a product called Ultimate Wealth Package, which got banned by Clickbank (go figure…). So instead of UWP, it now conveniently promotes another highly similar product called Secrets Of Earning Online. “Hey! Don’t worry! It’s a different product but it still magically shoves money into your account on autopilot!” (Wow…)

But if you had no idea how these sites work, it’s simple. Someone buys a product like Secrets Of Earning Online that promises readers that they can money online if they just buy their product. And then when he purchases the product, the customer is taught that the way to make money online is to simply promote Secrets Of Earning Online for affiliate commissions. And they bundle for them pre-made websites, graphics and stuff that they use and set up their own affiliate website to promote the product.

And other clueless individuals come across the affiliate site, get hooked, and then purchases the product as well, sets up another affiliate site also, and then more clueless people get snagged and the whole thing just goes on and on and on.

Anyway, you could be asking why am I blogging about all of this when I can simply ignore it and just let people like them make money anyway they like (I mean, no one’s being killed, right?).

Because it affects me and all the other legitimate marketers out there. These idiots give us real online marketers a bad name and it affects our market, it affects our products, and it affects our sales. Because if someone got scammed online before, chances are he may never purchase online again even though there’s a legitmate product out there that can offer real benefits. So the sooner that people wise up to things like these, the better it is for everyone in the IM community. I think you know what I mean.

So anyway I hope this helps you out! Especially if you’re new to this whole IM scene.

But first a bit of background, I wrote an earlier post about how bozos go around doing stupid dishonest things online just to make a quick buck. You can read it here: Avoid Crap Like This!

Ok, if you’ve already read that, you’d know I talk really straight to the point and I don’t mince my words about how I feel about what these people are doing online. And so my opinions prompted this comment from a reader:

Nita Says:

Qoute”I don’t get it. Since this guy already has the creativity, balls and effort to put up something like this. Why doesn’t he just channel his energies to a REAL online business instead and make money the right way?”

Adam, this is just affiliate marketing. I am also doing the same, you can check out my site as well. makequickmoneysg.com

I do not see why you are complaining about people who are affiliates of clickbank publishers when you yourself is into clickbank marketing.

To which I replied:

Adam says:
Read the post again.

I am NOT knocking affiliate marketing nor UWP. I’m knocking idiots who use fake screenshots to dupe people into buying products (direct or affiliated).

I mean which is true, my gripe’s with dishonest salesletters and nothing else. And so I thought I made myself clear in my reply to Nita. But you can imagine my surprise when the ‘REAL’ Nita placed a comment after all of this:

Name: Nita

Hi Adam,

I’m Nita. I don’t know who commented here earlier using my name but I’m sure its not me.
I’ve been following your blog and I was supprise to see a reply using my name on it and mentioning my website. I certainly will not say I’m doing the same because I’m not. But I do agree with what you did.

These guys never apply anything if they ever bother to learn about affiliate marketing. All they did is to use PPC to get people to get into their site and be taken in by what they claim easy wealth. Think about it, If they don’t know SEO, cookies, Marketing techniques, how to get traffic without having to pay, etc, how would they even know how to give basic guidance to newbies.

Let me share with everyone why so. I make my living online not 100% relying on income from UWP but my main business comes from promoting other CB products like PSP downloads, Music, Movies downloads, as you can see in my online
Mart.

When I was a newbie, Uwp was the first guide that I come across. I learn so much reading the uwp secrets and strategy and the updated wealth book and most of the programs proves usefull for me.

I bet most people failed is not because that they are stupid or even because the systems/program doesn’t work. Most importantly is the mindset on how badly you wants it, or how desperate are you and what you will do to get them.

I bet these guys didn’t even read up to page 10 or never even see what the program is all about. Or even worst, never even purchase uwp for themself.

What these guys did resulted in giving UWP a bad name. And I am certain its not affiliate marketing that they are doing. But rather in making false claims and cheating others into buying something even they don’t know what it is all about.

But from my personnal experience, UWP is very usefull in providing over 150 free ebooks and programs for free to its members in the VIP members area. TO claim that one makes over a million on one check is a really dump claim that even an idiot would be smart enough not to make such claims.

