Business, media, consumers, computers

Yahoo protects online fraudsters, locks out ethical experts - by tyneham (c) copyright 2008

LONDON-UK, Wednesday 18 June 2008: A global war has erupted between online Internet fraudsters and unpaid ethical content providers or experts. This global war may last much longer than any conventional crusade to route out the fraudulent cowboys and to save millions of consumers, including under-18 or not. Byline by paralegal eagle and investigative journalist reports. Read-link http://tyneham.newsvine.com, http://tyneham.blogspot.com reports, and http://www.squidoo.com/tyneham.

A growing number of websites provide useful platforms where consumers can ask questions that are answered instantly by unpaid ethical content providers and experts. The convergence of such online Q&A platforms, is one of the next major development in the evolution of the rapidly changing online advertising industry.

However, this public service has opened up a welter of fresh opportunities for online fraudsters who advertise on trillions of web pages. The opportunities also enable fraudsters to plant questions that have been answered billions of times.

Organised fraudsters and their cohorts answer the planted questions promptly to provide links to fraudulent websites where consumers are required to buy useless e-books and pay for them by credit/debit cards. The books provide information on how to get "work from home," and "data entry" jobs, "paid surveys," and failed get-rich-quick schemes.

Even when consumers don't buy the books, the fraudsters create web visit traffic. That in turn help fraudsters generate, secure and increase advertising, pay to/per click revenue streams. Selling card and personal details and email addresses to other fraudsters, creates extra income that in turn generates bulk junk emails and phishing.

However, after buying the useless e-books, consumers discover that it contains information that is already in public domain, free of charge. After years of trials, more than 99.9% of consumer discover that there are no real paid jobs, online or offline. This is organised crime.

As if that was not bad enough, Yahoo locks out honest, ethical and unpaid content providers experts who alert and warn the consumers. Yahoo protected fraudulent advertisers also get second free bite to sell their wares on the platforms. Yahoo let hundreds of fraudulent links go through to millions of consumers.

The scams are helping Yahoo and other Q&A platforms to protect their ad revenue streams and profits. Free content is provided by unpaid experts who unknowingly give credence to the platforms. It means profits for the platforms and the fraudsters, and nothing for ethical experts.

There is growing, irrefutable and undeniable evidence that Yahoo, the world's number 55 on global brand chart, and other such platforms are knowingly protecting and helping Internet criminals, fraudsters and scammers to defraud online consumers, including under-18 youngsters and disable people all over the world everyday. At the time of writing this investigative report, the irrefutable and undeniable evidence was still available on thousands of Internet cached pages with links to thousands of website servers all over the world.

As you can see, Yahoo Q&A platform has made is too easy for fraudsters get your email addresses. Just analyse Yahoo Q&A protection rack online and in this investigative report. Remember that fraudsters are increasingly turning from offline fraud - such as using fake credit and debit cards in shops - to online scams. It is too easy to defraud millions of consumers online where the Q&A pages are saved or archived for reference by future potential victims. So, one planted question on Yahoo can defraud many consumers this week and the rest in years to come. That is an excellent motive to plant questions that also help generate residual income, forever. That is why it is important to put a clear, unremoveable watermark warning on each Q&A page.

The Q&A platforms are increasing their protection racket. They must be made to comply with UK, EU and US laws. They are not above the laws. They must be penalised, protect, encourage, reward and pay ethical content providers or honest experts. Otherwise the platforms will remain dominated by online fraudsters who must be rooted out.

It is instructive to observe that Yahoo has millions of advertising placements for online criminals but does not have placements on those pages to warn millions of Internet users. Such warning-less search and display ads, and the live Q&A sessions help online fraudsters.

At current monetization rates (June 2008), this is a temping and irresistible US $800 million annual revenue opportunity for Yahoo alone. This would help the company generate an estimated up to $450 million in incremental operating cash flow every year. The platforms are set to capitalise on the growth and expansion, helping online fraudsters move forward and benefit in a significant way from live multiple marketplace alternatives.

The fraudsters are a main source of funds to both deliver financial value to stockholders from search monetization and to invest in broader strategy to transform display advertising and advance their starting point objectives with users.

So, in that context alone, it makes commercial sense to lock out ethical experts in order to protect the ad income platforms by allowing online criminals defraud the millions of consumers every day, all over the world. The growing frauds, and the selective lock out of ethical experts as well as free content providers, would help live Q&A platforms enhance their ability to achieve their goal to grow operating cash flow and profits significantly for the sole benefit of the platforms and the fraudsters.

It is almost impossible to communicate with the top Yahoo officials (through automated response) to inform them about their malpractice, the frauds and the scams. However, the highest Yahoo officials in California, including its president Sue Decker and CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang, cannot deny knowing about their protection racket and the frauds on their own Q&A platforms. Decker and Yang must not be allowed to pass the buck to Yahoo India where Yahoo's alleged "customer care" service is based. That enables Yahoo to evade US and EU laws. Yahoo India is an offshore and outsourced kangaroo court that accuses, convicts and executes ethical experts and free content providers within two or three days to block. The kangaroo court then excludes and locks out ethical content providers and experts.

The following example would help show how Yahoo protected fraudsters plant Q&A, and then report ethical experts for alleged violation:

Question: Any surveys paid with alertpay or e-gold?
Question Details: Free survey sites that cashout with egold or alertpay i specify ALERTPAY and E-GOLD only only surveys

Deleted (expert) Answer: "Prudent people, under-18 or not, all over the world, avoid tempting and irresistible money making offers on Yahoo, Craiglist and elsewhere on the Internet. More than 99.9% of such offers are nothing more fraudulent crimes and scams against consumers who are often unpaid; pay extortionate bank charges for bounced cheques/checks; earn criminal convictions/record, and endure custodial sentences. This is just a little legal disclaimer alert from tyneham to help protect online consumers all over the world. This tyneham alert is in compliance with Yahoo community guidelines and terms of service. It may be tested by vested financial interests in UK courts with full publishing and broadcasting news reports. This ethical honest tyneham alert may not be the best answer for planted questions, but in fact it has been voted/chosen as the "best answer" by prudent and law-abiding askers, voters. For further information see tyneham profile on Yahoo Answers, or search google for "tyneham answers"".

The expert answer were deleted by Yahoo, allegedly for "solicitation," alleged violation of Yahoo "community" guidelines http://answers.yahoo.com/info/community_guidelines.php, and/or Yahoo's terms of service http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

How can one classify the public interest warning or alert as "solicitation" or even "violation"? Is that just an excuse to delete the disclaimer? What makes Yahoo protect such obvious frauds? Surely, the guidelines and the terms must be changed to protect and encourage unpaid experts who warn consumers about potential frauds, scams and the consequences.

But why change the rules of the old game? Well, this is not rocket science. Let us analyse the Yahoo question that may be planted by the fraudsters' paid or defrauded "data entry, copy-paste workers," dotted around the world. The workers may be following instructions for online copy/paste or data entry jobs. The workers may be participating in global online business opportunities, committing the fraud knowingly or unknowingly. Plain and simple, planted Q&A or not.

How about this: Why would millions of genuine online consumers ask questions that are already answered trillions of time on the Internet since 1994, and those answers are freely available in public domain? Is that rocket science?

Try it yourself. A simple Internet keyword search would show that those questions, planted or not, have been answered trillions of times since 1994. Here are the results for the keyword searches:

Online jobs: 2,220,000,000;
Work from home opportunities: 577,000,000;
Work at home opportunities: 576,000,000;
Online business opportunities: 397,000,000;
Paid surveys: 88,800,000; and
Data entry jobs: 86,100,000.

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