How the Dark Lord of the Internet Made His Fortunes 60
theodp writes "Over at The Atlantic, Taylor Clark's epic Jesse Willms, the Dark Lord of the Internet tells the tale of how one of the most notorious alleged hustlers in the history of e-commerce made a fortune on the Web. 'Accusing Willms of being a scammer,' Clark writes, 'does him a disservice; what he accomplished elicits something close to awe, even among his critics.' The classic themes Willms' company employed in 'sponsored' links for products that included colon cleansers, teeth whiteners, and acai supplements, Clark reports, included dubious scientific claims and fake articles ('farticles'); implied endorsements from celebrities and TV networks; incredible 'testimonials"; manipulative plays on insecurities ('You wouldn't have to worry about being the 'fat bridesmaid' at your sister's wedding!'); and 'iron-clad' guarantees that 'free trials' of the products were absolutely 'risk free.' But beneath his promises of a 'free trial,' the FTC alleged, Willms buried an assortment of charges in the fine print of his terms and conditions. After the 14-day trial period for each product, customers automatically became enrolled in monthly subscription plans, for up to $80 a month. 'The product was never the point,' explained an FTC attorney. 'The point was to get as many hits on each credit card as you could.' Despite a publicized $359 million settlement with the FTC, Jesse Willms is doing just fine financially-and he has a new yellow Lamborghini to prove it. After settling his tax debts, Willms surrendered his assets of just $991,000 to get the financial judgment suspended. Willms has left diet products behind and pivoted into information services. 'As of November,' Clark notes, 'if you searched vehicle history on Google, Yahoo, or Bing, ads for Willms's sites were among the first things you would see.'"
Let me guess (Score:4, Insightful)
His fines are still less than what his income was? Oh and some probation will really punish him too!
NOT a dark lord! (Score:5, Insightful)
Dark Lord of the internet would mean he has immense powers, like being able to silence anyone by remotely rooting their computer and choking their network interface... while saying things like, "I find your lack of faith disturbing. And commanding a fleet of zombie botnets that can DDOS large corporate networks.
This guy is just a bait-and-switch con man like any other before him that have existed throughout history. He just scaled it up a notch by using internet spam techniques and getting people's credit cards.
Re:Let me guess (Score:5, Insightful)
The government doesn't so much want to eliminate corruption as much as they want a cut of it.
No. (Score:3, Insightful)
'Accusing Willms of being a scammer,' Clark writes, 'does him a disservice; what he accomplished elicits something close to awe, even among his critics.'
No, scammer is quite apt, and the summary fails to mention anything that makes him deserving of any awe. Nothing but common scum, it seems; successful scum, but scum nonetheless.
Re:Let me guess (Score:4, Insightful)
peanuts my dear man...and so unfashionably retro btw. the 80's??? please...
haven't you heard?..like a month ago JC Morgan Chase admitted to the wholesale rape of its customers during the mortgage rip-off of the 00's.
total confession...felonious activities by perhaps thousands of its employees, ripping-off people of untold billions. knowingly and ADMITTEDLY!
the result of this coordinated criminal actively that makes what organized crime does look like a church bingo game?
a $13 billion settlement where all the felons involved get to stay in their jobs and continue their lifestyles [businessweek.com], without nary a blemish on any of their "permanent" records.
it's disgusting to me that these people are allowed to simply pay-off the government, USING OTHER PEOPLE'S (the shareholders of JP Morgan Chase) MONEY, and get to continue their high-flying lifestyles while other "criminals", who perhaps get caught with user-quantity level of recreational drugs, get charged as felons and watch their lives become utterly ruined.
this guy is another example of our "justice" system that allows wealthy people to purchase there way out of legal problems...it's all corrupt as hell.