I learn alot using what UWP provides me with. I get reasonable alexa ranking at times better than those using PPC and I never use PPC (Pay Per Click). Using the free tools and guide I get good ranking in search engines.

But please remember that I’m just as blank when I started and woman normaly don’t understand about things like this as easily as men does. But I learn also a great deal from ewealth.com many of the best in the industries and believe me if I tell you they are many big names and true Gurus in there.

As every IMteers know there are many ways in doing this business and most important you’ll need to be a specialist in one way to make it but still not forgeting other ways of course.

What I see, many of you guys who follow stuart and adams blogging methods. While I am more into forum marketing, free advertising and some other secret strategy. I work really hard in droping my links in forums and posting free ads for my site and my online mart to get my quality targeted traffic. Sales are mostly from products which are not money making related.

Currently my CB id is being suspended and I am waiting for it to be reactivated. Reasons because I post pictures of my clickbank check at my site. Adam might have a part to be blame in this indirectly because I saw him puting his check in his blog and I thought its fine to do that. Learn the hard way because this happens to be against CB’s liking.

For those who never seen a clickbank check, looks like you’ll have to get your own check in order to see one. The check has changed alot for year 2007 in format i meant. In the descriptions, fonts and style. There even is a black box around the signature making it looks more like the signature is being printed rather than signed.

Also wanna share with everyone that I receive an email from Stuart Tan about last week the day my id got suspended. (wonder if he as got anything to do with this incident) I doubt so. I’ve been visiting his site and he seems like a nice guy to start with. But I got a little suprise as to what he emailed me.

Messages: Hello Nita,

I will create website let visitor step by step buy direct form
clickbank have 75% discount of your ultimate wealth package. hope you don’t get
sales anymore.
Have Free time come to
visit my site : www.internetmarketingsingapore.com

join my new Class step by step kill affiliate website and spam.

Happy chinese new year !!!

Maybe he had a bad day or something, THis email got me a little confuse but I’lll just forget about it and still continue to think he is a nice guy. Mainly because he looks nice and friendly. It is good that he gives good knowledge to others.

I guess it is difficult for many to accept success as it is. There will still others who will think that success should never happen and if it happens something must not be right somewhere. But it is even more difficult to differentiate the crystal and glass on the internet. A glass will cut you but a crystal will make look nise

Sorry if this comment is too long. Like most ladies, onces I start chating my mouth, Its too dificult to stop.

Nita

Wow! Really long but i like it.

And I will assume that this is really Nita this time because it’s obvious that this time alot more time and effort was put into the comment. It’s someone who really has something to share or to make clear and hence the loooong comment on my blog. Someone who’s not serious wouldn’t type this much (generally…).

Which brings me to a few points:

If someone really did impersonate Nita just to place a comment, I think that’s nasty! What’s up with the identity theft?

Imagine if someone just went around doing these sort of things just to create some discord, I think that’s just nasty! Just like the idoit who’s impersonating Stuart and emailing a idiotic email to Nita! What’s up with that? Stuart too handsome for you?

And how do I know it ain’t Stuart?

First off, the english is horrendous (did I spell that right?) in the email. I mean Stuart’s english is way good. Like almost as good as mine (or better actually.. ha!)

But anyway, he doesn’t have the time to do mindless juvenile things like this. He’s got a business to run and he’s making more than enough money NOT to care about selling a $49.95 ebook for commissions and stealing it away from someone else.

Like come on, the email’s from some lowlife!

It’s probably some idiot who was too much time on his hands and because nobody likes him enough to have sex with him, he has this sad inferiority complex and pathetic need for attention and so he goes around pretending to be some else just so that for one microsecond in his life, he can feel good being not himself. (let’s assume it’s a guy.)

So Nita, it’s not Stuart, it’s an ugly lonely man who wants your attention. (run!)

So anyway, that was just to clear things up for you, just so you know that Stuart would never do such a thing like that, only lonely, sex deprieved lowlifes have the mindless time to spend on juvenility (if that’s not a word, then I invented it) like that.

Whew!

