Affiliate marketers can be a smart, devious and deceptive bunch. Last night I ran into a particularly clever affiliate marketing hustle using a Craigslist rental scam.
Make sure to never give your personal info to people on Craigslist without first verifying the people and listings are totally legit. This posting was definitely not legit and I show you how I know in this video below.
If you see people doing this type of stuff the first thing to do is flag it on Craigslist. Then, try to find out their affiliate ID if at all possible. Then you have to find the affiliate network that is running the CPA offer. Hopefully they actually have some ethics and don’t condone this type of behavior from their affiliates. Most legit networks will suspend the offending affiliate and cancel any due commissions.
Thanks for the info bro!!!
Wow man, nice catch. Not only is that a super deceptive scam, but I bet it leads to a lot of people even MORE disappointed when they find a house they like! It’s affiliates like this that give us a bad name. Bastards.
Thanks bro! This is some good stuff! I can’t stand these scammy bastards!
Good heads-up video, Jason. Cheers.
Domain tools is cool too, I didn’t know that one.
Welcome back to Cali.
Very unethical in my opinion.
This is not only on Craigslist but also on Facebook, Twitter and other websites as well.
Thanks for pointing this out to everybody Jason.
-Desmond
Jason, Nice,Discovery chanell a couple of weeks ago,had a story on nice houses,and those are the EXACT PICS,that were on the show,But of course,they brought you thought the entire home,THanks!!!We have them on CL here in Ct. also. Mostly Fla propertys for rent!,Jack
leave florida out of this Conners
Hey Jason,
Great info about scams for those who might be looking for a place to rent on Craigslist. Not to mention other sites as Desmond points out.
Unfortunately there are affiliates out there that are less than honest in their pursuit of profits.
Karma will Bite them in the ass.
Kudos to you for bringing this to our attention.
what douchebags. it seems like a lot of work to try and make an affiliate commission.
I found similar rental scam also. I was looking for a condo in downtown San Diego. The post even had an address listed. Since it was in a high rise condo, they spammed Craigs list with a bunch of different condo numbers.
They only wanted you to reply with a credit score and “suggested” a website that you can check. They stated they pre-screen with credit score since they received applicants that defaulted on rent.
I googled the street name and found all the listings. Bottom line. . if the listing is too good to be true (rent, amenities, location, etc), it probably is.
Nice catch. But that cpa landing page isn’t going to fool anybody who has an interest in IM. Luckily you were there to flag it.
Good Job Jason – and thanks for the share and good reminders!
t
..and I woulda gotten way with it too if it werent for ye pesky kids!!!
JK
Great video and great job sniffing this out.
With CPA offers everywhere now, its more important than ever to find who’s legit, and who’s attempting to scam us.
I especially despise those who blatantly mislead, taking advantage of those sincerely looking for something on craigslist, only to find their time has been truly wasted.
Hey Jason,
Thanks for the info!
Glad to see you back in action again.
A useful wa\rning and an interesting use of quotes on a search.
Thanks, Jason.
Great post. Thanks for the heads up about the Craig’s List Scam.
It seems I remember you were a private investigator at one time. I guess you have a nose for this type of stuff.
Thanks for putting this out there.
Jason,
Excellent stuff! Too bad you can’t find out what CPA network they’re with and have them shut down.
Craigslist is VERY adamant about stopping affiliate spammers and MLMers as well. I agree! DON’T give out any personal info online, I’ve been a victim of identity theft before and it isn’t cool!
Jason,
Thanks for posting this. I’m actually looking for a place in NYC and never thought about this. Great Tip!!
Wow. Jason, thanks for bringing yet another effing scammer to justice. CPA is one area where a lot of this crap happens. I won’t mention any names, but there’s an affliliate marketer who uses a CPA “win a free tv or laptop just for voting” on some trivial crap. While you may be entered into a drawing for the chance to win said prize, which I have no way of knowing if that’s true or not, I do know that asking you to vote on something is 100% a fake. That marketer showed that precise example in his product he was launching. No matter which way you vote, it takes you to the same “chance to win a free tv or free laptop” CPA squeeze page but does not register a vote either way.
I’ll give him credit for being creative, but like you, I hate the dishonesty.
There’s an ad that periodically pops up on Yahoo News pages regarding BP Oil Spill, Obama’s fault? Vote, which I suspect is nothing more than a CPA offer with no vote being recorded either. Obviously, these are not as serious as the one you found on Craigslist, but they really are enticing folks to give out private credit information just to make a buck.
You’re a top notch, straight shooting marketer with morals. I appreciate that!
Good detective work and great video.
Thanks Jason,
There’s a lot out there who have no value to offer and only want our money.
The one I dislike, the header says “You have won a $500.00 Walmart gift card just to get you to open an email for an mlm site.
Wow! What a scam! Thanks for sharing that (and I liked the domain tools website as well!) – Good luck with the house hunting!
Thank you for you heads up and integrity.
Robert
My friend
I see to much of this stuff, and especially there seems to be a group online that’s actually teaching and selling blackhat tactics especially geared towards craiglist.
I’ve seen some pretty misleading slick ones for dogs,dating,etc. all geared toward directing you to an affiliate link or cpa offer.
one in particular advertises a beautiful lab, complete with picture saying they are giving it away to a good home only in the san diego area on craigslist, then it says please respond if interested, then it directs you to a throwaway yahoo address with has the vacation autoresponder message saying something to the effect that I am sorry I had to use this automatic message response, but I’ve been getting so many interested people and I need to make sure my beautiful princess goes only to someone who really cares, I give her only the best food and I’ve been using a new training technique to house break her to set,fetch and more.
