Feb 20 2007

CPA Empire and Mobile Sidewalk Team Up On Ringtone Fraud

By Jeremy Schoemaker 56 comments

cpa empire The reason people HATE ringtone affilaite marketers is because they signup through some sketchy affiliate who promises “Free” ringtones so they put in their phone number and get there pin code then start getting billed 10$ a month or so and are super pissed.

Well here is a great example of some of the scumbags in this industry.This site is for “zapsters” ringtones which is owned by CPA Empire CEO Scott Richter and powered by the Mobile Sidewalk ringtone company.

Goto the site and put in any phone number. Notice how the the terms and services mysteriously auto checks itself. Also the form AUTO SUBMITS itself upon typing in the last digit of the phone number and you are taken to the pin code confirmation page.

This is not even mentioning that the site is titled “Totally FREE !”

So remember a few weeks ago when we reported how the state of Florida was conducting an investigation on companies fraudulently promoting ringtone offers?

Here is a link to the case Which you see they are investigating Buongiorno USA, Inc.

Well ok so maybe these companies just dont know? Hrmm O rly ?? … Lets see the company under current investigation is Buongiorno USA, Inc. for fraudlently promoting ringtones and at that time the CEO was Burton Katz and guess who is Mobile Sidewalk’s current CEO? ya you guessed it its Burton Katz. So looks like same old fraud still works?

Ohh and I am sure this site will be taken down shortly after this blog post so may I present exhibit A your Honor:

You can see in the video I clicked back a few times just to re-verify what was going on. Pretty amazing the balls on these companies!

KING said on February 21st, 2007 at 12:02 am

way to prepare with the video

[Reply]
TattooedMarketer said on February 21st, 2007 at 12:18 am

Good for Scott Richter! Way to be a scumbag!

I recently dropped CPA Empire because of their attitude towards business. At ASW I witnessed a couple of their affiliate managers laughing about the MySpace suit, acting like it was a joke. After that, I didn’t feel like doing business with them. Apparently, I made the right decision.

Great video Shoemoney! Thanks for sharing!

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Andrew Johnson said on February 21st, 2007 at 12:22 am

Interesting how the terms of service say “At this time Verizon, Nextel, and Alltel do not support this polyphonic ringtone offer, but their customers may still play the trivia game” …so maybe 50% or more of the users never even get any ringtones at all?

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SonicReducer said on February 21st, 2007 at 12:49 am

Nice video! It’s just amazing the crap people try to pull. I hope some of these companies get nailed with fraud lawsuits. We need to get rid of the idiots that are giving affiliates a bad name.

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ToddW said on February 21st, 2007 at 1:22 am

WOW!

Auto submitting the form!
Amazing.

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BrettFromTibet said on February 21st, 2007 at 1:47 am

what about the Soulmate Calculator Fraud….?

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Steve said on February 21st, 2007 at 3:37 am

ok, my question: is there any company which has rich ringtone database, good affiliate program and they have better bussiness plan like ‘free ringtones = 10usd per month’? because I checked a few companies and maybe mediaplazza only allow buy only 1 ringtone and the rest shows form ‘Monthly Subscription Plan for just $9.99 per month’ … do you know some company which doesn’t use this trick? or should I forget ringtone industry ?

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Wookie said on February 21st, 2007 at 4:46 am

Are you implying that the trivia game is not worth $10 a month?

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SUP3RNOVA said on February 21st, 2007 at 8:08 am

I was actually looking at that site yesterday, I never tried entering anything in though. Interesting.

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feedbuzzard said on February 21st, 2007 at 8:48 am

Amazing outing Jeremy!
I hope this post doesn’t get into hot water though. Man, you like to stir the pot!

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monks said on February 21st, 2007 at 8:54 am

This site is a perfect example of why people that aren’t intimately familiar with the Internet are afraid of it. They get scammed by sites they visit; meanwhile honest online shops are over shadowed by this crap.

I welcome the crackdown on this sort of manipulation. Let’s see what it does for the industry.

