Recommend
|
![Recommend [frogenyozurt]](http://s3.amazonaws.com/arkayne-media/img/badge/logo-recommend-badge-medium.png){kind=icon}
|
This article is part of a series on Online fraud. Read more…
pulse360 – in their own words “The Leader in Content Targeted Sponsored Links on the Web’s Best Sites – is a leading provider of links that lead to web sites with blatantly fabricated content. See below a few references I found on the Internet.
For the love of god, I don’t want whiter teeth
Note: Interesting article, especially since msnbc.com and pulse360 are business partners… The same ads, the reporter is complaining about, appear on the same web page as his article.
And so we come to the networks, the most irresponsible and hypocritical of our cast. Let’s take Pulse360, the ad network that serves up many of TBM’s scam ads, as another case study. I talked to Jaan Janes, the CEO of Pulse360, for an infuriating 45 minutes. My objective: figure out whether these kinds of ads comply with Pulse360’s ad guidelines. Janes repeatedly said that every ad and its corresponding site is hand-screened at Pulse360, primarily to ensure that contact information is visible on the site. But they do not call every phone number to see whether anybody actually picks up the line. (They say they do spot checks.) Logic implies that if the ads are personally screened and then end up in the network, they comply with the guidelines.
Q: How do you stop a pulse 360 ad from popping up?
A: Some Pulse ads are downright fake. There’s a weight loss one that lists the woman as from my home town “Susi from xxx lost 40 pounds!!”, but when I was out of state, I noticed the same ad listing the woman from the town I was now in..
It just gets the city your IP is from and inserts that into the ad. Deception makes me want to buy!!!
I clicked the ad and it’s totally bogus. They even use Rachael Ray’s likeness but spell her name wrong.
In the about us page, it even say’s “We know we mis-spelled Rachael’s name, but it was too late to fix it.” To late to fix it, but not too late to write text right underneath it saying it was too late to fix it????!!!!
Nice integrity!
Are Alexa.com Ads by Pulse360-Kanoodle Violating FTC Truth in Advertising?
A few months ago, the web information company Alexa redesigned their website and since then I’ve been noticing these incredibly distasteful advertisements pitching weight loss products, wrinkle removers and suspicious get rich quick schemes. While these type of advertisments are nothing new on the internet, what stood out to me was each advertisement appears to be placed by a person who is located in the same city as myself.
If you look up any of these blogs in Google, there are numerous bloggers warning that these flogs (as Jay Weintraub calls them)are blatant by scum of the earth affiliate marketers (Lincoln Adams’s affectionate term for the unethical blackhat set) scams.
Pulse360 – how to get rid off it?
Note: The following is a forum inquiry. I, personally, suspect that pulse360 is (or has been) actively using some kind of malware to promote their ads. Many references I found on the Internet point into that direction.
Recently, I started to get Pulse360 pop up window. My pop-up blocker is on, I removed Pulse360 from the Registry, deleted cookie, but the next day it was back… How to get rid of Pulse360?
Ads by Pulse 360
Does Pulse 360 do anything other than advertise for a miracle substance that “gets you ripped” in 4 weeks? The only other thing I have EVER seen there is a very disreputable looking “miracle” teeth whitener. It seems like this “ad network” is composed of nothing but disreputable crap. I guess this is nothing new, just the second (or 3rd, 4th, 5th…) coming of the Thighmaster style product.
I’m actually seeing this advertising on major sites like NBC sports. Everyone but the most gullible of us knows you can’t “get ripped” in 4 weeks unless you are already very low % body fat. If you click the ad and go to the landing page it is your typical “scammy” web site, it even brings up a pop-up window that asks if you are sure you want to leave when you try to navigate away. I actually read the page and this stuff is flat out GARBAGE. It literally tells people not to “waste time” working out.
How can I stop Pulse360 (sponsored listings) from popping up when I open up msnbc.com – I have Adblock Plus installed but no luck
Note: The following confirms my suspicion that pulse360 is in some way promoted by malware.
Q: Pulse360 only “pops up” when I open an article on the msnbc.com website while in Firefox. I use AdBlock Plus and I have searched the “blockable items” list to try to block it but nothing shows up for Pulse360. When it opens it shows it is “sponsored listings” for the site. Please help – this keeps me from going to msnbc when I really would like to view some of their articles. Thanks.
A: Your list of installed plugins shows that you have the My Web Search Plugininstalled, well-known malware which you should remove.
Inactivity charges Pulse360?
One of the smaller PPC services we have tested is called Pulse360. (Purposely not linking to them). We made a small $100 deposit to do some testing, and ended up pausing the campaigns after so so results. Like every other service I have ever used, I expected the balance to remain there until I was ready for more testing. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from them stating that they had removed $10 from my account for “inactivity charges”. I have to say this is a totally lame and cheap way to squeeze money from an already paying customer. You could have gotten tons of money from me by just serving up good traffic, but this little stunt has sealed it for me. I’ll be closing my account before the rest of the balance is charged away by you guys.
Pulse360
Pulse 360 is bad ad source to use. They irritate me more than anything. I see popunders all the time when I visit websites that use them and have received warnigns of spyware and adware from their ads. They are a horrible source for ads and lack security to protect anyone who carries their ads for them. My antivirus program gave warnings of spyware when their ads popped up.
Hi, terrific site you’ve got here. I genuinely benefited from skimming throught your post. I stumbled across it today and soon found that it was enjoyable, so it inspired me to drop a comment. I have a feeling several others will pretty much have the same view concerning this matter. So, I’ll return soon when I make extra time to look at more. This is strange, but I was just calling my friend concerning this subject, so this read was just what I needed. I will favorite this site and get the rss as well. Thanks again.
Hi Judith,
I just wanted to thank you for your kind comment. Feedbacks like yours get me going…;-)
- Wilfried
How do you do! I discovered your article by sheer luck, I was browsing the net for green tea benefits when I came upon your webpage. I’m happy I found it. Just what I was browsing for. Bookmarked your page, be back in a day or two
I totally agree with everything written.As of right now I will not even bother with pulse360 they are extremely difficult to use.
Pulse360 is one of many ad networks which is raking in the money by accepting ads for scams. Ironically Pulse 360 is also a finalist in the Red Herring 100 Awards!
http://www.herring100.com/RHNA2010/2010finalists/2010finalists.html
“The Red Herring 100 are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria — such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries. This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company”
Just below Pulse360 on the list is Quibids who also appear to be ethically dubious: http://bit.ly/adJtmt