Rogue Affiliates Engaging in Typo Fraud
By Anna Johnson on July 3rd, 2009A new whitepaper by FairWinds Partners indicates that rogue affiliates are registering ‘typo’ domains to unlawfully attract traffic and earn affiliate commissions.
Affiliates typically generate traffic to a given domain where they promote products and get paid commission for every person who clicks on their affiliate links and buys the products being promoted.
Rogue affiliates are, however, registering ‘typo domains’ (i.e. domains based on the misspelling of brand names) which aim to attract traffic that would otherwise go straight to the brand name website.
They presumably implement a script ensuring that if someone then buys from the legitimate site, the rogue affiliate gets the commission.
While some affiliate marketers might view this strategy as ‘smart’ they may not realize that they’re infringing a merchant’s trade mark, engaging in unlawful conduct by misleading consumers, and also breaching the terms of their affiliate agreement.
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July 4th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Some way we (internet marketers) need to put the cabbash on these crooks! If we don’t, the suits will…like enforcing new laws to combat this practice. I don’t know if it’s even possible to police ourselves, but if we don’t…we’ll have the Feds all over us, snooping around and making life miserable for all the legitimate marketers.
Any ideas?
RJ/ProSystems Unlimited
July 4th, 2009 at 10:22 am
The major affiliate programs in their terms of service specifically prohibit the use of any of their trademarks including variations (misspellings) thereof. Affiliates of those programs either haven\’t read the TOS or are deliberately violating them. Either way, the affiliate program will eventually catch on, so it makes sense to read the TOS and follow them to the letter.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Ironically, one of the solutions may be for the merchants to better help themselves by paying more attention to what their affiliates are doing. When rogue affiliates realize that their merchants won’t let them get away with practices like this it may help clean up the industry.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Hi Anna,
Thanks for your article, it has enlightened my a lot, I didnt know that could happen.
Could it still happen if the affiliate links are cloaked? and what can we do about it?
Is there a way even when cloaking is there to cover the affiliate links further?
I would appreciate your help, as I am a newbie to the internet.
Thanks, Sussan
July 7th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Hi Sussan, thanks for your comment. If you are an affiliate marketer, there’s not much you can do about this kind of conduct. If you notice someone else doing it you can contact the merchant. Don’t worry too much about it, though. You can still build a successful business by doing the right thing. If, on the other hand, you are a merchant the best thing to do is to monitor your affiliates to make sure they’re not doing anything shady.