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webprofessor said on February 21st, 2007 at 9:30 am

I don’t really see how auto submission is a big deal. The user just filled in the form, clearly indicating the intent. Its no different than many ajax forms that don’t garner any attention.

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BrettFromTibet said on February 21st, 2007 at 10:28 am

Okay, yeah… so this form is a little sneaky. But seriously, how many people who sign up for “legitimate” ringtone affiliate sites realize fully what they are signing up and being billed for?

Unsavvy computer users are conditioned not to read the fine print they are hit with every time they install software, get an e-mail address, etc… so they just click it. And they don’t realize what they are getting billed for. If they did consciously realize it, ringtones would never have been sizzling hot.. and you know it.

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natekapi said on February 21st, 2007 at 10:31 am

The sites already been changed. I clicked the link and got a completely different landing page.

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Anonymous said on February 21st, 2007 at 11:50 am

I couldn’t get past your first paragraph because of your grammar. Learn the difference between there/their.

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Pete said on February 21st, 2007 at 2:02 pm

This hit front page of digg.com and I think that was the reason I couldn’t get to the site for a while. Did the site go down because of that?

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Ben Cruikshank said on February 21st, 2007 at 2:13 pm

Nice intro to the video
I’m also interested in whether someone can provide a list of ringtone affiliate programs that are on the up-and-up. The ones that I’ve looked into have really turned me off on the industry…

Ben
IdleProfit

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DocWho said on February 21st, 2007 at 2:14 pm

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[Reply]
John said on February 21st, 2007 at 2:34 pm

If dig DID suck, you woulndn’t have used it to find this page. Loser.

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Bigdaddy said on February 21st, 2007 at 2:45 pm

Yea Richter is a Real BlowJob Scumbag,who oshits on everything he touchs.. Cant wait to see him gettin it up his ass by his new Bunkie In the Pen!and his Blowjob Father..

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webprofessor said on February 21st, 2007 at 3:18 pm

Yeah that guy is a big loser. Everyone knows people only get to websites via Digg.com

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Jerry said on February 21st, 2007 at 3:19 pm

Scott is garbage,Hes a classic fat kid that got his ass kicked everyday of his life. Now he has a few bucks and is gettin back at the world..Kinda like Brittney & Anna Nichole..The end result is always a Train Wreck. Richter needs a lesson by a big bully named BUBBA,Perhaps once his ass lips are turned inside out he will be a better man, for now hes a Rag..

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webprofessor said on February 21st, 2007 at 3:21 pm

So you want to watch gay porn ? Thats nasty man.

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Scott Richter said on February 21st, 2007 at 3:24 pm

Yeah so… I went to both the sites that you mentioned, Mobile Sidewalk and Zapsters and NEITHER one automatically checks the Terms box. Do you even know what you’re talking about? Maybe you’re desperately looking for a way to seek revenge on companies that seem to put your ’shoe-money’ to shame… just a thought… but hey… if it makes you feel better…

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webprofessor said on February 21st, 2007 at 3:30 pm

Another man fantasizing about seeing Richter having anal sex.. this could be a new niche.

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Jerry said on February 21st, 2007 at 3:51 pm

Scott you totally fucked up email and are the #1 reason for can-spam, remember fuck face? Now your fuckin up this business..The problem is your built on fraud and all you do is about fraud..Shoe is right you never will tell the truth about being a ripoff and the industry scumbag, but you need to know that 85% of the industry think your a shit ass and all believe your goin to the JERNT and thair you will be someones bitch for sure.. So why dont you just get it through your head nobody likes a scumbag, once and for all go and enjoy your purse snatching money some place warm and hope you beat your next few cases..Murdoch is going to fuckin Crush YOU! Have a nice day buy some lollipops to practice your sucking tecniques…

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Secure Hosting said on February 21st, 2007 at 4:15 pm

Shoe, are you running the blog on a cluster or a single server? If you did a 3 web, 2 db and a good LB like Foundry in front of it, you’d handle the traffic fine.

