Subscribe RSS
Comment RSSCPA Approval Services are Fraud
Written by Cassandra BojohSeptember 20, 2011 # 8:13 pm # Expert Guides # 20 Comments
Just to ensure everyone is clear, “CPA Approval Services” are completely ran and operated by fly by night fraud rings. If you do a few searches on Google you will find countless posts for people offering their “services” and “affiliates” looking for such help.
“Pay x amount of dollars for each account approved.”
“I will create a website optimized for CPA approval.”
“I can fill out CPA applications and do the phone calls to the networks for you or you can do them yourself and I will tell you what to say.”
I understand there are some newbies who feel the need to get assistance getting into a network, and at times some major networks might be a bit short with them. Turning to professional fraudsters is not the answer. A majority of “affiliates” who enlist these services are planning to run fraudulent traffic themselves. The sheer amount of services offered just further demonstrates the rising number of individuals who profit, at the affiliate and network’s expense. As with any business, it has to be successful for sub services to start popping up. Just think about all those nifty after market 3rd party Apple Gadgets you have.
Sites like Freelancer.com allow projects such as these to be posted without any restrictions (even though their code of conduct states fraud is unacceptable). I signed up for an account for the sole purpose of reporting these violations, of course no action has been taken. Most affiliate forums will ban you for posting or requesting services such as these. As an affiliate manager at GetAds who handles fraud first hand regularly, it is becoming easier to spot these services and deny such applications to our network.
It is extremely frustrating to see these projects post weekly and actual affiliates who don’t mind aiding these fraudsters. To give you an example, the latest posting on Freelancer, whose project creator is from China, looks like this;
“Hi guys,
I need someone who can help me get approved by some CPA network.
You must have experienced with CPA networks and know how to promote the offer with all kinds of methods.
I need the following networks account approved.
(He lists over 10 major networks)
You should have the experience about CPA approval.
You will do the application and make phone calls or connect the affiliate managers via AIM.
You can use any method just make sure you can get approved.
You will get paid if the application is approved.
Check account success through,I will pay $30-$80 per account approval.
If you are good at CPA approval, Please PM me the details (your experience, which CPA network accounts you have, your contact information etc.,)
I’m looking for people who can have long-term cooperation with me!
If you have any accounts want to sell than you can PM me too.”
This post was bid on by someone in the US who mentioned they are “doing this professionally…” As an industry, something needs to be done.
Don’t expect someone to do the work for you! I had an honest affiliate who used Freelancer to help him attain leads on an offer and was distraught to find that his marketing expert from Pakistan was placing leads. He ended up losing quite a bit of money and there was nothing I could do to help. If these “experts” truly knew how to run quality traffic, don’t you think they would do it themselves and cut you out of the equation? Take the time and do your research. Everyone is always searching for the easy way out but as the saying goes, “if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself!”
If you are concerned about getting into a network, the most important thing is to be yourself! Be honest about everything, where you are at with your affiliate marketing and you should have no problem. Most networks don’t require that you have websites. So, if you have an established site, that’s great. If not, don’t worry about it and certainly don’t make a crappy site just to have one (that’s more obvious). The network wants to talk to you, not someone pretending to be you. If you can’t manage to get your own real accounts…how can you expect to make real money?
Written by Cassandra Bojoh
Cassandra Bojoh, an Affiliate Manager at GetAds, is a Southern California transplant living in the Mile High City. While attending the University of Colorado at Boulder for Psychology, she worked her way up through several bars and nightclubs. At 25, she was the youngest and single female General Manager running one of the top nightclubs in Denver. Developing and executing events on a private to corporate level, often hosting celebrities and entertaining politicians during the Democratic National Convention, Cassandra has demonstrated her professionalism and ability to take on any challenge. After 7 years in the nightlife industry and intrigued with business opportunities online, she decided to move in a different direction and took a position with GetAds.
There are twenty-zero comments. Join the discussion.
Also the Performance Marketing Insider Newsletter and recieve weekly updates on what is going on in the affiliate and performance marketing industry. You'll learn it first at Performance Marketing Insider.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Share/Bookmark this!
