Why Did Facebook Open the Door to Scam Advertisers?
If you’ve logged into your Facebook account since this past Thursday, you might have noticed something’s different… That’s right, those are scammiest Facebook ads you’ve seen yet.
According to insiders, on Thursday an edict came down from the ‘executive level’ to dramatically loosen the ad quality standards for Facebook’s image and text advertisements. Up until this point, potential advertisers and their ‘affiliates’ (commission-only marketing agents) have had to meet stringent discretion guidelines to ensure users weren’t being scammed by fraudulent advertisements and ‘exclusive offers’.
The floodgates however are now open… According to a source close to these advertisers, Facebook has decided to allow all kinds of formerly regulated advertisements including:
- “Work-at-Home” Scams
- “Free Trial” Diet Products that bill your credit card well before the trial period ends, then refuse to let you cancel
- “Free Federal Grant Money” rackets where you pay get a list of ’secret’ free grant programs (no such thing as a free lunch)
- “Free Ringtone” subscription services (The Florida Attorney General’s Office had a field day with this one)
- “Free IQ Surveys” that feed you a bunch of easily answered questions before you are required to pay to see the results.
- “Cash4Gold” Programs encouraging you to shove your jewelery in an envelope and mail it in for a third of its actual value
The list goes on, reports also indicate ‘male enhancement’ products are making it through to users. Facebook has reportedly also significantly increased the daily spending limits for shady advertisers, enabling them to spam a wider array of users.
Some recent gems:
Wads of cash and the illegal use of celebrity images may be bringing in the clicks, but when users end up getting ripped off by all of these “free” offers, chances are they have every right to as why Facebook is suddenly allowing all this crap.
Are they that far behind MySpace in advertising revenue that they need to stoop this far? Or is this just a grand fishing experiment to find out how much scammers are willing to pay when they’re not having any luck with legitimate advertisers?
Post a comment with the most ridiculous Facebook ad you’ve seen this week…maybe we can get them to rethink spamming their users
They shouldn’t stoop down to this level but unfortunately they are… Just when I started to like Facebook…
Funny. I haven’t seen a single ad on Facebook since I signed up. Oh yeah, it’s because I block that crap so I don’t have to see it.
Ads like these are going to turn off legitimate advertisers. I would never want my company to be viewed as of the same caliber of most of the Facebook ads I’m seeing.
Here’s my favorite so far: http://twitpic.com/1cwvf
this ad just just feeds the “I’m gonna get PAID!” mentality that the minorities and other ’suckers’ had when they voted for Obama… yeah, keep watching that mailbox…heheh
There are ads on Facebook? Who knew?
“Are they that far behind MySpace in advertising revenue that they need to stoop this far?”
Yes.
Last time I checked, Facebook didn’t force anyone to click on the ads. No website does. So, why exactly should we expect Facebook to do anything about them? That’s like complaining to television networks about commercials. If you don’t like the ad, don’t buy the product. And, if you choose to click on the ad, do some due diligence before you go spending your money.
People have gotten so lazy now, sheesh. -Mind you, I’m only 24 yrs old.-
For years now I’ve been ranting about the poor quality of the ads on FB. They know tons about not only every every user, but who all their friends are, and what they like. They should be doing MUCH better.
I get both gay and straight dating ads at the same time. (I’m straight.) Now I’m getting Russian mail order bride ads. That’s spam territory. What’s next? “heRbaL V1agr@” ? Recently I got served one of the crappy IQ ads that read “Results can be scray” S-C-R-A-Y? WTF?
They suck so hard,.
“Facebook didn’t force anyone to click on the ads.” — There will always be gullible people. Facebook should be ashamed to post these scam ads.
Also obvious is that Facebook is complicit - they either did not check these ads out (failure to perform due diligence) -or- they did check them out and decided to allow the fraud.
I clicked on one of those IQ Test things. I even put in my phone number. It texted me a pin to put into the website. I then read the terms and conditions so I DIDN’T put the pin number in. I DIDN’T check the “agree to terms and conditions” box and didn’t proceed further. I closed the page.
And yet, they STILL SIGNED ME UP!!! And I don’t know how to end it!
Beware any advertising for Clear Lift Ultra on Facebook. It is a scam. You sign up for a free trial and provide credit card details for shipping and handling of the free trial product then suddenly find that you are being billed monthly for all manner of memberships for affiliated products and dodgy products being delivered or not delivered from companies with no physical contact details only PO Box addresses. Never mind the cancel any time by calling this number information as most of it is fraudulent and I haven’t managed to get through to anyone so have had to cancel my credit card. I agree with those who comment that allowing these scammers to advertise on Facebook will affect legitimate advertisers, I certainly won’t be clicking on to any advertising in Facebook again.