We want to share the most common fraud schemes and scams in affiliate marketing and explain how to recognize them to avoid being deceived. You will learn how scammers operate, how to identify them, and how to protect your budget.
Scam Training Programs
Beginners can easily fall prey to one of the most popular schemes, which is fake courses. After paying for a training course, it turns out that the information is outdated and taken from publicly available sources.
It goes without saying that such courses won’t be helpful, and paying for them is a waste of money. However, sometimes there are genuinely useful materials on the Internet that can assist beginners. Here’s how to distinguish them from scam training programs:
- Publisher. Courses from large media outlets, well-known figures in the CPA sphere, or experienced affiliate marketers will be more valuable than those offered by Instagram influencers or unknown individuals without any case studies. Always check the publisher and verify the authenticity of links to their accounts to avoid landing on a copy of a trustworthy webmaster’s page.
- Feedback from real people. Look for reviews and comments, consult with colleagues, and check whether authoritative industry players are referencing the publisher. Scam programs usually have disabled comments, and reviews can only be left directly through an admin.
- Promotion Methods. Trustworthy and valuable projects will not promote themselves through spam, mass liking, or other gray-hat methods.
- Quality of Information. Request a demo version of the course or free access to the first lessons to assess the quality of the material. If the information in these materials is publicly available, it’s likely that other content from the course can also be found online.
Experienced affiliate marketers know how to turn a website traffic into money, and they typically don’t need to share their knowledge. On the other hand, affiliate teams may offer free training in order to recruit new hands-on workers.
However, scammers may also pass off as legitimate teams of affiliate marketers. We’ll explain this scheme in more detail in the next section.
Fake Teams
A scammer can fake the accounts of an affiliate team or promote the pages of a “new” team in order to deceive webmasters.
The scam works like this: the fake team offers training or a job opportunity. To get started, the webmaster is asked to purchase some consumables or tools. The team will direct the webmaster to a “trusted” seller to make the payment. After that, both the store and the team vanish into thin air, leaving the webmaster without the consumables and budget.
To identify a scam team, follow these rules:
- Check the links. If you’re considering collaborating with a well-known team, verify the links to the accounts you’re communicating with. Scammers can use similar URLs to pose as a reputable group.
- Review their posts. Check the team’s media presence; it should include links to case studies, practical data about campaigns, and open comments. It’s important that the channels have been developed over time, not all at once.
- Offer your own resources. Simply inform them that you already have the necessary tools and are ready to start. If you’re dealing with scammers, they will instantly lose interest. Alternatively, you can say that you already have a source for consumables.
- Compare prices. Typically, prices in scam stores differ from the market average. Look for similar offers from various sellers and compare the prices. If one is significantly higher or lower, it’s a red flag.
Avoid links shared by unfamiliar people. Stick to trusted stores and avoid working with teams that are unknown or unverified.
Fake Managers
This scheme targets experienced webmasters. A scammer disguises themselves as an affiliate network manager and suggests driving traffic to a special link with “private” conditions, such as higher payouts. The arguments can vary widely, from strengthening cooperation to suggestions on how to cheat the affiliate program.
If the webmaster agrees and drives leads, the scammer collects the payment from the affiliate program and disappears, effectively getting traffic at someone else’s expense. The scammer may even pay for the first leads to gain trust and then scale up the volume.
Use only links that you get directly from the affiliate program’s official website. Don’t send money to managers and avoid using links from unfamiliar sources, even if the message appears to come from the company’s profile — it could be hacked as well.
Fraud Affiliate Programs
In this case, the affiliate program itself is the scammer. It simply doesn’t pay for a portion of leads, using various excuses. No one is immune from it; even large affiliate programs can be involved, and detecting this type of fraud is extremely difficult.
You should pay attention to the following things:
- The affiliate program accuses the webmaster of low-quality or manipulated traffic.
- A large number of leads is disregarded, and conversions are frequently rejected.
- Traffic volume consistently increases, but revenue and the number of leads do not.
- The lead path in the affiliate program is displayed slowly and inaccurately, with discrepancies between the tracker data and the affiliate network’s statistics.
- Conversions drop toward the end of the month when the affiliate program’s advertiser budget is running out.
- The affiliate program cannot explain the sharp changes in conversions and why the situation seems to get back to normal after a while.
If a webmaster encounters signs of fraudulent activity, they should check reviews from other specialists and discuss the situation with the affiliate program’s manager. Once suspicions are confirmed, the best course of action is to switch affiliate programs and leave a review to help other people to avoid the same issue.
Conclusion
By being attentive you can reduce the risk of being taken in by different fraud schemes. Always verify links and accounts, don’t rush to share your budget, evaluate reviews, and avoid working with those you’re not sure about. Following these simple steps can keep scammers and their tricks at bay for good!
