The World Greatest is a SCAMMER

Well guys this makes 5 out of the last 7 trades that I got scammed. Have you all heard that old saying about " I never make the same mistake over 8 times"

This time I pegged this jerk from the start. Tried to communicate it to some other members and simply got brushed off. From his MO, I knew he was going red within 3 or 4 days and sure as heck he did. Luckily, this time I didn't bite and pay him before he went red.

The guy jumps in with a zero TR yet obviously is an expert at what he's doing. Get's 5 TR's (and god knows how many others working in 3 days) and everybody falls over themselves trying to give him sites and pay him ON GREEN. What's wrong with that picture?

If you go check through his feedback, you will see that only a couple people had the good sense to include the sites he's done in their feedback. Until EVERYBODY starts doing this, we will ALL continue to get burned.

My prediction is that, if we don't start grabbing control from the scammers, this entire industry will go Tubesville within the next 6 months.

Part of the solution is DON'T PAY ANYONE WITH A TR of less than 4 until approval. It won't solve all the problems but it will solve a bunch.

Just my 2 cents. Of course the suggestion is worthless unless and until EVERYBODY wakes up to what is going on.

Fitz

Your solution makes sense. I have been getting burned on TRAINN sites. It's frustrating getting to the approval process and finding out you have been burned. I am seriously thinking about altering my own rules here to paying on approval to a lower TR.

After getting ripped off by someone with 7 TR, I now look for 8 TR to pay on green.

It's been said several times before by others but, when somebody jumps 1n here, joins one day and has 5 or 6 Trs 2 days later, that should send up a big red flag to everybody. Particularly when the "newbie" turns out to be extremely efficient and is able to green in a matter of minutes.

We can end a lot of this stuff with common sense and just a little communication. IF EVERYBODY INCLUDES THE COMPLETED SITE IN THEIR FEEDBACK, some of this can be corrected before getting into a trade. If people refuse to pay on green, except with established traders, a lot of this will go away but it ain't going to work unless
everybody buys into it or it is simply made a Trading Rule. People who are trying to maintain an edge by paying on green and rationalize it with " taking an occasional hit is just a cost of doing business" just aren't looking at the whole picture.

Not only is this killing us here but site owners are becoming totally paranoid about issuing credits and paying people. If this stuff isn't corrected and corrected soon, the Freebie scene is going to become a total waste of time and effort.

I'm really sad that more people can't see the danger in all this and
get involved in coming up with some solutions. There's no magic bullet here but we can certainly improve things if everybody gets involved.

Fitz...you really couldn't have said it better!! ... wink

I also have been scammed by this user...and should have seen it coming. He got me on 360Elite4Free...and I'm an idiot for not catching him. He sent me a PM after I set up the trade asking if I paid on GREEN...I of course (like a total moron!) said yes! SHOULD HAVE CLUED IN RIGHT THERE...BUT DIDN'T... roll

The sad thing is that because of the three or four RED's I received in a matter of two days...I opened a support ticket with 360Elite to attempt to have all of my GREEN ref's looked at...the response I got was that they couldn't do it until final approval...that if I had a specific ref...they would look. I realize they must be getting alot of these requests, but if they had AIM support like ZPT / Wish4free / COT...you could get a suspicious ref checked pretty much anytime. Hence...the reason I really only work their sites!

Anyway...this stuff is getting ridiculous! I mean...I just do this for some extra side cash...and if it goes away...it goes away, but everyone should consider not paying anyone with a very low TR until approval...or at least until their GREEN can be checked. I guess you still could always have a ref go RED for cancelling, but the majority of my recent RED's are for multiple accounts, offers done over and over...etc., but at least the real scammers would have their legs cut out...somewhat.

I personally will stop paying so quickly on GREEN's...to avoid the losses involved. I too considered it the cost of doing business, but it's exceeding that now.

... 8)

I'm wondering why someone hasn't come up with a verification process that guarantees the ref is legit. Why can't they have you use a verification code that you receive from your home phone before your allowed to register. I had to do that before I got my gift from 2dollardeal. Wouldn't that also work for registrations? Then you would know the person is signing up from their home. You would also have a way to potentially prosecute frauders. The freebie world is going to implode or be a hundred times better this time next year.

Now we're talking. This is a fun and potentially profitable sideline for a bunch of really great people. Let's not let a few scumbags spoil it for everybody. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that there's enough
talent out there to figure this out and put an end to this stuff before this all goes away.