If your really interested in my sweet betty, then maybe you should look at the same program I’ve been using to teach her all the new tricks, you can go to http://www.buyfrom-my-affiliate-link.com and if your serious about taking care of my betty, let me know if you purchased this great training program.
Just 1 of many people are using.
Take care Dude!
P.S. loved your lake austin pics, makes me feel homesick 😎
Stay cool
Dennis Howard
Wow you really gotta wonder why people even bother doing something like that… Thanks for opening my eyes to it, just recently got into searching something for real on Craigslist for the first time.
Aloha Jason!
Weak. that dude is seriously weak. Thanks for the find.
We’ve been looking the old-fashioned way; driving around and pulling listings from Property Mgmt companies and rental listings from local banks. That way you can show the Lady around town as well.
Again, thanks bro. Good stuff.
Mahalo!
Jared
I read about how affiliates are taking advantage of craigslist but this is a little too far. I think people should stop watching Boiler Room.
Jason … thank you so much for taking the time to show us this. You are the man!!! 🙂
It really hate it that those type people have messed up craigslist the way they have… it really is hit or miss as to who is real and who isn’t … I think the majority of them are junk these days.
I love reading and hearing things you put on here… they are of great value!! Thanks and keep up the great work you do!!
Robin
Great video Jason…..I have been curious as to your location recently. I always wanted to travel the country in an RV and am seriously thinking about buying one and starting out. I plan to drive it and park it in storage to fly back home and work a while, then return to the RV and drive a while more.
Hats off to you for actually doing it !
Best wishes,
Michael
Thanks for the heads-up, Jason.
FYI, when you see a link in an email message that looks legit enough, you can usually hover your mouse over it and see the actual URL you’ll be directed to. Sometimes that can help determine if they are covering up something.
Jerry
This is a tactic that is taught in a CPA bootcamp. Was too shady for me to get involved with. Good job bro! Way to do your research 🙂
-J
Thanks for this Jason, its very cleaver, but so damn deceptive. The person who has done this should really aim this creativity into something more ethical.
I dont doubt, that some marketer, has sold a product that teaches this.
Hi Jason,
Please take action and email craig@craigslist.org with EVERYTHING you’ve just discovered, including the Google search and the domain name, etc. Craig himself actually responds to these and often they will blacklist the entire thing in their database. I also hope you were able to track down their affiliate ID and have them banned from the network 🙂
-Erica
Damn, another version of flogs! 🙁 Thanks for the heads up! Also, looking forward in your update on your latest road trip too!
-Jeff
Thanks so much for the heads up.
It’s more and more obvious that you’re one of the good guys.
Jason
Thanks for taking the time to share this with people, brother. Most of us here in IM would catch this, but the average person would be totally screwed.
You’re one of the good guys, so keep on doing what you do!
Frank
Pretty clever scam… I guess I’m 100% sure I’ll fall in that one. Black hat tactics never last forever.
Thanks for the heads up
Yeah, I have seen several of these, “I made 2k in day Black Hat forum”. Another one they use, which is crappy and cost my Dad’s Social Security # and 50 bucks, was they would post a job listing and auto-reply back that they needed him to fill out and pay for his own security clearance before they could proceed to process his Resume/application. That business platform is scammy and why would you want to build your business on a foundation of sand.
Had one even worse last week. Nigerian scam using craigslist rental to get your personal info and the deposit / first month rent. They even had a yahoo email address with the actual out of state property owners last name.
Point on with this video… I’ve found that any legit rental posting on Craigslist will have the rental address and a phone number to call. Even then, don’t provide any info until you have physically looked at the place and met with the person doing the renting.
That’s shady! lol Good catch!
Hey, an idea for a future blog post…
Maybe you could talk a little bit more about the benefits of renting an entire house (I’m guessing since you use it as a home-office you can deduct all/part of it for taxes, etc?) — Do you have to sign in for a full 12 month lease? Maybe just take us inside your thinking and provide tips you’ve picked up along the way from renting apartments/houses in the past.
Thanks!
Thanks for the heads-up man!
P.S. Too bad it was a scam cuz RSF is such a nice area.
Nice post – scammy bastards almost got away with it.
Good heads up, man. I’ve been starting to see similar types of scams on rental sites, too. Ran into a few when looking for a condo to rent.
I looked up the post in your video and flagged ’em. They’ll be short lived.
Jason,
Thanks for sharing. This sort of posting is what we need more of, as well as more people like you who are willing to take the time to help others out.
To your continued success
Rich
Thanks for the info. I checked out a house from the same person and got an email back with a long story. No website this time, just a half of page where they actually thought I’d put my info. I did a quick google and found your site. I knew it was too good to be true. Thank you again!
Hey Jason,
You seem like a person that could really help us out over at TrustMe.com. If you’ve got a minute, please drop me a line so I can tell you a little about what we’re up to.
The bottom line is that we’ve got a product that helps people avoid getting scammed on Craigslist, and I need all the input I can get from guys like you who are genuinely motivated to help people.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
I use CRAIGSPAL
Been finding and FLAGGING many scammers.
It’s us versus them (scamers), If everyone flags his own “niche” of search that daily browse , craigslist will be CLEAN!!! of spammers and scammers. Craigslist removes post flagged from multiple IP addresses, if we have everyone search narrow to his own niche and flag spam posts, we get clean result.
I recommend this application to all my friends, and we keep our craigslist niche clean!
just 2 cents…..
That was a very interesting post. I guess affiliates are doing everything these days to get traffic LOL