Fake MySpace Profiles

Let me start by explaining why I’ve decided to expose the idiots who use fake profiles on MySpace for marketing purposes. I’ve been doing online marketing full-time in one form or another for a few years now. And, I’ve been a half-ass active member of the Online Adult Industry since December of 2004. Since I like boobies and a relaxed business atmosphere, I’d like to focus my attention on promoting adult services and products.

The problem with this is simple: Trust. People do not trust adult websites. The bad seeds in the industry who use spam and spyware to generate website traffic have done a good job of pissing everyone off. And, then there’s all the deceptive marketing employed by dumbasses looking to make a quick buck. These guys give the industry a black-eye and make it harder for all the honest folks to make decent money.

Ok, enough with the mushy shit. Here’s the deal: people using fake Myspace profiles to promote adult webcam sites has really been pissing me off lately. People use fake profiles to promote other stuff, but adult cam sites seem to be the #1 thing at the moment. And, here’s an example of how this deceptive process unfolds:

Step One: They Create a Fake Profile.

*These screenshots were taken from an actual profile on MySpace. I chose this one to rip into because these guys have this hustle nearly perfected. Most of the idiots who market via fake myspace profiles are not nearly as clever.

Being the master of social engineering that I am (ex scam artist), I can tell you that the above “About Me” section is fairly well put together. It does a half-way decent job of coming off as genuine by using shorthand and listing “her” dislikes. And, it doesn’t alienate too many people either. Not hairy, smelly, or a racist? This babe is all yours. It also does what in sales is called “planting a seed”. She doesn’t like “cheap people”, so you better have that credit card ready. ;-)

Step Two: They Setup Instant Messenger Bots

In that “About Me” section the very first things listed are “her” AIM and MSN Messenger screen-names. This is done so that all us horny-by-nature guys will send her an instant message. Both of “her” messenger programs are setup with Instant Messenger Bots to entice people into signing-up for a adult webcam website.

What in the hell is an Instant Messenger Bot? In this case, it’s a program that works in conjunction with instant messenger programs to trick someone into believing that they are having a conversation with a person.

Huh? I can show you better than I can tell you. The below is the “conversation” I had with the AIM screen-name listed on this particular fake MySpace profile.

~~~~~

ZLoLoZ (3:25:19 AM):I rape monkeys for fun and smoke crack daily. Will you be my hooker?

FIXXAHOTTY returned at 3:25:19 AM.

fixxahotty (3:25:27 AM): hey whats up, whos this?

ZLoLoZ (3:26:25 AM): This is cracker crack. You don’t remember me Ms. Auto Responder?

fixxahotty (3:26:39 AM): OH u got my friend thing on myspace lol..

ZLoLoZ (3:27:18 AM): Yes, and I’d really like to touch monkeys with you.

fixxahotty (3:27:37 AM): listen hun..I’m just about to start my webcam show with sasha…its easier for me to chat ya in my chat room if u wanna log in? can u cum watch and chat me there?

ZLoLoZ (3:28:06 AM): As long as Sasha is a monkey, I’m down.

fixxahotty (3:28:30 AM): you can be one of my VIP guests if you promise not to tell anyone u have VIP status? do u promise?…

ZLoLoZ (3:29:10 AM): I swear to Allah and scat videos.

fixxahotty (3:30:09 AM): well since its the law that u gotta be 18 (nudity involved), u gotta login with a credit card to prove u are 18! Once you login, just tell me your username and I’ll make it a VIP memberhsip (like I do for my friends). ONLY if you promise not to mention in the chatroom that you have VIP.. I can get in trouble [Removed: The web address to “her” page on a webcam site was listed here]

ZLoLoZ (3:30:54 AM): Sasha better have a big monkey dick for all this trouble.

fixxahotty (3:31:13 AM): please don’t mention i am upgrading you once you are in my chatroom ok?

ZLoLoZ (3:31:37 AM): It’ll be between me, you, and the monkey.

fixxahotty (3:32:36 AM): OH SHIT.. k I’m late to start my show, I gotta get off aim..Ill see ya inside my chatroom babe.. You can use your aim name to sign in so i know it’s you.. remember SHHHH about u being one of my VIP’s..

~~~~~

As you can see, the above “conversation” is ridiculous. I could have said anything and gotten back the same responses. This bot setup was actually pretty slick though. Look at the times of all “her” responses. You’ll see that the program was setup to leave a buffer of time between replies to make it seem as though someone is actually typing-out her end of the conversation.

Step Three: They Use a “Mass Friend Adder” Program

A mass friend adder is a program which crawls MySpace in an automated fashion and goes through the process of requesting that people add you as their friend. Once a “Friend Request” is sent to them, they will naturally look at your MySpace profile page to see who you are and if they want to add you.