Ok side note now… it seems Clickbank now doens’t allow proof on income to be shown on websites or something like that. I heard that rumour from Rob Benwell and looks like it’s true. But if it is, that’d be sucky for most marketers.

Anyway, thanks for the comment, Nita!

I didn’t reveal the URL but now in the best interests of my readers, it’s easyrichsg.com . Avoid that site at all costs! Read my previous post and you’ll know why.

==> Easy Rich?

Stuart did snooping of his own and he found a sister site of easyrichsg.com and wa la! This is it:

simplyrichsg.com or simplystupid.

Now let’s scroll down and break this baby apart!

This time the salescopy is from an “Aunty Irene” who’s a supposedly a housewive making big money on the internet while fast asleep. Stuart went to check the whois record for this site and the name that came up was Frank Seet. So it’s actually a guy who loves being in drag online.

So you scroll down and you see the “proof”:

Everything’s fine for this screenshot except for one thing.

The proportion of the rows. It’s all whacked. If you have a Clickbank account and you’re making sales, you’d know that the rows are all in proportion to each other.

But this screenshot is NOT. How is it that $733.90 and $345.14 can almost be the same length? Clickbank didn’t design a dumbass system. Even if it’s graphical, you’d bet your house Clickbank would have got it right.

So like I said before, either this guy has got a unique Clickbank account or he’s doing some awful cutting and pasting.

Next comes the cheque:

This cheque is perfect. There’s nothing wrong about it technically. But here’s something that gives it away.

Notice that this cheque is for the period ending 2006-11-16 and the dollar amount is $7495.79. Scroll up to the above “Clickbank” screenshot and notice that the dollar figure for 2006-11-16 is also $7495.79.

What’s special about that?

There is NO way, for the same pay period, that your sales figure and the cheque that arrives in your mailbox is the same!

Why?

Because you have refunds and allowances to deal with! Those two will deduct a portion of your sales revenue leaving you with the balance, and then that comes as your paycheck.

I’ve never ever heard of a product on Clickbank get zero refunds. There are bound to be refunds. I’ve had them the very first pay period. Are you telling this guy has a product that has zero refunds? Yea right…

OK. But let’s assume that by happen stance that there were indeed no refunds or allowances at all and that he was supposed to get his entire sales revenue as his paycheck. Would that mean this is legit?

NO.

Because Clickbank charges you $2.50 for every cheque they send out to you. And they automatically deduct this amount from whatever you have in your account. So you will never ever have your cheques equalling your sales for the same pay period even if assuming you have zero refunds/allowances.

So putting the “Clickbank” screenshot and “Clickbank” cheque together, you know that the whole thing’s FAKE!

And then you get to the end of the letter and you see the standard order button and you find out it’s another affiliate link. This guy in drag has no product to sell, he’s just scamming people, sending them to another site so he can get his commissions.

Yea and the stupid web counter’s there again. I just don’t get this bit. Why does anyone ever need this?

By the way, the affiliate link on simplyrichsg and easyrichsg are the same. It’s the same guy behind both sites. And since you already know easyrichsg is questionable enough, simplystupid gets the same vote.

Please note however that the product that they are affiliating for could very well be legitimate. But that’s another story. Having this bozo here doing up a scammy salesletter just to make an affiliate sale is way stupid and lacks integrity.

I don’t get it. Since this guy already has the creativity, balls and effort to put up something like this. Why doesn’t he just channel his energies to a REAL online business instead and make money the right way?

Either he’s just desperate or simplystupid.

I’m deeply honoured to Stuart Tan and his forum to have given me this inaugural award and also to all the bad scammers out there, thank you for being stupid enough to do such a piss poor job of scamming people. I couldn’t have done this without you!

To read about all the bad eggs I’ve flushed out so far, follow the links below:

Avoid Crap Like This!
Easy Rich?
How To Smell A Scam

If you have any websites that you’ve seen that look really questionable, let me know and I’ll write up a damning expose. I’ll credit you too!

Have a look at this site (url blacked out for his sake):

Look at that! Doesn’t it just look so ehhhh… ‘scammy’?

Disclaimer! I did not say it was a scam. I just said it looks ‘scammy’

Ok let’s carry on shall we?

