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Side Effects of Viral Marketing
By Jim Bruene on April 15, 2000 6:04 AM | 0 Comments
Bagging thousands of new accounts via email word-of-mouth, or viral marketing as it is now known, has a number of benefits. It also has some downsides. One of which is the spam generated by “affiliates” and others looking to refer accounts to your Web site to claim referral fees. Over the past four months, we’ve received dozens of spams sending us to X.com or PayPal to sign up for email payments (none were sanctioned by the companies involved).
Most were pretty straightforward, “click on this link to signup.” But the spam we received on Mar. 15, was unique because it combined the PayPal $5 referral fee, a solicitation to rent a spam list (the Yabadabbado Safelist), and a classic pyramid scheme which called for the recipient to send each of the five names on the list $5. And how was the $5 to be delivered? Via PayPal of course. If you use referral fees to boost viral marketing, make sure there is a no-spam condition (not that it will help that much).
Pyramid Scheme Using PayPal for the Payment Mechanism (and Additional Incentive)
Subject: Absolutely FREE way for you to make BIG CASH!!!
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 16:22:10 -0500 (EST)
From: cbk@tradingweb.com
Hello;
This new twist to an old internet idea is really amazing. It will take 5 minutes of your time and the amount of money you could make is huge. Best of all it will cost you nothing.
I know your time is valuable so let me quickly explain...
There's too much stress in the Internet rat race so why not have some FUN! And what's More Fun Than Making Money On The Internet?
This is a FUN and perfectly legal that you could make thousands of dollars this month and every month thereafter. Here's how it works.
1. Go to PayPal and join if you haven't yet at: http://www.paypal.com PayPal is a great new online service that allows you to transfer and receive money quickly, safely and securely on the internet. As soon as you are a member of PayPal, PayPal will put $5 in your account as a bonus for signing up, then you can "beam" $5 to the e-mail address in the #1 position on the list below. The person you beam the $5 to will send you the secret subscriber e-mail that gets your name on the Yabadabbado Safelist. This will allow you to post to it as often as you like! This is the legal service that you are paying $5 for. Since you get a $5 bonus for signing up with Pay Pal participating in this program costs you nothing! You will also be able to use PayPal to accept credit card payments for all your other Internet businesses!! Even if you for some reason chose not to take part in this opportunity I still suggest you take a look at PayPal and the services they offer.
2. After you have done that, delete the e-mail address in the #1 position, move the other four e-mail addresses up and enter your e-mail address in the #5 position, then place your PayPal URL in the message, then copy the new list and message and mail it to other e-mail addresses, more you send to the larger your potential becomes (use the spamfree safelists!). In fact, mail to as many people as you can! You should keep mailing until PayPal notifies you that you have at least 100 people that have joined Paypal through your advertising! If you do this, PayPal will pay you $500 as they offer a $5 referral bonus for the first 100 people that you refer. If you achieve this you have the opportunity to make "BIG CASH" in the next few weeks and months ahead with the Yabadabbado Safelist!
3. When your name reaches the #1 position, you could easily have 10,000 people sending you $5 = $50,000, and you can join as often as you like!
This is perfectly moral and legal. You are selling information and a GREAT safelist service for $5!
Have a great time with this! It works, and it's fun! Remember you have nothing to lose. Do It Now!! http://www.paypal.com
Here's the list:
Remember: You could also make $500 from PayPal referrals if you put your PayPal URL in this message! When you sign up Pay Pal will let you know what your referral URL is so just replace the 2 links to pay pal in this message with your URL.
Remember that cheating will never be blessed! You Get The Most MONEY when you enter in the #5 Spot. Just do the math, if you send to ten people and then they each do the same what will the 5th level will be. That would be the number of people sending you $5. Try the math at 5 people each, still not to bad right. Do the right thing, and wait for the beams of cash to come your way! Promote this program for fun among all your e-mail associates. It will not interfere with any other program you're in! And use some of the money for a good cause! Have a great time!
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If you wish to receive no further e-mails from me please just reply with the word "Remove" in the SUBJECT LINE and you will not hear from me again. Thank You.
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