Shell games tempt only the gullible, don’t they? So long as YOU don’t fall for them, what’s a little income redistribution among wretches? That’s an attitude shared only by the uninitiated. So-called internet “penny auctions” exploit human vulnerability like trust and avarice, leaving victims to blame their own stupidity or greed. You may shrug off getting burned as a lesson learned, but all confidence tricks count on that. Websites like Quibids and Scriptmatix’s PennyAuction are neither novel discount methods, 
adventure shopping, gambling scenarios or lotteries. They are con games that lead you to believe you are getting something for your money, until you don’t.
Just because YOU can figure it out -from an objective distance- doesn’t mean Quibids is not patently dishonest. US laws governing fraud are enforced by local statutes, but common law is enough to define this internet scam as representation of falsehood with the intent to profit. Whether or not the auctions use shill bidders, or fail to honor unprofitable outcomes, as have been accused by disgruntled victims, the websites are misrepresentations. The former are obvious illegal practices. The latter is fraud. Or are we so cynical that we accept this kind of scam as merely “predatory capitalism?”
Wikipedia defines fraud in layman’s terms:
1. a representation of an existing fact;
2. its materiality;
3. its falsity;
4. the speaker’s knowledge of its falsity;
5. the speaker’s intent that it shall be acted upon by the plaintiff;
6. plaintiff’s ignorance of its falsity;
7. plaintiff’s reliance on the truth of the representation;
8. plaintiff’s right to rely upon it; and
9. consequent damages suffered by plaintiff.
In particular this scam begin with what’s known as the advance-fee fraud except this buy-in is ongoing and lasts until a mark is tapped-out.
Quibids and ilk call themselves “penny auctions” as if there is such a thing. Onlooker suspicions are assuaged by the inherent implication that if a business scam has a name, it must not be a crime.
Are penny auctions a veritable thing, besides the self-defined new crook on the block? Well, yes, but. The “penny auctions” of yesteryear had nothing to do with these pay-to-play auction schemes where bidders buy vouchers for the privilege to ante into a bidding pool. Penny auction refers to the Depression era strategy of sabotaging farm liquidation auctions by forcing the auctioneer to accept bids in increments of one penny. Aided by cooperative neighbors, bankruptcy victims were able to grind their creditor’s actions to a halt, for a time, because collusion was itself unlawful. Obviously this is a far cry from the neo penny auctions which require customers to buy “bids” with which to place dibs on a desired item, increasing its auction price by a penny each time and prolonging the bidding for another fixed period.
On Quibids, price and time increments can vary between auction items to confuse watchers trying to do the math. As an average, a bidder might pay 60 cents each time he wants to put his name on the desired item, raise its price a penny, and extend the auction expiration by another ten seconds. The last person to cease paying money to keep the auction up in the air gets the item for the final price. But the final cost includes of course what he paid to play.
Imagine musical chairs except you pay 60 cents for every successive measure, an unlimited number of party-goers circling a solitary chair. So long as somebody pays the piper, everyone gets to stay in. Except they’re not “in” are they? Only the last person who put money in gets to take the chair.
The music stops when the next to last person refuses to ante up.
On the internet, the victory or loss is experienced alone. Your embarrassment is “shared,” but anonymous. Now imagine a convention hall, full of sidelined bidders who dropped out as they realized the insanity of paying into a potentially endless kitty whose real value to them represented a diminishing return. Imagine dozens or scores of former adversaries looking on as the last man standing gets the chair, everyone else leaves empty handed and empty pocketed, while the house rakes in the pot worth many times the value of the chair. Think that scam would fly in a non-virtual world?
In the real world, marks who’ve fallen victim quickly learn that there’s a racket of onlookers quick to step in and silence any complaints. Try to warn off the next bystander who looks like they’re about to fall prey and you’ll see exactly what criminal muscle lurks behind the charm of the charlatan.
Oh, it’s a silly, silly hook this penny bidding scheme, and online it’s hard to tell how many dupes are actually taken in. We have only the Quibids customer relations departments to assure us that none of the other bidders are phantom bots or paid shills. It would be so easy of course for the javascript to be otherwise. The same voices explain that Quibids can afford to offer its auction items at these unbelievable discounts due to the income derived from its inventive bid-selling process.
