Ask HN: A widely used marketing company is scamming startups. What to do?
8 by gk1 | 0 comments on Hacker News.
There's a company that promises startups to find them people who express interest some topic or product and fit some firmographic or demographic criteria. They sell these sales leads at $50-100 each with contracts starting at $10,000 minimum. I discovered that they're acquiring these leads in a very different way than they represent to their customers. Rather than finding people who will opt-in to hearing from the startup (in exchange for some content), they acquire/create/search a list of non-opted-in contacts and then cold call them just to verify their info. Once the info is verified, they pass that lead to the startup. Essentially they're taking contact information--which could be bought for $1-2--making a cold call to verify basic info, then selling that contact information to the startup for $50-100 and letting them believe that the person submitted their own information and wants to hear from the startup. They don't tell the startup how they're really acquiring the leads. I only found out after many demands for evidence (and finally getting phone recordings of the cold calls) and following up with the leads myself to ask them what happened. Three of my clients have already been misled by this company, until I directed them to end the contract. My concern is there are many other startups being scammed like this. How can I help them avoid or escape this scam without putting myself in legal jeopardy?
There's a company that promises startups to find them people who express interest some topic or product and fit some firmographic or demographic criteria. They sell these sales leads at $50-100 each with contracts starting at $10,000 minimum. I discovered that they're acquiring these leads in a very different way than they represent to their customers. Rather than finding people who will opt-in to hearing from the startup (in exchange for some content), they acquire/create/search a list of non-opted-in contacts and then cold call them just to verify their info. Once the info is verified, they pass that lead to the startup. Essentially they're taking contact information--which could be bought for $1-2--making a cold call to verify basic info, then selling that contact information to the startup for $50-100 and letting them believe that the person submitted their own information and wants to hear from the startup. They don't tell the startup how they're really acquiring the leads. I only found out after many demands for evidence (and finally getting phone recordings of the cold calls) and following up with the leads myself to ask them what happened. Three of my clients have already been misled by this company, until I directed them to end the contract. My concern is there are many other startups being scammed like this. How can I help them avoid or escape this scam without putting myself in legal jeopardy?
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