Marketplace

The Smart, Legal Scam: How To Use Job-Seekers to Exploit an Ad-Network App

By Sigrid Zeuthen, Marketing Manager

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    Not all scams are illegal, there are some pretty clever people who are using a legal scam to trick the system in ways that will harm your users and, in the long run, your reputation.

    We have recently noticed how scammers are using classifieds sites to exploit mobile monetization apps.

    This Is How It Works:

    • A mobile advertising network, let’s call them Ad-App, runs a program to incentivize people to recruit other users. If you create an account with Ad-App, and then get other people to download the app via your account, you will earn money.
    • The scammer creates an account with Ad-App, and posts a fake job-ad on a classifieds site, promising extensive compensation to attract as many applicants as possible.
    • A job seeker that we call Lisa responds to the ad, and is asked to perform an “app-review” test as a part of the fake application process.
    • The first step in performing this is to download Ad-App via a url that´s connected to the scammer’s accounts.
    • Lisa installs the app to perform the test, but will not be able to perform the test, nor will she hear back regarding the job again.
    • The scammer on the other hand gets his pay by Ad-App and can happily continue recruiting more innocent users via the fake job-ads.

    Example ad:

    example of scam

    In this scam, the user “Lisa” will not lose any money herself, however she will probably lose trust in your site after being disappointed by fake ads like this. And Imagine if she cries out a warning to her 15000 Twitter followers. Then your brand will really be at risk.

    How can you protect yourself? Make sure your moderation team is up to date on the latest scam-trends, attentive and experienced. A scam like this might not be easy to identify but nevertheless important for your long-term brand reputation.

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