As you scroll down and read this salesletter, it blabs about how easy it is to make money online, it guarantees you $15,000 in two weeks, how this guy just bought a new car, and all that flash and bang, blah blah blah!

And then he shows you the “proof”!

Ok. Couple of things wrong with this screenshot.

No. 1 is that under his Daily Sales, his Day, Dates, Sales and Rows are NOT in line. It’s jagged all over! If you have a Clickbank account (go take a look), you know that everything is nicely aligned.

So what is this guy up to?

Either he has a very unique Clickbank account or he’s doing some very awful cutting and pasting.

No. 2 is his Clickbank nickname which is Nic. At first glance, there doesn’t seem much wrong with that. But there is.

Clickbank requires that your nickname must be between 5-10 digits long! Take a look at the Clickbank signup page:

Nuff said!

Either this guy has a very unique Clickbank account or he’s doing something ‘creative’ (and being bad at math at the same time.)

Next. You scroll down and he shows you more “proof”:

Nice cheque.

This one’s hard to spot to. I compared it to the cheques I got and everything looks good. But the giveaway again with this cheque is the Clickbank nickname: Nic

If Clickbank doesn’t allow 3 letter nicknames, there’s no way you can receive a cheque like this.

The only way I can be wrong here is that maybe Clickbank used to accept shorter nicknames (I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t there from the start) but I could safely assume that’s unlikely.

Ok, you scroll down somemore and he tells you how easy it is, guarantees you make at least $10,000/month, you only need 15 mins to do this (I shit longer than that and he’s telling me I can make 5 digits in 15 mins), shows you a bunch of “testimonials”, etc…

And so you get to the end and you see the order button. Except that this order button is an affiliate link! This guy doesn’t even have a damn product! He’s just sending you to another salesletter to buy something else so he can get the commissions.

You look at the footer and you see even MORE affiliate links to other products. We all know that in a REAL salesletter, you do not have any affiliate links at all. Because you want to sell your own product and not have visitors clicking away somewhere else.

But since this joker has no product at all, he might as well just add a few more affiliate links and see if that captures some sales.

And oh ya, he has that web counter (the black circles with numbers inside) there as well. How silly is that?

I’m amazed at how some people can just dare to put up such crap online and make money off people like this! It’s sad. And it gives a bad name to internet marketing.

There’re lots of quality products on the internet and it’s people and websites like this that just smear the whole thing for us. I have some friends who really think that internet marketing isn’t for real and that’s all scammy. All thanks to idiots like this.

Ok and the last part that’s gonna get this bozo into trouble…

This is his header graphic:

Nothing fancy. but it looks vaguely (or very) similar to this:

This is the old header graphic for Ewen Chia’s Secret Affiliate Weapon.

Does this guys have the balls to rip off a big name or what? He didn’t just copy the header, he swiped the background (the blue stripes behind) as well! He must be an idiot. Maybe Ewen will sue him for fun…

Oh! And by the way, this is “Nic”

Oh that was mean… because that may not be the real Nic at all and he just swiped some guy’s photo to stick on his site.

But anyway, this is irrefutable PROOF that stupid people still exist on this fine earth. No wonder the aliens still wanna avoid us.

Who does he think I am? An idiot!?
I’m a Mensan with an IQ so high that next to me, your existence wilts to a sorry attempt at impersonating intelligent life on Earth! (shameless plug + caustic insult…)

Take a look at this email I received from a “customer”:

name: Ishaq Jude

from: ishaqjude@yahoo.co.uk

Hello Adam,

I purchased your ‘Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires’ Program yesterday and
D0wnloaded all items. Unfortunately, I am not able to read the PDF report
“Component #4 Creating Multiple Streams Of Income Online”. I think that file
has been correpted. Also the MP3 Audio “Strategies To Massively Increase Your
Income II” doesn’t work.

I have included my ClickBank purchase receipt with
this mail. Could you please send me the link again to D0wnload those items
again. Or I have to refund this purchase and place the order again ? Please
help me at the earliest.

Ishaq Jude.

