Been scammed by a DP adsense user. Revenue to purchased sites caused by Bots

Hi,

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=338819

I purchased 10 proxy sites from this member under the belief (and guidance) that these sites all had natural referral traffic and revenue.

Upon sending payment, I was then told that all traffic and clicks to these domains were from Bots.

I had asked for a refund but of course, that was not going to happen.

I would like to report this to google not only for the benefit of the publishers, but also to point out that this member is a total scam.

Question is, what email do I report this to, and what should I say(seeing that the sites in question have already had the code changed to my account).

 

That is really bad, but this should be in the Suggestions & Feedback section..

 

that's sad, you should take care while doing these things.

 

This is pretty ironic....

Why would sellers tell you it's broken right after he pays the cash? Pretty funny.

How did you pay this guy? ( What payment method )

 

anyway what was your payment method??? i mean did u pay via Paypal?

 

https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=18386

 

Make sure you leave a negative iTrader so others can beware.

 

Paid via paypal, so if what ive heard is right there is no chance of a refund on virtual items.

Thanks for that Juliov.

I just cant stand working hard day and night to get a good adsense income just to have scammers like this take advantage of the system. Not really fair.

 

he told you the traffic was bot traffic? or it appears that way/IP logs prove
it?

i highly doubt google will do anything. as to paypal - the only way i've heard of people getting their $ back for a website purchase are those that paid via CC and did a chargeback.

 

It's actually the other way around I think - it's the seller that is vulnerable when selling virtual items.

If you claim that you didn't receive what you paid for, the seller has to prove that they gave it to you - the way Paypal does this is with shipping tracking references, and so I guess they won't have one - refund to you, no more problem.

I'd raise it as a dispute and see what happens...

 

Told me via PM after I asked him if he had an ad filter setup or some sort, and why I was getting less than 1% of the proclaimed traffic.

I have all the PMs and thread posts printscreened and made into an image for paypals use as I am creating a claim as we speak. I am not fussed over the money, but the principal about it is what gets me. He had the chance to simply refund the money and be done with it, but now that google will become involved I'm sure most of his sites will become useless.

Its up to paypal basically, not getting my hopes up though.

 

thought twice about posting this info.

 

have you asked him for the bot code?

 

Yeah use a bot to inflate your earnings, then you'll be here crying when "google banned my account" and want help getting it back...


Sorry to hear that OP! I would DEFINITELY contact adsense and report his a**, also make sure to escalate that claim so you get your money back.

 

Tell the same story to google as you tell us here.

jjmusicpro actually told you that he used bots to click adsense ads?

jjmusicpro, why dont you answer here.

 

Sure did. Best thing is, he did it via PM. It is something scam artists do not do well, cover their tracks. PM conversations are the last place you would want to mention these things.

I have prepared a page with full screen shots of the pms and everything which transpired.

I will let paypal see these first and then share it with the DP community.

 

Oh well,

> Dear Blinksy,
>
> Our investigation into the following transaction is complete. As
> stated in
> our User Agreement, the claims process only applies to the
> delivery of
> goods. It does not apply to complaints about the attributes or
> quality of
> goods received. Therefore, we are unable to reverse this
> transaction or
> issue a refund.

 

I am just curious, if you report him to Google for a site you just bought, couldn't it backfire and they ban the publisher that is on their now which is you. Sometimes Google shoots first and forgets to check the facts. I hate to see anyone scammed but you did all you can by leave negative Itrade.

Now playing devil's advocate, did he tell you that the clicks were from natural traffic prior to your purchase or did he just tell you there was revenue.

It is important to ask several questions before buying something like this. He could just say he didn't lie, he just failed to tell you something you forgot to ask about. This is a lot like a used car dealer.

 

Maybe a used car dealer can do that where you come from, he cant where I am from.

 

TIP on how to protect yourself against such scams:

- check the traffic with ALEXA.. if the website says more than 300 daily then it should have alexa lower than 500,000; if says like more than 600 - the alexa has to be less than 150,000;

- check complete.com for traffic stats ... if they have stats, this means that the website has at least 500 daily and more than 3,000 unique a month. If they show good stats .. then the website is good.

That's how I form my prices when I buy websites.

It is very common that new people give a lot of money for BS sites .. but the learn, eventually ....

I hope this helps ...

Cheers,

Venetsian.