Simple math suggests they could award a winning lot several times over and still keep a tidy profit. Yet their FAQ explain that 50% of their transaction result in an operational loss. If indeed this is true, that percentage is factoring the auctions they offer for packages of “bids,” where customers place bids to win more bids. One can only hope that buyers are given the upper hand on these transactions. Otherwise the 50% percentage tabulates the auctions by number and not their dollar value. Quibids’ losses are phantom, worthless bids sold at a fraction of their worthless value, versus their profitable ones, where $200 consumer goods net $1000 or more.
That kind of scheme resembles a lottery where more tickets are purchased for a fixed-sum reward. Quibids deflects categorization as a gambling scheme by explaining that auction losers have the option to apply their losses toward the retail price of the item, if they elect to purchase it as consolation. How many players take them up on such an offer, only they know.
Upon losing the Christmas raffle, would having the option to buy the turkey at above retail price be reassurance enough for you to prove the affair wasn’t in reality an unregulated raffle?
First of all, the sites use very clever software, and a money-changing scheme to defy the average grasp of math. But the trap mechanism well oiled, the more duplicitous energy goes into the promotion. Quibids is using social networking and email to expand the reach of the news outlets they ensnare. Our attention was drawn when this week the Colorado Springs Gazette directed its readers to this exciting new discount website.
A scan of the various “penny auction” websites would seem to indicate they are using identical software. That opens a whole other can of worms, doesn’t it? This could be an installation one can license, just as one would WordPress or Zen Cart. In fact there is a PHP setup marketed by Scriptmatix who charge $1,250 plus for an installation. First they nail people greedy enough to want Nikon D90s for next to nothing, then they turn their dupes into willing con artists themselves.
Here’s a screen grab from the Scriptmatix brochure, where they explain what kind of return eager entrepreneurs can expect on their $1,249 investment.
It might look like a safer legal recourse to franchise the “penny auction” scheme and let client operators do the defrauding and ultimately face the authorities. Maybe selling the blueprint to a confidence trick does not constitute a crime. Unless of course you are pretending to peddle a fully legitimate business model that you know is actually against the law. We’re back to fraud.
Of course the key to convincing users that your site is not a ripoff lies with successful PR. It’s very likely that many of these multiple installations are Quibids figuring out how to outrun Google searches of Quibids+Scam. Aptly-named rival Swipe-bids for example looks more to me like a designated heavy, meant to make Quibids appear to be honest by comparison. Who knows how many websites this operation has used to elude tar and feathers.
Here’s the SWIPE-BIDS website whose main page stream a promotional video, actually for a competitor, as if it was its own. On watchdog sites, Quibids cries foul, but it’s hard to tell what argument is authentic.
Does “swipe” seem a term well chosen to inspire trust? It’s as obvious as a black hat in a wrestling match. Of course “Quibids” is the most poetic choice for truth-in-tradenames. “Qui” is French for who and doesn’t that account for the mysterious identity of who is bidding against you?
And the watchdog websites sprouting up to monitor the penny auction eruption are themselves shadow operations. Any “penny auction watch” that prefaces their posts with the concession that some auction sites are good and some are bad, is obviously shilling for someone. They may be a village idiot with no concept of the scamming afoot, or they’re innocent at all. But this is speculation.
By all appearances, these sites are reaping Keystone times six, and simply drop-shipping the goods.
A legal indictment of Quibids can precede a formal investigation based simply on their of self-promotion. Theirs may look like expertly crafted PR, and these days of diminished expectations about the objectivity of our media, it may suit many to congratulate the charlatans on their savvy, but Quibids’ self-promotion documents their intent to defraud.
Layers of press releases and paid editorial columns appear to shore up a single real news item which the Quibids outfit eked from an Oklahoma news team earlier this year.
At right are stills from KWES NEWS9 reporting about Quibids, as far as they were told, a home-grown auction website.
Quibids hasn’t chintzed on PR, but they do appear to lack for real faces to front their operation…
According to their own site, Quibids was the brainchild of Oklahoma City entrepreneur Matt Beckham, joined by Shaun Tilford, Jeff Geurts, Josh Duty, Bart Consedine, and spokeswoman Jill Farrand. The 27-year-old Beckham’s identity is confirmed by the Quibids.com domain registration.
Have a look at who NEWS9 is interviewing for the so-called customer testimonial. The kyron reads “Zach Stevens” who purports to be thrilled with the deal he’s gotten on Quibids.
