For many years, Google Adsense has provided a platform for anyone to purchase ad space for their business or service. These ads can live almost anywhere on the internet, from a personal blog to a YouTube video. For the most part, it is an efficient system for creators to monetize their work as well as businesses to market themselves. However, with any automated system at this great size, some weird things can fall through the cracks.

F或多年，谷歌的Adsense已经为任何人购买广告空间，为他们的业务或服务提供了一个平台。 从个人博客到YouTube视频，这些广告几乎可以在互联网上的任何地方播放。 在大多数情况下，这是一个有效的系统，可让创作者从自己的作品和业务中获利，以推销自己。 但是，对于如此大型的任何自动化系统，有些怪异的东西可能会掉入裂缝。

One day when I was scrolling on YouTube, I noticed myself as an advertisement for what looked like an online survey website.

有一天，当我在YouTube上滚动浏览时，我注意到自己是一个看起来像在线调查网站的广告。

I definitely did not purchase this ad or remember giving permission for anyone to use my image for it. I realized that there isn’t a copyright approval process for creating an ad — anyone could rip someone’s photo from anywhere online and make it an ad.

我绝对没有购买此广告，或者记得没有允许任何人使用我的图片。 我意识到制作广告没有版权审批流程-任何人都可以从在线任何地方抓取某人的照片并将其制作为广告。

Traditionally, if a company wants the rights to your name and likeness to use as an advertisement they would have a contract in place and pay for those rights. Not to mention I had created the entire ad, meaning I was the “model,” photographer, and photo editor that they would normally have to pay.

传统上，如果公司希望获得您的姓名和肖像权，并将其用作广告，则他们将签订合同并为这些权利付费。 更不用说我制作了整个广告，这意味着我是他们通常必须付费的“模特”，摄影师和照片编辑器。

I knew that there were laws in place for this sort of thing and technically I could sue them, but clicking on the ad, I found there was no way to trace back who created it. I even tracked the IP address and couldn’t find anything — the person who made it definitely knew what they were doing.

我知道这类事情已经制定了法律，从技术上讲我可以起诉他们，但是点击广告，我发现没有办法追溯谁是谁。 我什至跟踪了IP地址，却找不到任何东西-使其确定的人肯定知道他们在做什么。

When I first saw the ad, I simply reported it and figured that it would be taken down. I got an endless amount of tweets, Instagram DMs, and even text messages from people I haven’t heard from in years that they saw it. Within a few days the ad was gone, but it had already generated about 100,000 views.

当我第一次看到该广告时，我只是对其进行报告并认为该广告将被删除。 我收到了无数的推文，Instagram DM，甚至还有很多年来我从未听说过的人发来的短信。 几天之内，广告消失了，但已经产生了100,000次观看。

I thought I’d solved the problem, until they created another ad with a new name. The first ad had been taken down by the Google Adsense team, but this person was relentless in using my photo for their ad. Once again I reported it, and in a few days, it was gone. I had to repeat this process three times as the photo pirate continued to create new accounts to spread this ad. I also saw them use other YouTubers in different ads, which I’m sure they didn’t get permission for either.

我以为我已经解决了这个问题，直到他们用新名称制作了另一个广告。 第一个广告已被Google Adsense小组删除，但此人毫不留情地将我的照片用于他们的广告。 我再次报告了它，几天后它就消失了。 由于盗版者继续创建新帐户来传播此广告，我不得不重复此过程三遍。 我还看到他们在其他广告中使用其他YouTubers，我确定他们也没有获得许可。

Since this ad kept showing up, I decided to investigate exactly what it was the ad was actually for. It turns out it was a hybrid of an online survey website and different tasks you can earn “points” for and cash out for money.

由于该广告不断展示，因此我决定确切调查广告的实际用途。 事实证明，它是在线调查网站和各种任务的混合体，您可以通过这些任务赚取“积分”并兑现现金。

Each task would take you to a separate website or have you download an app. In one task, I spent 30 minutes filling out a survey only to have it require me to buy something at the end. In another, I played a game on an app that had an astonishing amount of ads for about an hour. I was told that once I reached level 50, I would be awarded the points, but when I went back to the website — surprise! — nothing had changed. I still had zero points.

每个任务都会带您到单独的网站，或者让您下载应用程序。 在一项任务中，我花了30分钟填写一份调查问卷，结果却要求我最后买些东西。 在另一个案例中，我在一个应用程序上玩了一个游戏，其中一个小时的广告数量惊人。 有人告诉我，一旦达到50级，我将获得积分，但是当我回到网站时，会感到惊讶！ -一切都没有改变。 我仍然有零分。

I realized that the only person that would ever make a cent from this website was the owner, not the people completing the “tasks.”

我意识到，唯一能够从该网站赚钱的人是所有者，而不是完成“任务”的人。

It seemed obvious to me from the start that this was some sort of scam, but I know that there are people out there who don’t understand how this works and could end up wasting a lot of time and potentially money on this.

从一开始我对这似乎是种骗局，但我知道那里有些人不了解这是如何工作的，最终可能会浪费大量时间和金钱。

Even if this website did give the payout that they promised, the hourly wage would be minuscule. Years ago I tested a survey website called Opinion Outpost, and the hourly wage for the time I put in was $2.50.

即使该网站确实提供了他们承诺的付款，但小时工资还是微不足道的。 多年前，我对一个名为Opinion Outpost的调查网站进行了测试，当时我的小时工资是2.50美元。

My biggest worry was that people would think I was affiliated with whatever scam they are running. As someone that has created YouTube videos and grown an online presence myself, I’ve really found how important it is to build trust with your audience. I don’t promote any sketchy websites, I don’t sell any courses, and in my videos, I like to show what I find to be the honest truth about different topics — be that selling products on Amazon or moving to Los Angeles.

我最大的担心是，人们会认为我与他们所进行的任何骗局都有关系。 作为创建YouTube视频并自己发展在线形象的人，我真的发现与观众建立信任非常重要。 我不宣传任何粗略的网站，也不销售任何课程，在我的视频中，我想展示我发现的关于不同主题的真实事实-是在亚马逊上销售产品还是搬到洛杉矶。

Currently, the website no longer exists (It was called Promotad.com). While the website is gone, I highly doubt this is the last of this type of scam.

当前，该网站不再存在(它被称为Promotad.com)。 该网站消失后，我高度怀疑这是此类骗局的最后一次。

What I’ve found is that with these sorts of websites, even if they aren’t a true legal “scam” and do have some sort of payout, they are simply not worth the time. With all the ways to make money on the internet, this old adage seems accurate: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

我发现，对于这些类型的网站，即使它们不是真正的合法“骗局”并且确实有某种形式的收益，它们也不值得花时间。 通过各种方式在互联网上赚钱，这句古老的谚语似乎是正确的：如果似乎太过真实，那就可能是正确的。