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I hear that folks from the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Florida are knocking on lots of doors in search of shady affiliate marketers.
It seems there have been some very questionable marketing efforts for ringtone offers, and the Florida Attorney General is anxious to bring the bad actors to justice.
Forbidden behavior has included cramming (manually inputting leads without the consumer’s knowledge), as well as marketing offers as free, when there is a fee, via deceptive advertising and the manipulation of landing pages.
If any affiliates have information about this sort of behavior in connection with Buongiorno USA dba Dirty Hippo or Jamster, Robert Schara wants to hear from you. He’s a Financial Investigator for the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Florida.
You can reach him by e-mail at robert_schara@oag.state.fl.us or on the phone at 850-414-3300.
He is also looking for information on CPA networks who might have had knowledge, involvement, or other participation in this effort to game the system.
This is a call to the honest affiliates out there. Don’t assume others are going to step forward.
When outsiders think of affiliate marketing, they think of the scammers. They don’t think of those of us who love the industry.
Don’t let these cheaters define our space - share anything you know to help clean things up.
Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.
** UPDATE **
The phone number above is the general line for the Florida Attorney General, Bill McCollum.
The direct line for people to share information on this issue is (850) 766-2889. Ask for either Robert Schara or Jon Gillman.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Kenny Jahng // Feb 8, 2007 at 7:47 am
Sean, What’s the implication of this news? If anyone is promoting Jamster or Hipp ringtone offers, does that mean they should take down the campaigns/banners/links/etc immediately?
Are there ANY ringtone providers that are seen as legit in the eyes of the AG’s offices across the country?
2 Shawn Collins // Feb 8, 2007 at 7:58 am
> If anyone is promoting Jamster or Hipp ringtone offers, does that mean they should take down the campaigns/banners/links/etc immediately?
Hi Kenny -
It’s not a problem with the offers, but rather the people that are misrepresenting the offers.
So long as you are playing by the rules, you don’t have anything to worry about.
3 Make Easy Money // Apr 29, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Hey I’ve seen some sites where the person would post screenshots that you can get hacks to certain game just by giving your cell #. They claim it will be sent out to your phone, and they heavily promote their site through myspace, craigslist, and especially on gaming forums.
These types are deceptive, and some people actually do fall for these.
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