Do we know whether this interview footage was pre-packaged for the NEWS9 team? The distinction is unimportant, but we might note that the cuffed sleeve does not belong to the female reporter.
This TV segment streams on the upper right corner of the auction sites, serving as a de facto suggestion of the site’s legitimacy. The footage streams in a very small window.
But enlarged in these captures, a closeup of “Zach’s” laptop and username reveals this “customer” is none other than Quibids’ owner Matt Beckham, smiling like he has no idea the perp walk that awaits him.
The person/company behind Swipebids has a long history of scammery:
http://www.pennyauctionwatch.com/2010/05/swipebids-jesse-willms/
http://www.webcops.net/just_think_media_spam_scams_8001.html
Not to mention the “Zach” person or whoever that is in the Short Sleeve Brown Shirt isn’t the one typing with a long sleeve white shirt and a dark suit jacket…. I wonder how fast they segued through that? Same laptop and same desk, picture and candle-in-a-tray next to the computer.
The GagZette endorsing it without question isn’t too surprising. They don’t ask questions and mock those who do.
It’s probably why their newspaper and TV holdings aren’t thriving on a “normal” business model of selling advertising to support the content. And leads to the notion that they’re the political pet of some “business friendly” corrupt party. One that wields a lot of power locally.
Yes,YES! I will link to your expose so hopefully cautious users will find it higher on search results.
Quibids and Swipebids are using fake news site with fake testimonials to promote their site:
http://bit.ly/bydBbp and http://bit.ly/ayxPfl both have a photo of exactly the same person but with a different name and home town.
Why does the Quibids site look EXACTLY the same as Swipebids?
This website says Matt Beckham is the CEO of Swipebids: http://bit.ly/bQX3u9 This says he is CEO of Quibids: http://bit.ly/bQX3u9
Another fake news site says that Jamie Wehlms is SwipeBids CEO:
http://www.consumertips-weekly.com/tech/
They probably just made that name up but it is closer to the true answer: not J Wehlms but J Willms >
http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100320/EDM_w5investigation_100320/20100320/
Hello. I work for QuiBids, and I can clear up any confusion. First, I’m sorry you feel this way. Penny auctions, or the ‘pay to play model’, are just that – another business model. If you do not like the model, then do not participate. We do not force any one of our customers to do so; they do so on their own accord. The customers, who win their respective auctions, indeed receive their products, as validated by the testimonials you see on our site and in our advertising. Moreover, we offer our customers a safeguard, Buy It Now, so they never have to walk away out any money/bids. On top of this, QuiBids does not engage, nor have we ever engaged, in bots or shill bidding. We believe in striving to be the best in our industry, ethically and morally. I cannot speak for SwipeBids as they are another company.
Regarding the News9 piece, it was an actual interview that took place. The CEO was using his laptop to show the reporter the website as well as the interface shown when a customer logs in. The sleeve is the CEO’s and upon logging into the site, he was showing what someone’s account would look like (showing the number of bids one could have, etc.). Reporters have to do a thorough job in knowing what they will be speaking about, so it was requested to see all aspects of our company. We try to be as transparent as possible, so for an interview such as this, we were happy to talk about it. I hope this clears up any confusion and questions. However, if you should have any further questions, feel free to contact us. Thank you.
Predatory Capitalism with the old (Roman) Caveat Emptor is the defense. Sort of like all the people who were duped into signing Balloon Payment Mortgages were to blame for the Mortgage crisis and subsequent financial meltdown, because people who haven’t gone to business schools and never in their previous life had touched a “financial instrument” are supposed to know every jot and tittle of an Adjustable Rate Mortgage, and the con-men who are urging them to
actually went to college to learn how Financial Instruments work and knew exactly what they were fraudulently pushing.
Caveat Emptor is Latin for “Blame the Victim”ok, not the exact wording but that’s the gist of it, and Sarah and Eric provide the math so that the Buyer CAN beware.
Fraud is fraud whether or not the buyers are told to Caveat Emptor… in this case, far after the fact. Your company, Jill, has used advertising that misrepresents the “service” you provide to the extent of having the CEO’s Computer with the “winning bid” represented as being the bid of an alleged customer supposedly named Zach.
In polite circles the best one could call that is LYING. If your company persists in LYING in their advertising scams, why should we trust the word of a corporate spokesperson? Why should anybody?
