With the shift in people’s buying personas, businesses have adopted advertisement and marketing strategies and tools to reach their potential customers and thus upscale their growth. Different enterprises are constantly hiring and talking to marketing companies that can help them achieve their business goals. Nothing seems wrong till here, but the concern of the businesses is the manipulative agencies or individuals that trick them into paying for scammy marketing services. 

 

Many scammers get information about the companies looking for marketing services or reach out to them for their assistance with legitimate websites, ideas, and strategies. They even end up signing a contract along with advance payments. Afterward, they either fool the customers with excuses for not starting or start the campaigns that get bot clicks or framed clicks from their knowns. The business doesn’t experience revenue growth, instead loses money to these fake marketers.

 

Considering the concern of the businesses, we talked to Faisal Abidi, Co-Founder of RNF Technologies, a company that helps businesses with online marketing and web/mobile app developments, to shed light on these marketing scams and guide businesses in identifying the scammy marketers. We asked him about the effective methods or persuasion techniques used by the scammers to talk people into their trap. He also shared how these emerging scams create a problem for genuine marketing agencies like himself to gain people’s trust and belief in them. Let’s discuss the techniques used by scammers to trick people. 

 

Scammers’ Influential Techniques, Highlighted By RNF Technologies’ Co-Founder

• Start Small

When marketing scammers propose their ideas and strategies to businesses, they usually don’t ask for the money in the first place. It appears to be a money-oriented deal; instead, the scammers ask for a small lockup amount of money as a token of agreement. Being a small amount, customers also pay them once they are convinced with the offered services. 

 

Faisal Abidi of RNF Technologies points out that the scammer’s reason for this small deposit is to get people into a commitment with their agency, which makes it difficult for people to step back or approach a new agency. After paying the amount, the victim feels relaxed and doesn’t enquire much about the agency, thus finalizing their deal with these marketing scammers. They later realize the whole scam when it’s too late to withdraw.

• Unreal Associations

Another effective method adopted by the scammers, as highlighted by Faisal Abidi of Phonato Studios, the product arm of RNF Technologies, is that these scammers tend to associate themselves with other known brands, personalities, or even charities to build people’s trust in them. 

 

By showing these unreal associations, scammers try to create an emotional connection with the victims and sound more legitimate to them. One important point highlighted by Phonato Studios’ Faisal Abidi was that people don’t verify the things being told, leading to their loss. So, whenever a person portrays himself with any association or brand, check it out and confirm. It’s not doubting, and it’s just staying cautious. If the other person gets offended by it, there’s something fishy going on. 

• Create A Deadline

As marketers, we all know the significance of creating fears of missing out on the audience. But, if someone asks you to pay for their services right now, otherwise the offer will end or offer you unrealistic discounts, then it’s time to reconsider your decision. 

 

These scammers offer marketing services at unbelievable prices, and when the victim shares the budget issues, they tend to lower the pricing for a minimal time. It’s like paying half, but the offer is for the next hour. So, it narrows down the possibility of the victim considering or discussing it with someone else. They transfer the money to these scammers, who then forget to provide services or even talk to them again. 

 

Key Takeaways

As Faisal Abidi of Phonato Studios highlighted a few of the most common tactics used by marketing scammers to trick people. So, the next time you talk to a marketing person or agency for your business, be alert and cautious. Please don’t fall for their fake and hard-to-believe offers. Instead, verify first and then sign a contract or finalize the deal.