Hey gang. We're a family here, and I wanted to let you guys know of something fishy going on.
This morning I received an email from "John."
John claimed to be affiliated with a company interested on buying ad space, a simple text link, on this blog.
Of course, I was skeptical. So I looked into it more.
The sender's email is "john@missionclear.net."
Red Flag #1 - Why would this supposedly global corporation (On the cutting edge of advertising!) with over 100 employees have ONE "John", the most common name I know of?
Red Flag #2 - If you're going to scam someone, make your website look less like something I created my senior year of high school in Marketing & Web Design class. Here's MissionClear's steaming pile of shit website.
Red Flag #3 - More often than not, a large company will have complex webaddresses, rather than Xcompany.com/page.whatev . It's a security thing, I believe.
So I did a little research. Before I could finish typing "missioncle.." into google, the dropdown menu had one suggestion: "MissionClear Scam". Well, that was easy.
I looked into it a bit more, and what they do is ask to pay you up front for ad space, rather than as a rate. Then, they ask you to cash a certified check for too much and send them a refund. Of course, this check bounces, and you're left with(out) whatever you send them. So, you know, don't bother with these parasites.
I got an email from him a month ago.. he works for Party Poker.com and wanted to pay me $75 to put an add on my blog... the reason why i didn't was that Party Bets.com pays over twice that for space on my blog... so nothing came of it...
ReplyDeleteAnother reason why I hate people.
ReplyDeleteWeiiiird. My only ad was from a completely different guy, but also named John(@patternspace.net), which is also often regarded as a spam website. But he offered me $100 for a year's text ad, I said sure, he paypal'd me, and I never had any issues. The ad is still on my site and I'm still $100 richer. I guess I was just lucky?
ReplyDeleteI got the missionclear ad request too. I'd like ad money for my site (since adsense hasn't paid me a nickel) but I'm not about to be scammed!
ReplyDeleteYeah. AdSense never paid me out. I had made about $20 on my other blog, and I never saw it.
ReplyDeleteThough it seems some other bloggers (Canuck, Mooss) have made out with placing ad space...I'll still be reluctant about it unless someone else can verify it...and their website doesn't look like a 10th grade term project.
I've done this for somone I believe his name was Randy at missionclear. They had me put in a link on one of my old posts and then deposited $40 dollars into my paypal account. So far so good, nothing bad has happened to me, but honestly, I was a bit skeptical too so we'll have to see what happens
ReplyDeleteHow long ago was this?
ReplyDeleteGot the same email from Randy. John sent me $125 via Paypal. Whatever, we'll see if they ask for a refund.
ReplyDeletemoe.
I also got same email from a Harrison at missionclear.net this past week. Haven't responded... just trying to figure out if legit. Noticed same red flags (UNimpressive website!).
ReplyDeleteHoping you guys who DID already follow through with them, would please update us here. THANKS :)
I don't see how this can be a scam?
ReplyDeleteWhat can they do other than not pay the money? If it's PayPal they can't even take it back or can they? Hmm... I got the same email. Did the thing on my private blog with some other company before. So I'm thinking about doing it again.
I can't get sued for this.. putting some random link on my blog, can I? LOL :D
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ReplyDeleteI always write these clowns back with a harshly worded reply, similar to how I deal with telemarketers. Only once has someone replied to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the head's up bro!
It seems to be 50/50, scams to non-scams.
ReplyDeleteThe question is, which ones are trustworthy?
Just made transaction with them..and put some links on my blog. But I gave them one day to settle payments or else I will remove their links...>:)
ReplyDeleteI don't see any reason to believe this is a scam. The client they were advertising for on my blog was a small business. They probably pay Mission Clear to place keywords on the internet to increase their traffic. I haggled with them and got more than they originally offered... placed the keywords and a few hours later got the payment via Paypal.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a scam - they are simply a link-building business building hyperlinks for other businesses. I renew my link with them (linking to Vistaprint) every year and get the payment via paypal no problem. Link building is a good thing, even better if someone is willing to pay you for it - my site now at www.davidbeardmusic.com has google ranking PR5 - All is well!
ReplyDelete