Post by "Pop" Stran on May 24, 2021 13:09:43 GMT -5
There is no Free Lunch.
This was a widely accepted adage from my parents' generation, which is little more than an evolutionary derivative of the Latin and more ancient term "Caveat emptor" (buyer beware),
which has been expressed in hundreds of ways from "You get what you pay for" to "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". These terms are still around because they still apply. Every day. Especially online.
However you say it; when these Chinese apps promise you "easy cash", "fast payouts", and "make thousands of dollars in minutes", you can bank on the fact that it's all flat out lies and empty promises.
In a nutshell, these game apps are ad machines designed to snare you into working for a marketing company for free. They receive from a few pennies to a few dollars for every ad delivered to your phone, and their primary function as a company is eyeball rental. Advertisers (the majority being other scammy game developers) are counting on each other's ability to push fat lies in recruiting players.
Tricking you into watching ad after ad in order to keep "playing" their game, and then holding your head under water hoping for a payout of promised cash until you just can't take any more is a major part of the app.
EVERYONE follows the exact same pattern with these apps. Some hold out longer than others, but eventually Every. Single. User. wises up to the fact that they've been had, and deletes the app.
After watching hundreds of stupid, boring, and repetitious ads for which the app owner got paid, every user walks away feeling scammed, used and robbed.
I just spent a week proving this fact with an app called ChipMaster.
The game is a simple numbered pokerchip game similar to Tetris, simple and mildly entertaining.
I chose this one because it was in the small group of apps that expressly boast that while other apps are scammy, this one really does pay out. Spoiler alert: It doesn't. None of them do or ever will.
That's the whole point of this warning post.
It was also in early-release stage, which gave me a chance to get ahead of the impending and inevitable flood of complaints.
Very few people realize that there is a pattern to these scam apps from Chinese developers; First, they Launch with heavy promotion of juicy yet empty promises to recruit as many users as possible, Heavy ad sales to maximize profits from that user base, and when the complaints start piling up and the user base begins to drop, start designing the next scam app with sweeter promises and larger lies.
Anyway, I played the app at least 2 hours per day for 5 days, and when my "available" Paypal cash reached $1,000, I requested a $300 cashout, the smallest available, Friday night at 8pm.
Here's the actual process that followed:
1: The first response was "Please watch 20 videos to activate your cashout".
2: After playing a few more times and counting the ads that had played, I hit "cashout" again. The app response was, "The daily limit of 100 payouts has been reached. System resets in 36 hours. Please watch 30 videos if you don't want to wait".
3: Played a bit longer, counting ads, and at 31 I hit "cashout" again. The app response this time was "Your account needs to be investigated for suspicious activity. This may take up to 35 hours. Please watch 50 videos if you don't want to wait".
I was done for the night, but a blind man can see where this rabbithole is going. While I chase my tail hoping for some cash, I continue working for their company for free. They keep making money, while I live on a long string of empty, albeit carefully crafted, promises.
Two days later (48 hours) I opened the game and chose the "cashout" button. The waiting message was "Your account has been approved for cashout. Please watch 20 videos to cash out". After playing the game long enough to comply, I returned to the "cashout" section and the next message was "The daily limit of 100 payouts has been reached. The system will reset in 36 hours. Please watch 50 videos if you don't want to wait".
This marked the end of my testing term, and the limit of my patience with spiraling scams. The results of this test hold no surprises, hence the opening line of this report.
These apps are created for the huge market that Chinese makers see as gullible and stupid Americans who will swallow the hook every time they make the bait juicy enough. That bait (empty promises of cash) will never become the meal you expected, and the app developers are raking in cash the whole time you are squirming and twitching with that hook in your mouth.
There is no free lunch.
This was a widely accepted adage from my parents' generation, which is little more than an evolutionary derivative of the Latin and more ancient term "Caveat emptor" (buyer beware),
which has been expressed in hundreds of ways from "You get what you pay for" to "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". These terms are still around because they still apply. Every day. Especially online.
However you say it; when these Chinese apps promise you "easy cash", "fast payouts", and "make thousands of dollars in minutes", you can bank on the fact that it's all flat out lies and empty promises.
In a nutshell, these game apps are ad machines designed to snare you into working for a marketing company for free. They receive from a few pennies to a few dollars for every ad delivered to your phone, and their primary function as a company is eyeball rental. Advertisers (the majority being other scammy game developers) are counting on each other's ability to push fat lies in recruiting players.
Tricking you into watching ad after ad in order to keep "playing" their game, and then holding your head under water hoping for a payout of promised cash until you just can't take any more is a major part of the app.
EVERYONE follows the exact same pattern with these apps. Some hold out longer than others, but eventually Every. Single. User. wises up to the fact that they've been had, and deletes the app.
After watching hundreds of stupid, boring, and repetitious ads for which the app owner got paid, every user walks away feeling scammed, used and robbed.
I just spent a week proving this fact with an app called ChipMaster.
The game is a simple numbered pokerchip game similar to Tetris, simple and mildly entertaining.
I chose this one because it was in the small group of apps that expressly boast that while other apps are scammy, this one really does pay out. Spoiler alert: It doesn't. None of them do or ever will.
That's the whole point of this warning post.
It was also in early-release stage, which gave me a chance to get ahead of the impending and inevitable flood of complaints.
Very few people realize that there is a pattern to these scam apps from Chinese developers; First, they Launch with heavy promotion of juicy yet empty promises to recruit as many users as possible, Heavy ad sales to maximize profits from that user base, and when the complaints start piling up and the user base begins to drop, start designing the next scam app with sweeter promises and larger lies.
Anyway, I played the app at least 2 hours per day for 5 days, and when my "available" Paypal cash reached $1,000, I requested a $300 cashout, the smallest available, Friday night at 8pm.
Here's the actual process that followed:
1: The first response was "Please watch 20 videos to activate your cashout".
2: After playing a few more times and counting the ads that had played, I hit "cashout" again. The app response was, "The daily limit of 100 payouts has been reached. System resets in 36 hours. Please watch 30 videos if you don't want to wait".
3: Played a bit longer, counting ads, and at 31 I hit "cashout" again. The app response this time was "Your account needs to be investigated for suspicious activity. This may take up to 35 hours. Please watch 50 videos if you don't want to wait".
I was done for the night, but a blind man can see where this rabbithole is going. While I chase my tail hoping for some cash, I continue working for their company for free. They keep making money, while I live on a long string of empty, albeit carefully crafted, promises.
Two days later (48 hours) I opened the game and chose the "cashout" button. The waiting message was "Your account has been approved for cashout. Please watch 20 videos to cash out". After playing the game long enough to comply, I returned to the "cashout" section and the next message was "The daily limit of 100 payouts has been reached. The system will reset in 36 hours. Please watch 50 videos if you don't want to wait".
This marked the end of my testing term, and the limit of my patience with spiraling scams. The results of this test hold no surprises, hence the opening line of this report.
These apps are created for the huge market that Chinese makers see as gullible and stupid Americans who will swallow the hook every time they make the bait juicy enough. That bait (empty promises of cash) will never become the meal you expected, and the app developers are raking in cash the whole time you are squirming and twitching with that hook in your mouth.
There is no free lunch.