The internet is filled with unbelievable offers of Free or Ridiculously underpriced merchandise, with the old Caveat Emptor being routinely handed out by the maintainers of the internet. The basic structure of a company that says it loses money on more than half its transactions, sends up a Red Flag without the math even.
Fraud is fraud even if people were warned repeatedly that there’s no such thing as a business making a profit by giving away their products at less than their cost. People have been warned against fraud for more than 4000 years. The Sumerians punished people with DEATH for running scams like that, as did the Egyptians, the Israelites, the Ethiopians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Greeks, the Romans etc…
If the people who RUN the scams have been warned in advance, far far far far in advance, that scamming people is not just amoral it’s also ILLEGAL, in every jurisdiction in the entire WORLD, how can you blame the victims?
Amen, Eric and Jonah. It’s time for all of us to stand together in solidarity against predatory capitalists and their self-serving agendas. Technically legal or not, QuiBids is immoral. It’s bad karma to prey on the vulnerable. The pendulum is swinging, and those who devote themselves to bettering, not raping, their fellow men will soon be in charge. QuiBids, may you get what you so RICHLY deserve.
@ Jill from Quibids – if you “believe in striving to be the best in our industry, ethically and morally” why do you use fake news sites to advertise your business? The same fake news sites that have been used to promote acai scams, teeth whitening scams, work from home scams…etc:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06/fake_news
http://louisville.bbb.org/post/fake-news-is-big-business-for-scammers-2585
http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/15/mehmet-oz-oprah-business-media-resveratrol.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10410831-245.html
http://www.powersupplements.com/blog/656/disgusting-acai-scam-health7/
Everything on those fake news sites is faked- the testimonials, the comments, the story, the reporter etc – hardly “ethical and moral”!
Did some digging into Quibids CEO Matt Beckham and he owns two fake blog sites selling Acai and Colon Cleanse scams:
http://shirleysdietjournal.com/
http://whois.domaintools.com/shirleysdietjournal.com
and
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=beckhamenterprises%40gmail.com
Both have the same before and after photos but with different names! In one Matt claims to be Shirley Johnson and in the other he claims to be Abby Johnson.
Not looking very ethical and moral now are we Matt?
Also I see that Zach Stevens of the fake testimonial in the KWES NEWS9
“news report” (more like “free advert!”) is listed as a Facebook friend of
Quibids CEO Matt Beckham:
Matt Beckham
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=768443346
and Zach Stevens
http://www.facebook.com/zachstevens
Oh well those links didn’t work very well, but if you check out the facebook profile of Matt Beckham Quibids CEO:
http://bit.ly/aE2dmi
Under ‘Friends’ click on see all, scroll through the list and under Z you will find “happy customer” Zach Stevens: http://bit.ly/cW7ZeH
Great work Sarah. Please make sure to put your Beckham/Stevens info on the answer.wiki and jabber threads. As quickly as word spreads about these online grifters, the sooner we limit people being victimized.
The last thing web communities need is the sowing of more distrust. The internet is great for finding bargains without criminals spoiling everyone’s day.
Jill, please go find honest work.
From the Facebook page: SWIPEBIDS.COM is a Bloody SCAM:
Someone just yesterday sent us the info on the “Abby Johnson/Shirley Johnson” Marketing blogs, we are definitely not impressed by this and just now we are shocked to find that they are Facebook friends with Zachary Stevens. Feel free to come on our site and join the forum too to discuss QuiBids if you want. http://www.PennyAuctionWatch.com
Thanks!
Hey- also since I may not read this every day if anyone finds more information please e-mail it to me admin@ pennyauctionwatch dot com.
Thanks
Quibids Terms & Conditions
“QuiBids employees and their family members (defined as parents, spouse, siblings and children) and any person residing in the same household as employees may not under any circumstances participate in QuiBids auctions.”
Smart Matt, Very Smart.
Warning – be careful if contacting “Penny Auction Watch” with more information as they suggest above – they did do a blog post on Quibids CEO and the fake blog weightloss scam websites…BUT 1 day later: it’s completely disappeared along with any other negative comments about Quibids!
It seems Quibids may possibly (allegedly) have bought them off or used threats to get information removed or some such??
Not much of a “watchdog” then if that is what happened!?