And so he attached his so called “receipt”:

From: receipt@clickbank.com
To: ishqajude@yahoo.co.uk

Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 04:23 PM
Subject: ClickBank Receipt #K7N6V3YU – automated notification

>/ This is an automated notification.
> / Replies to this email will bounce.
> / For customer service read message
> / below for instructions.
>
> CLICKBANK PURCHASE RECEIPT# K7N6V3YU
>
> You or a person in your household just made a purchase
> from ClickBank, the internet’s largest seller of ebooks,
> software, and other downloadable products. Your bank
> statement will show a one-time charge by CLKBANK.
>
> The total charge was $97.00 plus $0.00 tax.
>
> If for some reason you did not receive access to the
> product immediately after payment, please try again
> by following this link now:
> http://goto.clickbank.net/goto/?1832d673K7N6V3YU
>
> If you need technical support for your product please
> contact the author of the product directly. To do this
> send a friendly email message to the supplier.
>
> Receipt: K7N6V3YU
>
> Remember, the product author is an expert on the product
> itself, and can give you personalized customer service.
> Please be patient and allow the author two business days
> to respond.
>
> If after two business days the issue remains unresolved,
> ClickBank will be happy to assist you directly. To make
> a customer service inquiry with regard to this purchase
> please visit:
> http://clickbank.com/cs/?1832d673K7N6V3YU
>
> Thanks!
>
> ClickBank Customer Service
> [xxxxxxx/-1] 2006-10-09
>
>
> / This is an automated notification.
> / Replies to this email will bounce.
> / For customer service read message
> / above for instructions.

It all looks very convincing eh?

So when I received this email, I obviously thought at first it was for real and when a customer needs support, I gladly oblige. I gleefully logged on to my admin panel to search for his receipt no. so i could reset his download link.

BUT there was no record of the receipt at all. I was puzzled because so far dlguard has performed flawlessly. It couldn’t have made an error and missed a receipt no. could it?

And so I checked my emails for this receipt no. and none came up. Then I went straight to my clickbank account to search for the receipt and there was NO record whatsoever. Now it started to become really fishy. And I was guessing that this bozo was trying to pull a fast one. (Wait… I think that’s too nice, he’s trying to CHEAT.)

So I took a look at his email again and there were a few glaring errors inside that screamed ‘This Guy Is A Fake!’ immediately.

First off he claimed that he was unable to read the PDF report “Component #4 Creating Multiple Streams Of Income Online”. For those who have bought SSMM already, you would why this is not possible at all. (And I’m not talking file corruption here.)

So that’s one red flag. Next!

I took at look at his “receipt” again and I compared to a genuine Clickbank receipt and I found errors again that screamed “This Guy Is A Fake And Is So Cheap He Won’t Invest In His Financial Education!’ immediately.

Firstly, his “receipt” has no contact details of the vendor which all genuine Clickbank receipts do.

Second, the hyperlinks in his “receipt” are different – http://goto.clickbank.net/goto/ should be http://clickbank.com/goto/.

Thirdly, the line [xxxxxxx/-1] 2006-10-09 should contain a receipt no. and stated like this – [MDH34YT9/xxxxxxx] 2006-10-31.

He also claims he bought SSMM yesterday but his “receipt” is dated 2006-10-09 (yeah right.. yesterday is October). And his “receipt” is missing this chunk of text –

PS: Have you ever compiled or created useful information
that is now just “collecting dust” on your hard drive?
ClickBank is the easy way to sell your digital product:

http://xxxxxxx.goto.hop.clickbank.net/

Hmmmm.. it’s all starting to be clear now. This is guy has been caught for attempted cheating and is a criminal! In fact he’s so dumb to even try to pull this off that I’m gonna throw in another charge as well!

So after examining all the evidence, I as the jury, judge and court pronounce Ishaq Jude GUILTY on one count of attempted cheating and two counts of attempted impersonation of intelligent life on planet Earth (1. for even thinking up a stupid scheme like this and 2. for being dumb enough to use it on a genius).

I hereby sentence you to be spammed a gazillion times by penile-enhancing companies and porn sites for 20 years with no possibility of parole.

Court is adjourned. BAM!

(Stupid #$%^&!)(please spam this cousin of the ameba for me – ishaqjude@yahoo.co.uk)