Very interesting… the owners of the PPC-Coach.com CPA training Web site, just shut down their own CPA/affiliate network (it was called Wotogepa). It seems as though running a CPA network without a dedicated anti-fraud staff, bricks-and-mortar offices, etc., etc. was too much for them. They said, “The sheer volume of CONSTANT fraud going on from unscrupulous affiliates is mind boggling.” Here’s the complete blog post on the subject. In all fairness to the PPC-Coach.com owners, they no doubt have their plates full with the CPA coaching site and running their own CPA campaigns. There are only so many hours in the day, as we all quickly learn.
This doesn’t mean you and I can’t make money with CPA/affiliate networks, but it does speak to the enormous amount of fraud that the poor folks at the CPA networks have to deal with every day! Sometimes, as an Internet marketer, I feel slimy by association. Parts of the Internet marketing sector are fraught with crime and deception… and CPA marketing happens to be one of them. In the past, people’s greed and willingness to deceive others was kept in check because they couldn’t remain anonymous, at least not for long.
There seems to be no limit to how low some people are willing to stoop online. A few days ago, jl scott from i-Cop.org reported that her whole Web site had virtually been copied by, of all things, a group claiming to be the online guardian for church Web sites (http://chamberofclergy.org/)! jl quickly got that under control and the site’s pirated content is gone.
I’m so grateful for my clients and my true online friends. They may not be the richest folks on the ‘Net, but they’re not a slippery bunch either!
I’m trying to catch up on my reading and just saw this, even though you posted it a week ago. Years ago, when I first started making a few on-line purhases and paying some bills online, I remember people asking me if it was “safe” to do so (I know this is routine for most folks now, but there was a time when the internet was something of a novelty). I always scoffed at the suggestion that I was engaging in anything even remotely dangerous. In retrospect, I was pretty naiive (and lucky too). These days I really DO believe the internet is a playground for scammers and rip-off artists, and wherever there is a buck to be made, you can be pretty sure the low-lifes will be sniffing around for an opportunity. Thus I’m not suprised by your observations about CPA marketing. (I don’t mean to be negative here, but you have to marvel at the sheer number of people who will gladly steal from you, and the cleverness and tenacity of some of them is incredible.) To their credit, PPC Coach was very honest about their reasons for packing up their affiliat network.
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As for your other story, well, how ironic is that?
It’s a travesty, Ian, but I don’t see any solution in sight. People don’t live in the kind of communities anymore where others are keeping an eye on them. And even if we do know someone who’s cheating and stealing, we’re now so politically correct, or afraid we’ll be shot or sued, that we’re afraid to say boo to anyone.