Fraud Alert Update: Articlebat.org and ContentProz the Same Scam

By , @Writing2Day

 

Once again, writers beware! The same people who copied the legitimate ContentProz.net website have copied another legitimate website, Articlebat.com. The scam website is Articlebat.org. I received an almost identical email as the first scam from Kate Smith and Allison Smith offering $625 per week to write articles, only this time the company name was Articlebat.org. These people are copying legitimate writing services websites in hopes of either gaining access to your Paypal account or using your articles without ever paying you.

I first posted about the ContentProz scam because it was very hard to find anything negative about the company since there is a legitimate company and the perpetrators had copied their website. Judging by the number of comments that article received, it is doing its job and we are raising awareness.

Please keep spreading the word about this scam. Below are some keywords that you should watch out for.

  • Contentproe.com
  • Articlebat.org
  • Kate Smith
  • Allison Smith
  • beaumoenchp0@hotmail.com
  • first_task@contentproz.su
  • first_task@articlebat.org
  • (315) 636-6676
  • William Ebel
  • William_Ebel@mail.vresp.com
  • easyherbgarden.com
  • Steven Systems
  • badrepuniverse.org
  • Rita Gregg
  • highergroundhealthandwellness.com
  • Julie Hibbard
  • aerogardenhome.com
  • mypvset.com
  • Simone Soares
  • Simone_Soares@mail.vresp.com

If you would like more details about this scam, please see my original post.

Update on June 21, 2012
It seems these same people are at it again. Apparently they have  copied the real Articlebat.com website on several sites in their attempt to scam people. I just received an email this morning from William Ebel (William_Ebel@mail.vresp.com) with the exact same scam. When I click on the link it takes me to the website: easyherbgarden.com yet it is the copied Articlebat website.

Judging from your comments they are doing this repeatedly with many different names. A couple that have been reported are Steven Systems, badrepuniverse.org, Rita Gregg, highergroundhealthandwellness.com, Julie Hibbard, and aerogardenhome.com. I have added them to the bullet list above.

I just got another email listing a different site: mypvset.com from Simone Soares (Simone_Soares@mail.vresp.com). This is getting ridiculous.

Thank you all for your feedback. Judging from your comments, we have helped many writers not fall victim to this scam.

48 Responses to “Fraud Alert Update: Articlebat.org and ContentProz the Same Scam”

  1. John P-C says:

    THANK YOU, for this posting, Kendra! I received an email from this company today and something seemed shady and a little too-good-to-be-true. I did some other research– and your posting is pretty much it right now for exposing these people.

    • Kendra Leah says:

      I’m glad you found it John! That’s why I put it up. All I could find when I researched were the real companies and everything’s positive about them.

      Have a great day!

      Kendra

  2. Justin says:

    I also received an email from these people for articlebat.org…thank you for this post. I had the following key points you presented:
    Articlebat.org
    Allison Smith
    beaumoenchp0@hotmail.com
    first_task@articlebat.org
    (315) 636-6676

    What made me especially suspicious besides the amazing money was when I went to add the page to my contacts the first_task@articlebat.org went to my contacts as beaumoenchp0@hotmail.com.

  3. Sanaz says:

    I received an email today from Aidan system, but without a sender’s name and this following message:

    We’re looking for US Native Speaker writer for our e-commerce website’s blog. Our priority will be writers from US.
    Our payment will be: Fixed salary
    We will determine the keywords,topic and amount of the word you’ll write. We’ll send you all the necessary information before you start writing. Your English MUST be error free, grammatically correct, friendly and fluent. Learn more
    Thanks for reading.

    When i went to the website it said articlebat.com but in their “about” section it said articlebat.org.

    They were also offering a $2500.00 fixed salary.

    That’s when i did a scam search and came a cross your inputs.

    Thanks!

  4. Fritz says:

    I just received the same email as above except from Steven Systems. Thank goodness you posted something under Acrobat. Who wouldn’t want $2500 a month!

  5. Matt says:

    Thanks for the scam alert. Looks like the legitimate site is on to them: http://articlebat.com/articlebat-org-scam/

    I went to the scam website and the address is badrepuniverse (dot) org (bad rep universe? lol).

  6. Thanks Kendra, got the e-mail today from Articlebat dot org and did some minor research.

    Good news,it motivated me to put together a cover letter Writer CV and portfolio for freelance work, something I have been wanting to do for some time.

    I submitted it to the ‘bad guys’ but will go no further with them thanks to you.

