The other day, I was asked to do something that immediately struck me as suspicious, and I promptly declined.
As many of you know, one of the ways we raise funds to help cover operating expenses is sponsored content. We publish a post with backlinks that allow the linked page to get a lift from ‘Grok’s higher Page and Domain Authority. We charge a nominal fee for the time required to publish. I get hundreds of requests each month, most of them beginning with “Hello Dear,” and a few emails later with “I am a reseller with many clients, but your budget is too high.”
It’s a dance I’ve streamlined over the years to limit the amount of time I waste from “Hello, Dear” to “too high” to “OK, I send you an article,” which is code for F off, you pricey bastard, I’m done here.
Our sponsored content rates are not overpriced. A handful of our clients pay what we ask, and a few send enough volume yearly to warrant a slight discount. Everyone else wants something for nothing, and those are the ones I’m trying to shepherd out of my inbox as quickly as I’m able.
Of the hundreds of requests that hit my inbox each month, very few result in an exchange of published content for payment, but that’s not why I dragged you through that explanation. I got a query over the weekend that has me thinking I should contact the AG, PayPal, or someone.
The subject requesting the publication of sponsored content used the name Malik and asked for pricing.
Hello,Hope your are doing great.
I am interested in your website for a blog/guest post.
Can you please provide me the following details.
Price for blog/guest post.?
will you write the article.?
will the post shows on home page..??
I responded with a copy-and-paste response of our generic pricing, which they accepted without question, and that never happens. No haggling.
Not long after, I was presented with two articles to publish, which I did. I created an invoice and sent the live post links and PayPal invoice link to this new “customer,” going by the name Malik. This was the response.
I want you to create invoice of 500$ for me . My client will send you payment . You will deduct your amount and send the rest my webmaster paypal . Currently, I am not able to manage any transaction because of Paypal issue . I am asking for help . Can you manage transaction for me?
Lots of red flags were waving.
If you are having a problem with PayPal, how are you going to get money via PayPal? Not that ‘using Steve and the ‘Grok as a laundromat wasn’t higher on my list of reasons for not doing it. The scheme looked laugh-out-loud African Prince sharing their fortune obvious.
I replied, “Sorry, I’m not interested in doing that, and not just because of how sketchy it sounds. You can pay via debit or credit card through our donation portal via either GiveSendGo or PayPal.”
Malik asked me to take down the content, which I did, and our business was concluded, but it kept bugging me. The first thought is some low-dollar money laundering scheme that, had I accepted, would have resulted in more of the same. The second is that it was a setup to trap me if I did it and then string it along until the sum was significant enough to be of value or to create leverage.
I know it sounds a bit paranoid, but the world is full of tripwires, our government has increasingly gotten into the business of entrapment, and we can’t know every trick. We can only do the right thing, and I would never engage in this sort of transfer under any circumstance (NSA and IRS, if you are listening?).
I’ve moved on, but it is a curious enough request that I’m still wondering if this is something and someone I should identify to some “authority” other than this audience.
