Most of us are familiar with the classic movie charlatan, selling the elixir guaranteed to heal you or make you stronger. Or the paid programming on late night TV selling you something you already have or don’t need.
All with fancy words making it seem like something new and innovative or the TV preacher promising he can save your soul. But of course only if you dig deep into your heart AND your pockets. Or the spokesman providing you with “free” information on government secrets.
We’ve all seen it at one point or another…
Although technically, this is all “legal” in a gray area sense (although plenty of them have been sued, fined or previously faced/done jail time). They usually get away with it because it’s the consumer who agrees to invest in such nonsense ignoring all the fine print that safeguards these “companies”.
I call these “spokesman” and “businesses” something else, SCAM ARTISTS. Often taking advantage of our elderly, depressed, poverty-stricken and unfit/unhealthy for profit.
Normally, I don’t publicly shine a spotlight on individuals negatively, even if they’ve done something very wrong to me like stealing my work because that just isn’t necessary and is just petty. As far as business, I take ALL my client’s privacy and safety very seriously. But, in cases where it’s not a client or partner, but someone I’ve received spam or worse a scam attempt from, I feel very strongly about warning other people.
Although I exposed a scammer once and that didn’t go so well because the truth is we really don’t have freedom of speech. With this experience I spoke to lawyers and activists and learned some pretty interesting stuff. I’m now listing all scam/spam stuff I come across here. Anyways…
I received this message via my LinkedIn account:
NAME REMOVED has sent you a message.
Date: 7/08/2010
Subject: art director
“Bryan, good work on those sites…but….you need some education or support in art direction, concept and layout.
Also, copywriting and headline writing is an issue. Grammar and punctuation are issues in some cases.
Let me know if you’d like to talk more.”
NAME REMOVED
COMPANY NAME REMOVED
Omaha, NE
PHONE NUMBER REMOVED
Now, there’s nothing too intrusive or questionable about this so far, all is well. But, I remember just adding this person yesterday, and this “marketing” message came in the very same day. Now, generally… I actually really appreciate constructive criticism when coming from someone respectable and authoritative in the right context (someone that’s not trying to sell me something), after all, there is no better way to learn. I remember about 6-7 years ago I was writing something in a forum, and I received a reply, something like:
“O_O Dude, WALL of text. Ever heard of a paragraph?”
One of the best criticisms I ever received because it was so true, I never even thought about it before. And as we learn and become more skilled we look back at some of our work and either look at it in disgust “What was I thinking?” or we fix it.
Now I really didn’t take offense to this message, because where I stand now in 2010 (now 2012) I’m pretty confident in my skill level. I think my website and blog (this very site) look quite clean and well put together. Of course something like aesthetics is very subjective, we all know this.
So, although I didn’t quite take offense to this it did spark my interest. So either way… his technique worked, because I didn’t just go for the DELETE button right away.
Then I received another email from him (this time, directly to my email):
From: NAME REMOVED <EMAIL REMOVED>
Sent at: 3:03 PM (GMT-05:00). Current time there: 1:48 PM.
To: bhadaway@gmail.com
Date: Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 3:03 PM
Subject: WEBSITE REMOVED“Bryan, I’m interested in your background and skills. Check out WEBSITE REMOVED and the above site…I need affordable help that includes video and blogs.
NAME REMOVED, SLOGAN REMOVED
PHONE NUMBER REMOVED“
There were also two attachments, SLOGAN REMOVED.pdf and Testimonial quotes 3.pdf. If he’s trying to hire me then why do I need testimonials from his “customers“? I don’t need to open them to know what kind of fluff and marketing terminology is in there.
Now, at this point I’m wondering is he trying to hire me OR sale me something? Well, that’s another technique commonly used to trick the consumer, blending that line so it becomes not that you’re giving them money, but that they’re helping you as a courtesy and that the money is just a necessary obstacle to work through. There’s nothing like a company that pretends they don’t like money to lose your trust. We’re such a silly society. Weren’t you ever filling out a resume and when asked “Why do you want to work for us?” – didn’t you just want to say “For money!”
Moving on, it’s probably worth noting that this could very likely not actually be him, but someone he’s hired sending out these SPAM messages for him or just a bot.
Now, I’m not actually accusing this person of anything officially. I’m not filing a complaint or claiming anything, but I needed to warn people of this possible scam. Hey, maybe you’ll even want to hire him after watching this video, I’ll let you be the judge:
VIDEO REMOVED
(I sincerely wish you could have seen this video. It really put the nail in the coffin to what a phony this guy was. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth hundreds of thousands of words. But, with the state of free speech not being protected in this country (the US), it’s not worth it.)