Well, I did some searching on Google and there are some accusations regarding the owner of Penny Auction Watch:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/01/penny-auctions-bet-on-chump-change-part-ii-of-ii/
Conflict of interest??? PAW claims to be an industry watchdog but they also accept advertising from Penny Auction websites and need to maintain good relations with Penny Auction websites in order to get content for PAW (eg interviews with sites, free bids for visitors etc)
So we need an explanation of why all negative info about Quibids dissapeared from Penny Auction Watch overnight!
Thank you notmytribe for allowing the truth to prevail!
P.S. I see Matt Beckham Quibids CEO has also taken down his fake diet girls acai scam blogs – feeling guilty Matt?
Cached copy of “mysteriously removed” information on Quibids from Penny Auction Watch:
http://bit.ly/adJtmt
Another Quibids site: http://www.quibidspro.com/ which says it is by “Becky Long from Madison…a blogger about online shopping who stumbled across an awesome new way of buying products”
But if you scroll down to the bottom:
“This site is sponsored by QuiBids and is an advertising promotion. ”
So Becky Long (if she even exists) hardly just “stumbled across” Quibids did she!?
And on the same server as http://www.quibidspro.com/
http://www.theconsumerherald.com/auctionxpc.php#
Another fake news site – “Sponsored by Quibids”
http://bright-smile-trick.com/
Fake “reviews” site promoting teeth whitening scams.
http://dietadenatalia.com/
Spanish language fake blog with fake before and after photos promoting an acai scam
http://lifestyleherald.com/
Front site for an Acai scam – click on any of the categories and you get taken off site to an acai site
http://jeanettesdietblog.com/
Yet another fake diet blog for an acai scam
..there are more
I took the bait and bought the 45 bid pack used 5bids and won 25 extra bids. I have tried to get help from their customer service and the directions they give me do not help at all. I wanted to know how to pay for what I won. I go through the steps and all I get is change of address form to fill out . No place with info on how to pay for what was won. I click on the pay now and it lets me know what I won how much it is but nothing to go to for payment I have sent several emails and get the same answer each time. I decided to deactivate and when I clicked on that link to do so it tells me that I will lose all my remaining bids I have left no refund. Not only will I not get the 25 extra bids that I won but my $27.00 to get in. I will have to forfit everything. Is this a scam or what. Totaly frustrated.
Nice blog!! i also know a very good site for penny auction Bidzillion.com !!!!
Save up to 99% off retail at Bidzillion.com online auctions
Hi,
My name is Patricia N[redacted] and my telephone number is 989-884-[redacted] and I would like you to put on your site about a business called http://www.swipebids.com as they take your money and most of the time don’t send the items you won. They charged my credit card in the amount of over $600.00 and I had to work with my credit card company to get this straightened out.
Please take a look at this website: http://www.scamraiders.com and this will tell you a lot! We would appreciate it if you could in any way publicize this so others aren’t taken like all of us were taken. He operates out of Canada but you billing says Ohem, Utah.
I thank you very much if you can do anything with this as I hate to see people taken!
Patricia N-
Alpena, Michigan
From their Facebook profiles:
Matt Beckham
Zach Stevens
Shaun Tilford
Josh Walker
Tom Fleming
Jill Ferrand
Just wanted to say that at looking at all your information I found that Matt Beckham has joined SwipeBids.com is a Bloody SCAM on Facebook.
Interesting. Maybe he wants to control what is being said on there or he is taking names?
Scary stuff!
You need to read what it says on SwipeBids.com is a Bloody SCAM:
This site is working directly with Matt Beckham as they give him credit for getting them intel. ATTENTION ADMINS AND MEMBERS
In the interest of Quality PR and Mutual Respect, it has come to my attention that a link provided is actually a cached page from Google. It has been removed from Penny Auction Watch web site as Matt Beckham has brought to my attention. Below is an excerpt from his correspondence with me. http://bit.ly/adJtmt “…This article was removed by Penny Auction Watch after they realized they had posted false and defaming information about me. You’ll notice if you go to that website, that the post no longer exists. So I’ll make you a deal, prove to me this is about Swipebids and not QuiBids by removing that link, and I’ll provide you with any information I can.” So in the fairness of good will and respect please refrain from using this link from any post as it is null and void. If it is used, I will be forced to remove it upon notice. This is a great asset to have Matt Beckham on our side as he has inside knowledge on Jesse Willms and is willing to provide us with quality intel. Thank you all in advance for your cooperation and respect. Michael Larson (Admin – Operator of Swipebids_com is a Bloody SCAM)
You wanted to know who removed this information right?