These Mass Friend Adder programs are really the best friend of people who market in this underhanded way. Why? Because these programs have targeting options. You can set them to only “add people” that fit a certain criteria. And, they can be tweaked to only add people who are currently online and using MySpace. In other words, they can send friend requests to all the males between the ages of 21 and 50 who are currently using MySpace and live in the city of New York.

Step Four: They Rake in Tons of Money

Seriously, adult webcam sites bring-in millions of dollars monthly. Why are they so profitable? Unlike the nearly dead phone sex craze, you can actually see the performer. I’ll leave it at that because I don’t want this to become a sales pitch.

And, that’s it. A fairly simple four step process that is adding a couple 100k to the already huge adult webcam market. Too bad it’s via the use of deceptive marketing practices.

Some of you more savvy folks are probably saying: “Yeah right, nobody would actually fall for this crap”. Yes, they would. And, they do. The fake profile I used as an example already had 173 friends within about an hour of it’s creation. And, six of those guys had already left comments on the profile. “Thanx for the super cool add, messege somtime so we can talk k? Talk to you soon!” etc…

So, who in the hell are these scumbags?
Generally speaking, they ARE NOT the adult webcam sites themselves. These websites have affiliate programs in place to pay people for sending them traffic / sign-ups. Some of their affiliates are the ones that employ such marketing tactics. Most of the actual webcam sites DO NOT condone such tactics and will suspend an affiliate’s account and payment if they are caught doing such things.

What’s got me really pissed is that the fake profile I used as the example for this article was not the creation of an affiliate. It was created by an adult webcam company to promote their site. This is beyond screwed-up for a number of reasons. A company of its size should be doing everything it can to help clean-up the image of the industry, not add another stain to it. I’m not going to reveal their identity here because “Bad publicity is better than no publicity”. And, I’m not looking to give them any time in the spotlight.

I will say this though:

Dear (Your name begins with a ‘J’ and ends with an ‘N’), I know what you guys are up to. Stop it, this shit is not cool. No, you’re not an exception because your performers are aware of the MySpace marketing you’re doing. Yes, I have plenty of proof that it’s your company and not an affiliate. If you’d like to debate this, you know where to find me.

How You Can Help Combat This BS

For all of us lazy people, I’ve created the banner to your left. If you’re a MySpace user and get a friend request from a profile which you believe to be fake, you can use the HTML code located a couple paragraphs down. Placing that code in the comment section of a suspicious profile will put the banner with a link to this article on the profile.

If they’ve got their profile set so that comments are not automatically posted, you should at the very least report the profile to MySpace. On the bottom of all MySpace profiles there is a link entitled “Report Inappropriate Content”. Simply click it and send them the URL (Website address) of the profile in question.

If you’re extra bored, you can also report them to AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and/or whatever messenger service they are using for their little hustle.

Report MSN Messenger Abuse
Click Here to Report

Report Yahoo Messenger Abuse
Click Here to Report

Report AIM Abuse
Here’s what I found on AOL about reporting the misuse/abuse of AIM:
“No IM abuse reports will be accepted via e-mail IM users (AOL Members/account holders) should use the “notify AOL” button found in the bottom right corner of the IM window. AIM (the free AOL Instant Messenger client) users should utilize the “block” and “warning” features found at the bottom of the AIM window to stop abuse.”

HTML code for the comment section of fake MySpace profiles
Copy and paste the below code into the comment section of any profile on MySpace which you believe to be fake.

<a target="new" href="http://www.burntpickle.com/articles/fake-myspace-profiles/"> <img alt="Article Exposing Fake MySpace Profiles" src="http://www.burntpickle.com/linkable/myspace/fake-myspace-banner.gif"/> </a>

Why should you bother reporting this crap? Just because you can see straight through this BS, it doesn’t mean that your friends and family can. By reporting these guys 24/7 we’ll make it so that such marketing requires much more work for much less profit. And, if it becomes too much of a task for a small return: they will move on to other marketing techniques.

Notes about this article:
I was intentionly vague about many details for a number of reasons.
The main two being:
1. This little write-up is already too long.
2. I didn’t want to create a road-map to success for idiots who want to start doing the exact thing I’m hoping to help stop.

Is there something MySpace can do to combat this themselves?
There are some measures they could take internally that would really help. I won’t mention them here because it would give the fake profile marketing idiots a heads-up.

Why don’t I just use my knowledge to make a bunch of money doing this evilness myself?
I’d be full of shit if I said that I hadn’t thought about it. And, this might sound like some new age hippie nonsense, but… I don’t need the bad Karma. I was doing some hardcore internet scams about 10 years ago. The ensuing shit-sandwich of tough breaks I had in the years to follow were all well deserved.

I’m a different person now. Period.

If you would like to keep-up with all the latest hustles and scams on MySpace, add me as your friend on there: LoLo on MySpace and / or subscribe to my MySpace blog.

Click Here to post a MySpace Bulletin about this article.