We will talk about how to distinguish a scam from a real earning opportunity, a conscientious reseller from a scammer, as well as how not to become a scammer yourself and keep your professional history clean in this material.

Bench in arbitration
Absolutely anyone can become a victim of a scam in our time.

As soon as a new direction appears on the market, there is a need for new consumables or for buying something from third parties - one scam is born in the world. Not only those who work with traffic and launch advertising campaigns can become victims of the scam.

Types of scam:

Arbitration scams are actions of a deceptive nature that cause damage and losses to the person attracting traffic.

Scam of partner networks - actions of a deceptive nature that cause damage and losses to the advertiser or the partner network.

Arbitration Bench
Scam by webmasters is not the only type of fraud in the CPA market. Often the arbitrators themselves become victims of unscrupulous sellers seeking to cash in on the naivety of newcomers to the field of affiliate marketing. Basically, scammers work through telegram channels, arbitration chats or thematic forums. Let's consider the most common types of arbitration bench.

Consumables

The classic model of the scam. Scammers offer various kinds of consumables for sale. After receiving the payment, the accounts in the messengers from which the sale was made are hidden and blocked.

Usually scammers work according to the scheme:

They find arbitration chats, channels or forums.

They set up the distribution of private messages among subscribers or spam in the general chat. The first messages have a template type and do not imply the inclusion of a real person. The text of the mailing list, as a rule, has a standard form:

"Hello, top seller of consumables at the most pleasant prices blah blah blah"

If the victim "bites", then it is processed and brought to the payment stage.

After payment, the scam disappears, and the accounts themselves are blocked.

Courses

Another equally common way of fraudulent activity on the web. The search for gullible victims is also carried out through thematic chats and arbitration channels, where newcomers to the field seek the support of experienced webmasters and ask their questions about the strait.

It is not difficult to identify a beginner. After the scammers find a user interested in learning, they write to him in a personal account with a training offer. There are several options for the outcome of events here:

Selling the full version of the course

As a rule, scammers can provide basic information about the direction absolutely free of charge. Often training programs contain the most illusory statistical indicators, which the future webmaster will be able to access after graduation.

Due to the lack of minimal experience and lack of understanding of the basic basics, beginners cannot assess the reality of such values and therefore are led to an obvious deception. After completing the free part of the course, scammers are asked to pay a fee to receive the full version of the training program, which includes a detailed description of the bay schemes and a package of consumables required to launch an advertising campaign.

It is also not uncommon for webmasters who introduce themselves as market experts to sell information that can be found in free access.

Recommendation of sellers

It is not so difficult to find a program aimed at a quick start in arbitration. Sometimes scammers copy the training programs of large arbitration teams and traffic arbitration training centers, passing off the material as author's. After sending a link to a free course, the webmaster is offered a choice of several "proven" sellers, whose consumables are allegedly used by the scammer himself and his non-existent team.

After the user clicks on the link and pays for consumables, the prices of which can also be taken from nowhere, the scam disappears.

Chats

The most creative way to deceive beginners. Scammers create a closed chat in one of the messengers, including everyone who wants to get into the top traffic flow team and become part of the arbitration community.

After a short introductory conversation, everyone is invited to take a test task, according to the results of which future media buyers will be selected, who will receive an invitation to the team. A classic test task involves a spill in one of the popular traffic sources. All information on the launch of advertising and the passage of moderation is attached, but you will have to look for consumables yourself.

In some cases, such a strait requires "unique" consumables, which are extremely difficult to find online. After some time, one of the chat participants (a front person) shares a link to the market offering the same consumables for purchase. Newcomers follow the link and, hoping to become part of the top team, buy consumables. After the deception is revealed and the first complaints about the scam are received in the conversation, the chat is deleted, and the accounts themselves, from which personal correspondence could be conducted, are blocked.

Paid offers

The main goal of beginners seeking to get into the profession is the pursuit of big money in the shortest possible time. Everyone knows that private offers are paid at increased rates and often involve individual promotion conditions. Only large media buying teams or webmasters that consistently bring large volumes of high-quality traffic are allowed to such offers.

Scammers offer newcomers access to private offers, which differ in large rates, for a nominal fee, allegedly being a commission of the partner network.

In some cases, scammers, under the guise of partner networks, may demand a large sum, which is a guarantee of the seriousness of the webmaster's intentions and proves his ability to work with large volumes. After making the deposit, the amount falls on the deposit and after some period of checking the traffic can be returned back to the webmaster. Of course, no one will return the funds.

Shake from the partner network
Unlike other types of scam, it is not small scammers who are engaged in the shake, but partner networks. A shave is a deliberate reduction in the actual number of leads attracted by a webmaster. The motives of the shift on the part of partner networks are quite clear — saving money. With one saved lead, an affiliate network representing gambling offers can save up to $ 500.

Popular ways of sewing:

Reduction of statistical indicators - reduction of real indicators of the strait without explanation or demonstration of additional details;

Deliberate reduction of appruva - After users have performed a targeted action, the call center handles the traffic attracted to the gut offers. It depends on their actions whether the order will be confirmed.

The use of redirects - the links received by the webmaster to the stream partially drive traffic to third-party offers, bringing benefits to the PP and depriving the party engaged in attracting users of benefits.

Fraud. - accusing webmasters of fraud and mistakenly sending leads to trash.

Scam of partner networks
There are not so many ways to deceive partner networks to receive payments without attracting real traffic. The main one is fraud.

Fraud is the provision of low-quality traffic under the guise of high-quality.

Fraud is prohibited absolutely in all partner networks. In case of detection of an attempt to receive remuneration fraudulently, the webmaster's account is blocked.

Bots

With bot traffic, everything is more or less logical and quite simple. It is extracted with the help of special bots. Their functionality includes registration by generated numbers and emails, as well as passing an elementary captcha.

Captcha is a special security code for checking a real user. Usually it is a pop-up window or an image, the value of which must be entered in the appropriate field.

The traffic check period of 10-14 days allows the moderators of the partner network to carefully analyze the traffic received and evaluate the effectiveness and prospects of cooperation with the webmaster. If there are no more than 10 out of ten thousand leads of real sales, then a manual traffic check is carried out. As a result of the check, fraud is revealed, the invalidity of traffic is proved and payments are canceled.

Motivated traffic

Motivated traffic refers to users who have committed a targeted action due to additional motivation. By themselves, they were not interested in the product or application and pursued solely the goal of making money. The use of motivated traffic is popular when working with offers without conditions for the purchase of any product at the moment.

Motivated traffic performs a targeted action for a reward. The amount of remuneration does not exceed 20% of the payout.

Partner networks with weak anti-fraud systems suffer the most, since it is more difficult to recognize motivated traffic than bot traffic. To determine motivated traffic, a hold period of 24 days and detailed analytics at the verification stage are required.

Expert advice from the Clickengine media buying team
Use only proven sellers of consumables;

Do not transfer money to strangers;

Work only with trusted partner networks;

Be honest with the partner network;

Take training in special services;

Check out the reviews when buying the course.