Why Is It So Easy To Scam Adult Webmasters?

I see posts on the boards almost daily by people who have been scammed by others in the adult industry, in fact, a lot more than i ever see on mainstream message boards by far.

Why are adult webmasters so quick to trust each other when it comes to getting paid for work etc?

Do people simply not understand how the business has changed in the last few years and that they need to be asking for upfront payments these days to avoid being ripped off?

You would think, after reading threads about others getting scammed on the various industry message boards, they would learn from those individuals mistakes, but its always the same thing happening time and time again, are adult webmasters (with a few exceptions) so stupid they dont realize the industry is full of scam artists?

Your thoughts, why are people in the industry so trusting, even if they dont know someone asking for work?

Regards,

Lee

The way I see it someone has to be one to do the trusting. If I reply to a board post for someone wanting a review, either I have to write the review and hope I'll get paid, or the other guy has to pay me for the review and hope I write it. More often than not it's the one doing the work who has to trust because few people are going to hand someone money with no product. So if I send the review in and don't get paid, I guess I got scammed.

What I have done in the past is that I haven't really done work for someone I didn't know or know through someone I trust.

I have replied to a couple of review writing gigs on other boards, but I eventually turned them both down because the one guy wanted to review written, screen grabs done, everything entered into his interface, and all of that for $20-25, I forget which. The second I turned down because I ended up being swamped after I replied.

I would not, however, accept a paying gig off a board like GFY. The very nature of that board is such that even just posting there you're probably going to get fucked. The only way I'd take a paying gig off that board is if one of my friends could vouch for the guy. And I certainly wouldn't be sending any money to anyone before I had a finished product.

I did end up hiring someone here to do some mechanical work for me, and we haggled out the price, I told him what I wanted done, he agreed to do it, and I promised to pay him as soon as it's done and uploaded. But considering we're both contributing members here, we felt comfortable with the trust issue. Still I do remember a guy here who was constantly starting some new thing every week and offering to do odd jobs for people. Remember him? He was making t-shirts, writing music, wanted to put up a freesite but needed hosting, and inbetween all the new projects his dog died, his mom died, his car broke down, his house caught fire, a trick stole his computer ... And he burned a few people along the way, but people caught on pretty quick.

I guess it boils down to naviety and inexperience. You trust people until you get burned and then you learn. Or maybe you don't.

Michael

Michael,

I totally see what you are saying and can understand why you have turned down jobs to.

On the other hand, if someone does ask you to do work for them and you dont know them from Adam, you would probably ask someone you know about that person or, at a push, make a post on a board asking for information on the guy so of like...

'Adam just asked me to do work for him, anyone know of a reason why i shouldnt do it'

Yet posts like that never seem to get made, especially by the people who should be making them, the newer webmasters who perhaps havent made a lot of industry contacts as yet.

Im wondering if more than a 'trust' issue this isnt a 'communications' issue in that people arent aware they can actually ask for others opinions on certain people when it comes to doing work for others?

Actually, scrap that, its probably more likely that these people dont want to look like THEY are the ones doing something wrong by asking for feedback from others in a public space.

Regards,

Lee

When we negotiate with people on jobs, we almost always pay upon completion, for the reasons Lee has described. If they hassle us, we basically tell them "Ask around about us. You'll find that everyone will tell you that we pay on time." And then we're clear about what the expectations are so there's no confusion.

We have gotten mildly burned on projects where, for example, the job was 90% complete and the person asked for money then never finished debugging, or else they sold us a product that wasn't mature and didn't work well... but even in those cases, we've pretty much learned from it.

I think there are some people who are total scammers, but most are like so many others in the industry... not particularly hard workers who don't intend to scam anyone but are distracted by more "fun" pursuits once they have their money.