    • B. Cozby says:

      I appreciate you immensely! Yes, I received the same “job offer” at $2500 a month. I actually found the badrepuniverse.org quite humorous myself. Can we say MAJOR red flag? lol… Have a great day.

  7. lindsey says:

    I received a similar email today from “Rita gregg”. It seemed a little shady, so i did some research and found this website. The company was articlebat, but when you clicked on the “apply here” it took me to highergroundheakthandwelness.com which was very strange. Do you have any experience or info with that website?

    • Kendra Leah says:

      Hi Lindsey,
      I do not have any experience with the website you were sent to. Obviously, it is just a front for their scam. Judging by the number of different websites that are being brought to my attention, they are buying up all sorts of different domain names and copying the “real” website to them. This is definitely the same scam – do not fall for it.
      Thank you for bringing it to our attention.
      Have a great day!
      Kendra

  8. SPYDER says:

    I was scammed by contentproz.su. Just received the articlebat.org email today.

    Here is my reply:

    Hello Alison,

    Thank you for your prompt reply. I would like to clarify a few items before I decide to make a commitment to this project.

    1. I sent you a sample of my writing with my application, which should be sufficient for you to assess my skills.
    2. I do not submit work unless I get paid PER ARTICLE.
    3. I only accept payment through PAYPAL.

    I have been down this road before. I submitted 7 articles to a similar website and then all communication was cut off.

    I was never paid for my work and had no recourse, only to discover later that it was a scam.

    I am a high quality SEO writer and can easily write 3 articles per day. However, I will not agree to being paid monthly.

    If you accept my terms you will make a nominal payment to my PAYPAL account ($10.00) to confirm that I will actually be paid for my time and effort. Then I will expect to be paid for each group of articles I submit. Each time you send a payment, I submit additional articles.

    FYI: Paypal is very secure. Without detailed info on you, they can not get your money.

  9. Malika says:

    thanks so much for posting this. i received this today. glad to know someone like you cared enough to alert others. here’s what i was sent from “julie hibbard”
    Type of Remuneration: Fixed salary 2500

    Job Description Responsibilities:

    This position is available within our SEO team. Your duties will range from editing articles on various topics written by our team of Article Writers to writing the same. You must be able to write in a variety of styles and formats for a variety of audiences. You will be responsible for ensuring that your writing is high quality, creative, and intelligent. Because of this, we are looking for people with a passion for writing, and of course, loyal, long term employees.

    * Should have previous experience in writing and editing
    * Typing speed should be at least 15 wpm

    What you will need to do: – Apply Here Job

    We get in touch with you within 5 days from receiving your contact information to discuss the job details with you.
    Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

    and the site routed me to http://aerogardenhome.com/

  10. Matt says:

    Thanks a million! You just saved me a ton of grief. Hope everything is going well with you on your journey 😀

  11. Megan Enloe says:

    Thank you so much for posting this. Someone sent me this scam just today as a possible job lead. It smelled fishy so I did some googling and found your post. With people like you around, those of us who do a little do diligence are protected from the scammers.

    The version I received used a name and email that is not on your list.

    Michael Nunnery

    Kendra, I entered my email with this reply so send me an email if you would like me to forward the version I received.

    Megan

  12. I just received the same email. However, just before sending the article I noticed another email address when I hit reply. I did not know where to send the article but realized that and called the number listed on the email for Alison Smith. The voice on the voicemail sounded European. I because suspicious and thought this might be a scam. Thanks for providing this information as I would have sent my info and nothing would have come about. I did the standard research on Articlebat.org and nothing seemed out of place. However, the phrases sent for the test article used improper grammar. It was hard to write an article using the phrases. Thanks as working part time making the money they said was definitely a too good to be true.

  13. Also I got a new one not on your list above but it was followed up by one on your list. The link sends you to the articlebat.org rather than the correct website. Here is what I received:

    Brian Judge Brian_Judge@mail.vresp.com

    5:25 AM (12 hours ago)

    to d_gayle

    Type of Remuneration: Fixed salary 2500

    Job Description Responsibilities:

    This position is available within our SEO team. Your duties will range from editing articles on various topics written by our team of Article Writers to writing the same. You must be able to write in a variety of styles and formats for a variety of audiences. You will be responsible for ensuring that your writing is high quality, creative, and intelligent. Because of this, we are looking for people with a passion for writing, and of course, loyal, long term employees.