Quibids.com is at it again with their fake websites. They are using Consumertipsdigest outline at http://www.consumertipsdigest.org/penny_auctions/vt/index.php?t202id=8655&t202kw= and
they changed the heading to
http://bargainhunterinsights.com/?p=1
It has the exact same layout as the other paper they just changed the name.
Just because Matt Beckham says the information is false does not mean that is the case. I mean he would say that wouldn’t he!?
After all he is hardly going to say “yeah fair cop, I created fake blogs pretending to be women who had lost lots of weight by using acai pills and colon cleansers so that I could earn money by conning people into signing up for a scam” … is he!? 🙂
Strange then that on the very same day that the post about him was made on Penny Auction Watch , the whois info for the 2 fake blog diet sites was changed from Matt Beckham to ‘name of owner hidden using domain privacy’ AND both sites were taken offline!
As for the fake news sites – clearly Quibids has no problem with this deceptive and unethical form of advertising as the links above from Kelly show – but then not that surprising given what we know about Matt Beckham and his previous websites!
In fact exactly the same type of fake news websites have been used by scammers to advertise several scams including teeth whitening scams, acai scams and work at home scams:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06/fake_news
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10410831-245.html
http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/15/mehmet-oz-oprah-business-media-resveratrol.html
http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/google_money/google_news_sites.php
It’s unfortunate when scammers are using the penny auction game to steal from consumers. I feel that these crooks should be sitting in jail next to Madoff, who knows how much money they stole.
It’s unfortunate when scammers are using the penny auction game to steal from consumers. I feel that these crooks should be sitting in jail next to Madoff, who knows how much money they stole.
“Nick” username links to PennyAuctionScam which OUTS Swipebids, Bidstick, PennyAuctionSite as scams — BUT PROMOTES “Trusted” penny auctions Bidcactus, Beezid and Swoopo.
From the same IP and leaving the identical comment:
“Daniel [Brennan]” username links to PennyAuctionWinner which sells a how-to-win tutorial ($22.95) endorsed by sellers of BeezidPro ($27/mo), Swoopo Manual ($37), Swoopers.org ($27/mo).
All crosslinked by dealzago and bidzago tracking.
Eric, get a life. Bidcactus, Beezid, and Swoopo are all trusted! Don’t get mad because you can’t win anything.
We’re all room mates and use the same Internet connection. Don’t get mad at us because we know how to win auctions, and you simply don’t.
Admit it James/Nick/Daniel or whatever your name is – you got busted. 🙂
As for bidcactus being “trusted” why on earth should anyone trust a business which uses fake news websites with fake testimonials to promote their business?
Proof: http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac355/scamscreenshots/FakeNewsBidCactus.jpg
In any case even a “legit” penny auction is still a bad deal for almost all of it’s users:
http://expertlywrapped.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/bid-now-how-penny-auctions-get-into-our-heads/
Also funny how pennyauctionwinner.com hides their whois info:
http://whois.domaintools.com/pennyauctionwinner.com
Something to hide Daniel?
beezidproreview.com; pennyauctionsecret.com and pennyauctionscam.com also all hide their whois info but there they are all on the same server:
http://sameip.org/ip/174.132.193.237/
Screenshots proving that Matt Beckham, CEO of Quibids.com owns fake diet blog acai scam websites:
Fake diet blog 1 (shirleysdietjournal.com) whois:
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac355/scamscreenshots/shirleysdietjournaldotcomWHOIS.jpg
Fake diet blog 2 (abbysdietjournal.com) whois:
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac355/scamscreenshots/abbeysdietjournaldotcomWHOIS.jpg
Fake diet blog 1 (shirleysdietjournal.com) screenshot:
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac355/scamscreenshots/shirleysdietjournaldotcom.jpg
Fake diet blog 2 (abbysdietjournal.com) screenshot:
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac355/scamscreenshots/abbysdietjournaldotcom.jpg
Quibids.com whois:
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac355/scamscreenshots/QUIBIDSwhois.jpg
(On the day that this was exposed the fake diet blogs were taken offline and their whois info was changed to hidden) Too late though huh Matt? 🙂
James/Daniel/Nick –all writing from the same IP 71.238.26.34
–this time linking to PennyAuctionStrategy, another pretend watchdog site which actually flogs Beezid, Bidcactus and Swoopo, themselves pretending affiliation with a “Better Business Bureau” and a national accounting firm.
