Vanity Publisher Scam Reports & Reviews

Vanity Publisher Scam Reports & Reviews (1)

- Panama City, FL, USA

Scammer's phone (516) 201-2354
Scammer's website www.worldwidewomensassociation.com
Scammer's address NY, USA
Country United States
Victim Location FL 32405, USA
Type of a scam Yellow Pages/Directories

I filled out a request for information about a women's organization that I had never heard of on LinkedIn. I don't normally join professional organizations, but something seemed strange so I was interested in finding out more. A few days later a woman with an African accent called to discuss my "application". We began chatting and she started asking conversational questions about my career past/present/future. We discussed my professional values and what impact I have had, etc. Suddenly she announces congratulations on the fact that she was accepting my bid for membership. They will send me a members welcome package with a certificate of recognition (for what?) and she asked me how I wanted to be recognized (I have had several career paths). Then she started to tell me about the membership options- 5 years for $199 and Lifetime for $599 (on their website the memberships are called Platinum and Gold and you can upgrade either to lifetime status). I told her that I do not purchase anything on the phone, but if she could email me information I would consider it. She said that she had already told me about the member welcome packet but they could not send it until I became a member. I repeated that I don't purchase over the phone and she tried to sell me the 5 year option and she would upgrade me. Then she offered a one year trial. She continued to talk over me, never pausing to let me be heard.

Their website is believable if you aren't a web designer, which makes it more dangerous. They have multiple domain names and those fill up the first page on the Google search engine results page (SERP). Their main domain name is ridiculously long and it is rare for a company to have so many different domains, usually the multiple listings on SERPs are sub-domains. The site also has some peculiarities such as the About US link goes nowhere and there is no clear explanation about the business, location or team. The press releases aren't press releases, they are just 258 pages of fake women's biographies. Each page highlights the same 5 people 258 times! The head shots of their sample members are not professionally photographed (most if not all) executive women have a professional headshot. When logos are added they are placed at the bottom and are small and pixelated (also unlike the persona they are representing). The benefits they offer really aren't anything. They say they will help you with branding, PR and a one page website of your own to promote your brand. They don't say how they are going to do it though. Actually most of the site is like that including the Terms and Conditions which seemed ok until you really get into them and you get the clue that something isn't quite right. Turns out the highlighted women are fakes and don't have an online presence at all or they are mimicking someone real but change the name just a little. There is also a Professional Women's International group with the same website template, same members bios and copy. The only "tangible" offering is that you get your own webpage on their site to launch your online presence with, but you can't view others unless you are a member with the portal code. All together one of the better planned scams I've seen, but they gave themselves away by not paying attention to the details (like having an "s" after the word Mission above the statement and the text in buttons not being consistent or centered. Could easily trick a young professional woman who is excited to be recognized for the first time. They should be ashamed of themselves taking advantage of women in the workforce. Isn't the real stuff we as women have to hurdle everyday difficult enough? Please stop them.... it's Women's History Month!

There is also a site pretending to be an international NGO against domestic abuse but the press releases are all about COVID with non capitalized headlines and a lot of statements that just don't make much sense other than they want you to donate a lot of money. www.wwwoa.org

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