    * Should have previous experience in writing and editing
    * Typing speed should be at least 15 wpm

    What you will need to do: – Apply Here Job

    We get in touch with you within 5 days from receiving your contact information to discuss the job details with you.
    Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

    Click to view this email in a browser

    If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with “Unsubscribe” in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe
    Brian Judge
    219 Amador Ave. Apt.
    Jefferson City, MO 65109
    US

    Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy.
    Non-Profits Email Free with VerticalResponse!

  14. Hello! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so I came to take a look. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Wonderful blog and outstanding style and design.

  15. Lela says:

    I received the same e-mail yesterday from Carlos Caro here is what it read:
    Type of Remuneration: Fixed salary 2500

    Job Description Responsibilities:

    This position is available within our SEO team. Your duties will range from editing articles on various topics written by our team of Article Writers to writing the same. You must be able to write in a variety of styles and formats for a variety of audiences. You will be responsible for ensuring that your writing is high quality, creative, and intelligent. Because of this, we are looking for people with a passion for writing, and of course, loyal, long term employees.

    * Should have previous experience in writing and editing
    * Typing speed should be at least 15 wpm

    What you will need to do: – Apply Here Job

    We get in touch with you within 5 days from receiving your contact information to discuss the job details with you.
    Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

    I hit the Apply Here Job and it took me to the Articlebat Website which looked legite. Then not a minute late I received this e-mail:
    This is Alison Smith from Articlebat.

    Thank you for sending your CV for a copywriter vacancy.

    Please be advised that an applicant should do 3 articles a day (each article circa 500 – 700 words).

    We need a high quality of work and are interested in a long-term partnership.

    Your monthly salary will be $2500, provided that you follow all instructions and do everything properly.

    First of all, we would like to make certain of your skills and ask you to do a pilot job, i.e. an article with a special key-phrases (it is sort of trial, test of the pen).

    The key phrases are:
    1) gall bladder symptoms women
    2) gall bladder removal symptoms
    3) gall bladder symptoms men

    About key phrases: you have got 3 key phrases per each article and you ought to use each phrase 1-2 times.

    One of key phrases should be mentioned in the first sentence of your article.

    Sharp warning: the key-phrase is indecomposable, you can not use fragments of key-phrase.

    Once again: key-phrase is indivisible.

    About description: after your article is accomplished you have to provide its description.

    Description should be no more than 160 characters.

    It is like a very short conspectus, synopsis, the gist of the article.

    Don’t forget that description must look engaging, winning and attractive to reader.

    Your content should be 90% original. NO plagiary please.

    Take a look at our Groupon Boston article as an example: http://www.articlebat.org/sample.html

    You must complete test within 24 hours.

    Please keep in mind that your articles should be captivating and moving enough and must encourage readers to share them through their social circles like FaceBook, Google+ and others.

    Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

    ———-
    Kind regards,
    Alison Smith, project manager.
    Phone: (315) 636-6676
    http://www.articlebat.org/

    Wish I would have researched this further before I send my resume. I do hope my information is not used inappropriately. Thanks for posting this alert, I was just about finished with the article and going to submit it.

  16. Dyane Kirkland says:

    LOL. I got the same “test” e-mail as Lela, but my “key-words” were:
    symptoms for lupus, Canine lupus symptoms and early symptoms of lupus in women.

    While I can see it’s a scam from the posts here, it was entertaining to write a good article on the keywords, which I think I did. I will have to keep it for my samples collection 🙂

    Does anybody actually work for the legit articlebat?

    Dyane in Cinci

  17. Suzanne Rose says:

    Yes, another one bites the dust. Last year I worked my fanny off for one ‘Wendl Leasing’, international finance in leasing. Wow, I’m learning alot, but dang isn’t this frustrating.

    So, I did my first exercise and was accepted a position today. I wrote back asking for a contract – then remembered my lesson last year. I was so desperate for a position that I did the first exercise without even doing research about them. At least I don’t have to go to work today!

    Thank you so very much for this information. Maybe we could all get together and start our own ‘legit’ business. These people are horrible. What a shame.

    Anyway, Thank you again. In my disappointment of not landing a job, I am comforted in the knowledge.

    Respectfully,

    Suzanne

    • Kendra Leah says:

      Hi Suzanne,

      I’m glad this information was helpful for you. I think you may have hit on something there about us all getting together and starting our own ‘legit’ business. I like the idea, going to have to ponder it!

      Kendra

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    • Kendra Leah says:

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      I actually have my own domain and use the WordPress platform for the blogging portion only. Have you installed the Jetpack plugin with Akismet for spam control? I use this and do not have too much trouble. I hope this helps!

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