Whether your “winners” are genuine or not, your operations are scams and your MO is fraud.
James/Daniel/Nick…
Learn English. The term is “angry” not “mad”. Madness is insanity. And we DO win the same way I personally win two dollars every time I pass a convenience store, don’t go in and don’t buy a ticket for Lose Often To Terrible Odds.
Too bad you and your “roommates” haven’t saved enough money to get yourselves more private digs. Say, don’t those “auctions” you say you’re winning, like, you know, Sell Wireless Connection plug-in cards for computers wherein you and your “winner” friends each can have his own connection?
Oh, that’s right… your shared “internet connection” is a website.
One that’s not actually on your home PC, is it?
By the way, .org isn’t usually the preferred domain suffix for commercial websites, like say, strictly advertising websites.
Mine is parked, it’s really a .org type structure, but then, I went cheap and bought a .biz domain name instead. Which is what you probably SHOULD do, J/D/N. At least it would be more honest.
Say, are we arguing with bots here?
Interesting that the fake blog quibidspro.com “sponsored by quibids” (or more likely owned by them as the source code includes http://track.quibids.com : ) is on the same server and ip address as fake news website theconsumerherald.com (which also has quibids.com in the source code) and which promotes a diet scam which has resulted in thousands of online complaints:
http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2010/07/scam-alert-theconsumerheraldcom.html
I don’t use Quibids any more at all. I thought I was going to a real auction type event, but that is really not the case is it?
It took me a little bit of time to figure what was really going on here. I now realize Quibids is nothing more than cleverly orchestrated gambling game, disguised as an auction, with Quibids itself being the REAL winner at the end of each auction.
I congratulate the owner(s) of Quibids, they’ve pulled off the perfect casino, without having to go through any of the normal governmental gambling licensing requirements, because of their “Buy it Now” button.
Interesting development:
SwipeBids v QuiBids – Fake Blogs, Fake Reviews and Melissa Theuriau:
http://www.schwimmerlegal.com/2010/07/swipebids_v_qui.html
By the way if you look at the source code of consumertipsdigest.org (owned by Quibids) you will see that it is linked to theconsumerherald.com a site which is currently promoting diet scams and teeth whitening scams as well as promoting Quibids:
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=site%3Atheconsumerherald.com
http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2010/07/scam-alert-theconsumerheraldcom.html
17 sites hosted on IP Address 173.204.4.210
jeanettesdietblog.com
theadultfriendfinders.net
theadultfriendfinderspecial.com
autoquoteamerica.com
adnsrv.com
therippedtrick.com
journal-deregime.com
dietadenatalia.com
getquotetosave.com
theconsumerherald.com
killerpennystocksrevealed.com
evaluatemy-health.com
localjob-lookup.com
mom-scholarship-search.com
bubbleblasterz.com
dad-scholarship-search.com
taxrefundreview.com
LOL. Did I really just stumble on this searching for penny auction sites on google?
If the accusers here were DAs and the accused were well, themselves; an episode of “Law and order couldn’t hold a candle to the way this is playing out!
The funniest part is I don’t really see a problem with the original concept which let’s face it, worked well. I would have given it a shot anyway. IF the people behind it all just got greedy and really did all that shady publicity crap, well….. that’s just classic.
Well, Dave, if you really are gullible enough to expect something for nothing, as you claim…
Then you’re a victim and you have at least our condolences.
If you’re another one of the shills for the Fraudulent scheme, then, well, you’re a little better paid for what remains of your Soul but, still, a pitiable wretch. As every person who has so far posted praising the scam have proven to be, both a (poorly) Paid Shill and, a pitiable wretch who has sold his soul.
In which case, Sucks to be YOU.
By the way, Dave. You’re a liar. You started off saying you were looking for penny auction sites to visit. If you already “know” everything about Penny Auction sites and their origins and how they work, I do believe you would already know where they were. Without having to google anything. The sites themselves would show up on the Google rankings before our site does.
Although you’re helping to change that. Hmmm. Didn’t think about that, did you?
Wow. Even if I were “gullible” and “expected something for nothing” which you say I “claim”, (Really? No I didn’t. Really.)…
Then at least I wouldn’t have been a victim of an uncalled for series of direct and intentional insults MEANT to be taken personal – followed by patronizing condolences obviously worded for the gullible.
