My Favorite Scam Site

Maybe Google is trying to tell me something by showing text ads for scams when I'm reading email from friends. Nice try, Meghan. You almost got me with Earth Day.

One ad has appeared several times and it is by far my favorite. It's a scam site about scam sites.

The brazenness of the entire enterprise is awesome. What's so funny is that the web site creator, "Danny", made the absolute minimum effort to fool people. It's Scam 1.0 from Web 1.0--no snazzy graphics or official-sounding dummy corporation like "Consumer Protection League" or "Web Business Bureau".

He didn't even bother to put names on the fake testimonials. How lazy is that? That's one of the reasons I like Danny's Scam Review. Danny has absolutely no respect for his target audience. I suspect if someone signed up for one of the scams he recommended, Danny would send that person an email saying "Got you, dipshit" followed by an ad for Donny's Scam Review beneath it ("Don't listen to Danny! These are the real non-scams!")

Some would assume that Danny is another morally bankrupt scam site operator willing to exploit people's gullibility for a quick buck. I don't. This web site is the equivalent of placing a wastebasket on the street with a sign that says, "PUT MONEY IN HERE." He set the stupidity bar so high that it almost absolves him from any moral culpability.

The underlying principle is that the amount of energy one puts towards tricking someone is tied to the amount of responsibility one has for the consequences. If you believe me if I tell you my name is JuJu the Conquerer, and I am wearing an ID badge with my photo and the name "Jason" on it, shame on you. If you believe me if I tell you my name is Ben, and I forge an ID with that name on it and get a friend to yell, "Hey, Ben!" when I am talking to you, then shame on me.

I suppose "Danny" is trying to trick people, but the effort put forth is so minimal that if it works, can he be blamed? I'm half-tempted to start Donny's Scam Review site, which would trash Danny and tell you the real secret information: it's all a scam. Except MakeMoneyWithJuJu.com.