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Jerry said on February 21st, 2007 at 4:15 pm

Im happy you dont see the problem but its a compliance & business ethics issue that effects us all..This kind of Tricking the public is not a real conversion on good mkting skills, its a hackers way of molesting the public thats what Scott does best!

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Andrew Johnson said on February 21st, 2007 at 5:10 pm

I followed the link posted here last night, and yes, it auto-checked and auto-submitted. If you were not aware of this (which, I’ll take your word for and believe) then you need to figure out who was rather than calling Jeremy a liar.

[Reply]
Mitchel said on February 21st, 2007 at 6:47 pm

Hey Jeremy–

This may be a better question for Ask Shoemoney Mondays, but here goes:

Clearly, the writing is on the wall and there are going to be some big lawauits and settlements from the ringtone guys for deceptive marketing practices in the months ahead. As such, I just purchased some choice domain names around this topic. What would you do to develop these? When?

Thanks!

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Bulbboy said on February 21st, 2007 at 9:41 pm

Leave Shoe’s Grandma out of this. =P

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CPA Affiliates said on February 21st, 2007 at 10:00 pm

WOW that is truely amazing some of the tactics people will take.

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webprofessor said on February 22nd, 2007 at 11:20 am

Thats retarded. The form autosubmits to another page after you fill in the information, big effing deal. The user still needs to confirm their subscription after they voluntarily filled in the form.

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James Omdahl said on February 22nd, 2007 at 12:05 pm

Wow - this thread has gotten a little junior high, no? Anyway, great work on getting evidence of this garbage Shoe…the affiliate world needs positive press, not more negative. Sounds like Scott is heading into a world of hurt (again)…hopefully he will take Jerry’s advice and skip town. I hear the weather is nice in Bogota this time of year…

[Reply]
casey said on February 22nd, 2007 at 12:48 pm

i’ve tried this site many times and have not had the same issue as shown in this blog. i see one user agrees but others? i’m inclined to be a disbeliever and call this a scam too.

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Tracy said on February 22nd, 2007 at 8:18 pm

Ok, for the last week or so I had been trying to figure out what the hell orly meant until my 11 year old daughter told me it meant Oh, really… fun times getting old I guess, now I’ll start wearing the pants up to the chest and talking bad about all those young whippersnappers.

PS. This really doesn’t have to do anything with this particular thread, just had to get it off my chest before I pulled the pants up to there.

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Kellie said on February 23rd, 2007 at 7:29 am

They are force clicking an affiliate link to zapsters via iframes on that page as well. Don’t know if that code was there when the auto submit stuff code was in place or was added as an “instead of” when they removed it.

First off, that technique is sooooo yesterday. Second, did they not think peeps would be viewing source code right now?

[Reply]
Scott Richter said on February 25th, 2007 at 2:06 am

Jeremy, not sure if your system tracks ips or any thing else but the post above was not made by me. We did take the incident seriously after being notified of your report and this was our response to it.

http://affiliatetip.com/news/article001035.php

On a up side note, the PR from it got us about 4 new guys so far who are doing amazing leads on our ringtone offers. So thanks for the press.

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webprofessor said on February 26th, 2007 at 8:46 am

The original comment was attributed to “GetYourFactsStraight” with no link then it changed about an hour after I saw it to “Scott Richter” with a link.

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Matt said on February 26th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

Scotty you are so full of it,I have no clue how anyone would want to even work with you except for the army of looser aff networks that are too weak to negotiate deal flow on there own and are left only to cross publish from you..But I hear you pay them back for it, by making them front’s for your spammy media..Like those guys workin from grandmas house. what are they called Glispin or glitorious some shit like that. Scotty you know them NY guys are no F**in Good..Scott you seem to have entered the time where all will turn against you & seek to ruin you just to save themselves! The Rats will slowly eat the Big Cheese. Thats gonna be a great read there chubby! Nothin but love for ya scummer king..HaHaHa

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Ferrarislave said on February 26th, 2007 at 10:49 pm

I actually kind of like that automatic check, it generates more leads! Joking, it’s pretty shady and people shouldn’t have to unclick it 100x, but I mean if you’re entered your number in the box’s you already know what you’re getting. Read the TOS and just be conscious of what you’re doing online. This isn’t just for ringtones, it’s for everything.