Again the info for this “professional” that you should be wary of:
NAME REMOVED
WEBSITE REMOVED
WEBSITE REMOVED
LINKEDIN URL REMOVED
After taking a look at his various websites and of course seeing the video is when I first became suspicious. First, because his websites look something like circa 1997 cookie-cutter, are chalk full of errors, blurry and jaggedy images, poor paragraph spacing and numerous other problems.
Basically all of the problems he said my sites have that actually do not (and his own sites in fact do) completely unsubstantiated his “helpful” criticisms rendering his possible services for me useless. And as far as the video, you be the judge, but in my opinion if that doesn’t have scam artist and modern day charlatan written all over it, I don’t know what does.
UPDATE: I now just realized that he left me phone message yesterday as well. So all because I accepted his LinkedIn request, I was agreeing to three forms of SPAM, LinkedIn message, email message and phone message. I won’t be surprised to find a flyer in my mailbox in a few days.
I’m all for networking and consider myself open to be contacted by legitimate parties, but this was all done so unethically and unprofessionally that I would never know if it were legit.
I just received a new phone call from “COMPANY NAME REMOVED” which is indeed a real business since 1992. I verified through BBB, but this all means nothing mind you. In any case I have no desire to have a phone conversation via telephone about me taking this article down.
I’ve expressed my honest opinion which I have every right to, but I believe in playing fair, so I’ve opened the forum. I welcome anyone from the company to discuss here, as long as things are kept PG I won’t censor or remove any comments.
Things get really bizarre now…
COMPANY NAME REMOVED Response:
Name: NAME REMOVED
Email: EMAIL REMOVED (non-existent by the way, it’s actually EMAIL REMOVED)
Message: “Bryan, you’ve misunderstood my LinkedIn message and your response is over-reactive. I’m not a spammer or scammer. I thought you wanted to work with my firm as a subcontractor.”My Response:
“If that’s even the slightest bit true, how is this message relevant to that point?:
“Bryan, good work on those sites…but….you need some education or support in art direction, concept and layout.
Also, copywriting and headline writing is an issue. Grammar and punctuation are issues in some cases.
Let me know if you’d like to talk more.”Also, you requested me, there was no job or application. I never contacted you about anything so I don’t know how you EVER could have gotten the idea that I wanted to be a subcontractor for some company I never knew existed. And I don’t think you think that, I think you’re just saying whatever you need to say. I’m sorry, there are just too many holes in your story.
If you are indeed a legitimate business man with the majority of customers being happy ones, at the very least you have very shabby business and marketing practices and techniques. Since that’s what you’re selling perhaps you need to rethink some of your methods, perhaps admit your faults and use this as an example of how even you can make mistakes and how to overcome them.
I don’t think it’s an overreaction in the least, I think it’s an honest assessment that only came into motion because of your own actions.
You’re very welcome to thoroughly read the article and state your case and explain your messages:
http://www.bryanhadaway.com/beware-of-fluff-and-modern-day-charlatans/
Thanks, Bryan”
I also received another similar phone message. I will now only communicate via my blog (this page) on the issue.
Again, I just want to make others aware if this, do your own research, be careful and be safe.
Also, if anyone has a first hand review of working with this person, good or bad please post your comments below. Please keep it PG friendly, and don’t just post things like “he sucks” or “he’s great“, please backup your reviews with something substantial and tangible if possible.
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
The person/company that originally sparked this article, has at least in some way provided a semi-sincere apology. They clearly understand the consequences of their practices and if nothing else got my point loud and clear.
Although the apology was mostly sincere, there is a somewhat back-handed misconception that this was merely retaliation and that it’s personal, incorrect. I never do anything to be malicious. I am genuinely concerned about this persons/companies business practices and their customers and potential customers.
Because they did not threaten and instead at least tried to explain and reconcile although I still find their methods and claimed ignorance sketchy and questionable I have omitted their information. However, if the persons name or company name should come under my radar associated with spamming or scamming people, their information will be re-admitted.
There are a lot of “professionals” online and even if in legal terms they are not spamming or scamming you out of your money, fluff is another important factor and is a gray area. Some of these so called “professionals” charge a lot more than what they really provide. Please, please be careful. The majority of clients that have come to me have previously been taken advantage of by one of these “professionals”. It is a serious issue in my industry.
Thanks for reading, Bryan
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