CPA Approval Services are Fraud http://t.co/Qg0f2PO8 via @PaceLattin
CPA Approval Services are Fraud http://t.co/ymff771B via @PaceLattin
CPA Approval Services are Fraud http://t.co/rs1db1EO via @PaceLattin
@pacelattin http://t.co/9WWSnpCY
@pacelattin Just to ensure everyone is clear, “CPA Approval Services” are completely ran and operated by fly by nigh http://t.co/z06i1L2w
CPA Approval Services are Fraud http://t.co/Rf4dVg2Q via @PaceLattin
New fr @PaceLattin CPA Approval Services are Fraud http://t.co/STyrqhU6 #marketing
Performance Mktg CPA Approval Services are Fraud http://t.co/WbPrixTs via @PaceLattin
Check out my blog post! CPA Approval Services are Fraud – Performance Marketing Insider http://t.co/GOQqDTJF via @pacelattin
One of our own, Cassandra Bojoh debuts in PerformInsider… http://t.co/TAQgdMvc
FAME…. Cassandra Bojoh is in Print! kudos! http://t.co/kkGRzaFw
Great article Cassandra. With so many CPA networks out there, more and more people are looking for a “get rich quick” way to work the networks. It doesn’t happen — making money is never easy and these guys are nothing but scammers.
pacelattin recently posted..Cake Marketing
Thanks Pace!
Wow! Beautifully and masterfully written. Thank you so much for the info. I would imagine there are still some green AM’s who have no knowledge of the business who have no idea about this.
Very Nice.
Yeah one of the things to watch out for.
You can google for yourself, “how to get into a cpa network” and there are tons of guides on ebooks on it as well. I pride my network in being the most difficult to get into as the questions we ask and verification required by the affiliate does not leave us susceptible to the type of fraud above where people pay for affiliate accounts and can just answer the questions. Proper stringent approval policies are not only our policy but should be every networks policy. Theres been guys doing this for about 5 years now to my knowledge is when it first started happening to the first network I owned. It has gotten much more prevalent but is certainly nothing new. We have yet to actually have a fraudulent affiliate due to our approval process. Honestly if you can scam your way into ploose you deserve it because its that hard haha. My tip to all the affiliate networks out there reading this: KNOW the traffic sources and types and little details about each to ask the affiliate applying, things that ARE NOT covered in how to get into cpa network guides and ebooks. I make affiliates show me in many cases proof/verification of their traffic sources and current affiliate accounts with other reputable networks as well as check references and run the screenshots or videos I require of them through a lot of custom tools to ensure it isnt modified/photoshopped or a pre-existing image you can also find on google through “nameofbigcpanetwork earnings”. These frauders are only getting smarter. Networks are starting to fall apart because Ive got news for many of you: the vetting sheet youve had and been using for years isnt good enough to keep out bad affiliates anymore. I cant tell you how many phone interviews ive done with guys that do have accounts with “all the big networks” but end up being a frauder by the end of the conversation, even north american affiliates — this problem is not limited to third world countries although it is certainly more prevalent. Quality control to the extreme. We pride ourselves on how difficult it is to get in as do the few affiliates we do accept who meet our minimum requirements and make it through our approval and can truly say Ploose.com is exclusive. Bottom line dont be afraid to grill these affiliates applying more to your network, a few bad ones can cost you a relationship/offer that you cant get back. Its just not worth it if your goal is longevity and I certainly hope all the networks out there goal is actually longevity and not just a quick buck. Just my 2cents
This was a no brainer to me. Anyone trying to use these services are probably not very sharp. If you can’t get into the 1st tier networks you can get into some others that approve pretty much anybody. I don’t get why you would need a dumb service like that unless you are a spammer yourself!
The Kalki recently posted..The 3 Definitions of Niche that You Must Know.
You have a good point there. If they say that they are professionals in providing traffic to your site then why don’t do that to their self. I’m okay with virtual assistants that I can delegate tasks to gain traffic my way.
Danica Stone recently posted..יוגה
[...] Cassandra Bojoh has been an Affiliate Manager at GetAds for just about a year and she is really getting the hang of things in the Affiliate Marketing realm. So much so, that she has some useful advice for us all, in this article she wrote for Performance Marketing Insider….check it out! http://performinsider.com/2011/09/cpa-approval-services-are-fraud/ [...]
[...] » The truth about CPA approval services. [Performance Marketing Insider] [...]