The Bickle Net Project- targets web-advertised scams;advice?

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 3

Hi all,

I have started a site that aims to hurt online scammers that use AdSense to advertise. I think I've come up with a very easy way to make scammers lose tons of money if people start doing this Very Happy

I have suggested the use of keywords like: "Get Rich Quick", "No Money Down", "Penis Enlargement", "Work From Home", "Make Millions", "Miracle Diet Pills", "Free Money", "Not A Scam", etc. in determining what advertisers to target, and also link to a good guide that should help one discern whether a site is promoting a scam or not.

The website is here: http://bickling.isgreat.org

I just started this project a few days ago and also have a blog where I'll write about various scams from interesting angles (the first post is about the psychological interrelationship between the porn and penis enlargement scam industries; I think it's an interesting read).

I came here to spread the word about this technique for curbing web scams and also to get any advice that anyone has to offer about the project, as it would be very appreciated Smile

Best regards,
Travis

** ACCOUNT CLOSED ** Joined: 23 Jun 2007 Posts: 24

(Deleted)

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 3

Crotalus,

I think it's good that you were scambaiting a get rich quick scheme. Do you have any advice or suggestions about The Bickle Net Project? I appreciate any and all input Very Happy

** ACCOUNT CLOSED ** Joined: 23 Jun 2007 Posts: 24

(Deleted)

Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 5:26 am

@TravisTheBickler: I had a look at the site. It's an interesting system. The problem will be to build up the critical mass of bicklers to make a difference. Another point I wonder about is whether some of these mlm/get-rickh-quick scheme scammers do not pay for their ad-space with scammed credit card details, in which case not the scammers would be hit, but the innocent credit card holder.
I agree, though, that this is probably not super common. Overall an interesting concept that may have its merrits. I will keep an eye on the site.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 3

Crotalus:

Great pics, especially the White King Of Africa, haha. Thank you for reposting the link too. I also fixed it now.

Luther Blisset:

I am pleased that you see some potential in the concept. I think it's impossible to control for fraudulent credit card use by the scammers. If these sites became unprofitable then even in such a rare case I imagine there would be more overall good than harm done, considering that the life of the scam business in question would be cut short by months, possibly years.

I think you are right that the biggest difficulty is building up enough critical mass of bicklers. If anyone has any ideas for how this might be accomplished, please say so.

It astonishes me how huge 419 scambaiting has become. Granted, it is potentially more interesting and amusing than bickling since you can get trophies and such (although I've tried to give a bit of a trophy-like aspect to bickling by making a bragging board). But 419 scambaiting, though more potentially interesting, is also way more time consuming than bickling, and so perhaps bickling as a quick hobby activity (less than a minute or two per day) could still be worth it to people.

There also may be yet unexplored ways of making bickling more entertaining. For example, while I was bickling an "Ab Belt" scam site today (those medically disproven exercise belts that supposedly give you a six pack from electrical stimulation while you sit on a couch, lol), I had some fun messing with a chat sales rep. I got her to tell me how to order the device after telling her I wanted to use it even though I was pregnant, lol. I said: "My husband said he doesn't want to have sex with me because I look like Jabba The Hutt. Can the Slendertone help me?" LOL! The whole chat transcript is actually pretty funny, I'm going to post a blog article about ab belt scams tommorrow and I'm including the saved chat transcript.

Maybe if the bickling community became enormous and very organized, we could use forum discussion with polls to vote/verify what ads are green-lit for bickling. But for the most part, we just need to use common sense. If I am not sure then I don't bickle an ad. For example, if the ad says, "Make $1000 in one month" I probably won't bickle it or I'll take a look at the destination url to make sure. But if it says, "Make $1000 in 3 hours" then it's just too obvious. Also, some ads (like for "penis enlargement") are *automatically* guilty by their association with the keyword "penis enlargement" since there is absolutely no technique for that which actually works.

It would be a good idea if it were possible to think of a list of keywords that are *always* scams so there is virtually no chance of making a mistake. Or, we could even assign color codes (so "penis enlargement" would be in green text on the suggested keyword list, and "work from home" would be orange, and "diet pills" would be red, signifying the most level of need for precaution against accidentally targeting legitimate sites).

Furthermore, even if there might be a 3% chance that something with the keywords "make millions" is legitimate and it accidentally gets targeted I think the rarity of such instances would justify the overall benefit of curbing the 97% that are scams. To use an analogy, it's certain that innocent people go to prison because of wrongful convictions, but because this will happen occasionally and probably unavoidably, does this mean we should have no criminal sentencing?

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