Posted September 12th, 2015 at 3:50 pmNo Comments Yet
To any of you unfamiliar with MTV’s show “CATFISH” it’s a show about Nev and Max meeting with and exposing people on the internet that are pretending to be other people by creating fake social profiles. They help the victims meet and confront these bad people. The victims find out that the bad people are using these profiles to draw in unsuspecting people in order to emotionally break someone down, humiliate them, swindle things from them, and ruin the victims life. On the business front there is an alarming trend of individuals fronting as businesses doing the same thing. No matter who you are and what business you see on the internet you need to do a lot more research about a business outside of their internet presence. There are businesses that say they are honest and paint a perfect picture of what you think they do but they are using other businesses pictures and content on their website. These people posing as a business make up all their business information beyond the stolen pictures and content. This needs to serve as a warning to everyone that these people are moving into towns everywhere across America. We all need a business “CATFISH” show to come in and expose these people and businesses for who they truly are. They are FAKES and thieves who will eventually be caught and sued for millions of dollars because of their theft and the misrepresentation using other companies copyrighted pictures and content. It would be ideal to be informed by a TV show of what business websites are totally made up and stolen from others but until then here is an informative action plan you can used to protect yourself from doing business with bad and fake people on the internet.
1. Does the business website have real pictures of their work on their website? If so can I go to that very location and see it? A person who has another businesses picture will not be able to actually take you to the job. They will dodge the question and will not take you to the job pictured on their site.
2. Does the business have online reviews? Can I meet the person who reviewed them? Can I validate this person is a real review? If the company you are working with is good and honest they do not have fake reviews that they paid someone to do fraudulently. Their reviews and references can be contacted and met with face to face within your area.
3. Is the business that you are doing business with have their name registered with the county they do business in? Someone could call the county register of deeds to find this out. If they aren’t registered this means they are also not paying taxes. This is unpatriotic and illegal. You do not want to do business with someone who is a criminal.
4. If the business owner moved to your area from another state what business name was the owner’s business in the other state? Can you find the business in the other state? Why did the business owner move to your area? If a business is doing well in an area they would not move. Also If the business owner changed his business name why?
5. Does the business you are interested in pay to be on the top of Google searches, show up as an ad, or can you simply find their information when searching? If a business has to pay for an ad through google then this means they are new to the google search, a new business, do not have strong enough material on their site to stand a part from others, google also see duplicate copied information and honors the original source. Furthermore, the business does not have enough customers hitting their site. They are not popular and sought after by anyone. You should never trust a company that has to pay to be in the search results on your phone, tablet, or computer. Good companies that are reputable don’t pay ads to be on top. They have earned their spot on the internet by being a great company where their customers are happy and the products they produce speak for their selves.
6. Make sure to check facebook, twitter, and instagram to validate the authenticity of the business you are considering. Most real businesses have these social outlets for information that is updated at least every week. You don’t want see one post here or there. Sometimes these sites can also have pirated information so be aware.
7. Is the business your considering associated with other local businesses in the community and referred to by other local businesses? A good business is part of the community and gives back to the community. Fox Docks, our company, donates to the Red Bull “Wake the Lake” on Lake Norman, the Supra Pro Wakeboarding Tour, and our local schools. We are directly associated with lots of Race City Marine in Mooresville NC and Icy Wakes Surf Shop in Cornelius NC. A bad business will not have a presence in the community.
8. Trusting only a businesses website cannot be the only thing you look at to determine what business you do business with. Also, reviews can be purchased from website design companies who specialize in posting fake reviews and writing fake content. Search engine optimization is a business within itself. Do some research you will find companies on the internet that do this very thing. There are people who do it as a job and don’t care that it is misleading to other people. Also, the bad business owners are fully aware that they are paying someone to post misleading information about their company. That is simply dishonest, bad character, and terrible work ethics.
Final words, When dealing with the internet anything illegal and deviant is possible. There are people on the internet using it for bad and for ways to rob from and hurt people. We have all come accustomed to our technology but need to remember that we need to be guarded in our decisions due to the “CATFISHING” that is going on throughout the internet today. Good luck and hope this blog helps someone see through the fake front that exists on the internet.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.