The True Price of an Advertising Scam

The lesson: beware a cheap price tag as it may cost you reputation as well as money. Recently, I decided to give Fiverr a try in hiring a marketing expert. Since I had positive experiences with hiring illustrators on the platform, I thought trying marketing services would be a good idea. The job posting mentioned achieving organic viewer growth through social media postings, which I found intriguing but unfamiliar. With three options available, I opted for the premium plan priced at 90 dollars.

To my shagrin, I now realize I purchased a scam which costs me additionally in reputation and crediblity, and I will likely need to destroy the YouTube channel called Tune Sugar.

-- After browsing through Fiverr, I landed on a self-proclaimed marketing professional named Sawear J, who boasted many accolades.

After purchasing, I immediately asked what they were going to do - and incorretly assumed Sawear wouldn't do anything until we talked. But I was wrong. My subscribers climbed rapidlyfrom 50 to 500 in a matter of hours.

I became nervous when I saw that Sawear cited good reviews as evidence and misspelled 'promotions'. What did she mean that my work is organic?

I asked for a screenshot of the social media - which she complained about.

She procedeed to inform me she finished the job.

My subscriber count skyrocketed from 100 to 1.1k within days, which seems unbelievable. To confirm my doubts, I examined data from YouTube analytics. Here, you can observe a comparison of audience retention metrics between "Dancing With a Dog" on the Tweaked Productions channel and the Tune Sugar channel. Pay attention to the significant decline at precisely 1 minute in Tune Sugar.

Due to my account being filled with fake followers, the chances of any new content reaching genuine subscribers through the YouTube algorithm are slim. The channel is effectively murdered. All the genuine promotion efforts I made to attract real viewers to Tune Sugar have been nullified.

Here is what I responded to Sawear:

Sawear responded.

And then I demanded a refund and reported her.

Sawear proceeded to insinuate I am a scammer.

The lesson: beware a cheap price tag as it may cost you reputation as well as money.