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natekapi said on February 27th, 2007 at 10:17 am

I just went and checked out this landing page again and noticed that its back to the one in your video but it didn’t do the auto submission for me once I entered a number.

Either way CPA empire is still kinda sketchy!

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Will said on March 18th, 2007 at 5:44 pm

It also would most definately not be worth it…

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ta said on February 20th, 2007 at 11:40 pm

wow between this and the MySpace spamming CPA empire seems like real douch bags

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CPA Empire What Are You Doing? - Blackbeard SEO said on February 21st, 2007 at 10:28 am

[...] been trying to scale back on the blogging so I can get some real work done, but this latest post from Shoemoney about CPA Empire and ringtone fraud is pretty bad. Essentially the top executives at CPA Empire and [...]
ShoeMoney said on February 21st, 2007 at 2:04 pm

yea lol hard to prepare for a noon digg sending 140 hits a second

[Reply]
dillsmack said on February 21st, 2007 at 2:28 pm

You’re such a poor reader that the wrong form of their confuses you?

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Bronte Media » Free Ringtones! said on February 21st, 2007 at 3:26 pm

[...] has a great tale of how a ringtone affiliate uses nefarious techniques to trick kids into thinking they are getting free ringtones, when in fact they are paying [...]
ShoeMoney said on February 21st, 2007 at 3:29 pm

interesting you do not address the actual site I named… nor that you own that site and that its powered by mobile sidewalk or anything to do with the investigation currently going on. And yes I would hope your company dwarfs mine in revenue… is that all you have to say for yourself?

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ShoeMoney said on February 22nd, 2007 at 1:33 am

honestly I would not say any legal issues are coming… the only cases I am aware that are even being investigated date back 2-3 years ago.

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Affiliate Tip Blog » Blog Archive » Affiliate Ringtonegate: Richter or Rogue Affiliate? said on February 25th, 2007 at 1:28 pm

[...] his post, CPA Empire and Mobile Sidewalk Team Up On Ringtone Fraud, ShoeMoney provides an example where an affiliate is using forbidden tactics with the following [...]
�� | �� said on February 26th, 2007 at 4:12 pm

[...] �� Shoemoney? �� CPA Empire and Mobile Sidewalk Team Up On Ringtone Fraud �� : �� , �� [...]
Affiliate Marketing Blog - RealTimeAffiliateMarketing.com » Blog Archive » CPA Empire Fraud Story Re-Surfaces said on March 15th, 2007 at 7:36 am

[...] 20, 2007 - On shoemoney.com, Jeremy Schoemaker (aka ShoeMoney) reports on his blog that CPA Empire and Mobile Sidewalk are [...]
CPA Empires Loses SIX Million Dollar Judgement - ShoeMoney® said on June 16th, 2008 at 5:38 pm

[...] and if there was evidence to say he had knowledge the judgment would have been for a ton more. When I highlighted fraud that was occurring in the past on CPA Empires network they have been very quick to fix [...]
Make Money Online » CPA Empires Loses SIX Million Dollar Judgement To Myspace said on June 16th, 2008 at 6:17 pm

[...] and if there was evidence to say he had knowledge the judgment would have been for a ton more. When I highlighted fraud that was occurring in the past on CPA Empires network they have been very quick to fix [...]
ShoeMoney® » Blog Archive » CPA Empires Loses SIX Million Dollar Judgement To Myspace said on June 17th, 2008 at 1:04 am

[...] and if there was evidence to say he had knowledge the judgment would have been for a ton more. When I highlighted fraud that was occurring in the past on CPA Empires network they have been very quick to fix [...]