Forget about the meaningless first paragraph in my original post. Allow me to apologize for not summing up my last two paragraphs and simply stating my thoughts more directly. What I meant was:
The writer of this article along with Brother Jonah and Sara have stacked up a convincing bit of information on the alleged crooks here, which at the very least indicates a misleading approach on how they conduct business.
Whether or not the original concept of selling bids up front for an auction that progresses a penny at a time, especially considering there is neither a designated number of bidders or a set reserve, has proven debatable in it’s fairness towards the people the market it is aimed at. (Me saying the idea worked well in their favor does not equal or imply praise.) In hindsight however, it naturally becomes a matter of “fraud or not”.
The FAQ section on one of the mentioned sites does spell out pretty clearly that you should go in expecting to pay retail and you will lose the bids you placed on that item even if you do end up simply buying the item for what it goes for.
Then the deal breaker and slap to the face comes when the people behind the business profiting (on a seemingly very profitable, newer concept) actually can’t control their greed to the point they get caught misleading consumers with these kind of stunts. All the while claiming that transparency is a main goal for them. Classic.
Your quotations around the word “know” crack me up as much as the rest of the text that follows, SINCE I NEVER SAID ANY OF THAT!
I could apologize for the all caps but THAT would make me a liar because it wouldn’t be sincere. Not the fact that I happened to come across this blog in my curiosity about the auctions.
Contrary to what you clearly have pinned me for, I’ve never bid on anything besides Ebay. If it makes you feel any better, I did end up with a refurbished item which was described as new. Sucked to be me that day. There. Now you have something with an actual basis you can use to insult me. I’ll even act like it bothers me.
The remarks in your first comment were on the semantic lines of those used by the “auction” sites’ defenders, who generally come, deny everything and mock us for even pointing out the fraud inherent in those sites. Very dismissive.
As you can see we have quite a large number of comments on this particular post. And all the “Testimonials” offered, wrapped in dismissive phrases, have been traced back to employees/accomplices of the websites.
If you’re not one of them then there would be no reason to take offense. Good Day.
Thank you for the above comments. My “experience” tells me Quibids definitely shills. As a beginner they allow you to win for the excitement then you are shilled and bids fixed in my opinion to NOT win.
I also noted that every time I found something totally illegal, I failed to print it out and before I knew it everything changed like magic. Printing information as well as having the source code is important. Another way to stop this is to video tape the session.
Youtube also removed a video per Quibids. I will say when there is like one bidder and you place a bid … suddenly 10 bidders instantaneously appear. They are also on other auctions at the same time. Must have a huge family with tons of computers LOL! I can’t believe how with lightning speed they can change things, even on your computer … they also have a trojan on your computer (I believe it is and found it by accident, will verify).
I don’t necessarily mind penny auctions but shill and setting your code number as bid false to win is unconscionable. THIS IS UNLAWFUL and needs investigation and proof.
Wow, I started out bored tonight and ran across swipebids, filled out the first requested info, name email etc, and then when that was done and I was asked for money up front I thought better and searched around the net for info on them. Again, wow. I can only hope they get shut down. I’m worried that they have my name and email address.
km… one way to get a record of your actions and theirs, online, is to set the Screenshot function of whatever windowing system you use to take a picture of the screen every two seconds or so.
Any of the media players or graphics programs, like Paint in Windows, can make it into a slideshow. And that’s just the “free” one in Microsoft. In Linux it’s all free. Media editors can turn it into a regular video like you play on your TV.
Both you and Steve should also check, immediately after each suspicious session, for any files created during that session.
Your virus scanners should do that automatically.
Meanwhile, I’ve got about $18,000,000 (EIGHTEEN MILLION USD) average coming from each of the 37 mothers of the assassinated oil minister of Nigeria. They only needed my bank numbers for the purpose of depositing the money and I’m sure the sudden withdrawals of the funds are merely a mistake and will be corrected shortly.
Yeah I don’t like quibids much. I prefer good ol swoopo and beezid over them
Doesn’t seem to be making a major impact in the digital economy.
You’d think that a pyramid scheme would be either a massive failure, or a massive success.
The massive success doesn’t seem to be happening.
Must be tanking just a little bit. Or a whole lot.