So the next time you get an email soliciting paid links on your blog — and who hasn’t these days (I retract that: if you’re doing well enough that someone wants to pay for links on your site, good for you) — and you’re *really* tempted, because you know that a lower pagerank means squat to traffic, and you could really use the funds to reinvest in your blog / buy a new pair of speakers / pay your rent, you may want to reconsider.

Turns out that there is a new scam that is going around which is actually an elaborate form of the Nigerian Email Scam, or 419 Fraud. I’m sure you know the one — its where you get an email out of nowhere (perhaps Nigeria, as that’s where its thought the scam originated there is no data as of yet suggesting where the fraud is actually coming from) telling you that you’ve won / been bequeathed / need to hide millions of dollars, and that all the other folks need is your bank account number, and — inevitably, extra funds (this is where you get scammed).

Anyway, the *new* version of the Nigerian Email Scam is one where sites, or blogs, are solicited for display, or text link (paid) ads. I found this nugget of information on a security site called F-secure, no less, where the scammers in question used the subject line “partnership enquiry“, or “Website Partnership Enquiry”, that enquiry being, of course, their solicitation to purchase advertising on your site, in the form of display ads and text link ads.

If you *do* answer them, they will negotiate a fairly heft sum of cash (F-Secure has the details) in the low four figure range, which is no small sum to some bloggers. So, here’s the scam part:

They will send you a check for the agreed upon sum PLUS some additional cash, by “mistake”. For example, if you agreed upon $2000, they’ll send you $3000. Then they’ll send an email back saying that they sent the extra by mistake, please send *back* the balance, please.

Problem? That check that was mailed to you for the advertising deal, if you wait long enough, never clears. You end up with squat and the scammer gets your money.

So the next time you get an email solicitation for display ads or text link ads (paid links) on your website, be cautious and do a little bit of due diligence:

1. Investigate your buyer thoroughly: do they leave an appropriate name, place of business, and phone number? Do they have an actual website that they want to advertise? Do the owners of the website *know* the alleged buyer of the advertising?

2. Wait for that check to clear: the scam only works if you don’t realize that the check doesn’t clear / it does bounce. This is a non-issue if you’re being paid via Paypal, but if you’re being mailed anything it always helps to be cautious

Update: Snoskred suggests that it can take an awful long time for checks to clear, and that they can take up to a year to bounce. As always a low threshold for calling any offer that is too good to be true “BS” should be a low one.

Other resources:

• The History of the Nigerian 419 Fraud or Advance Fee Scam
• Examples of Nigerian Email Scams
• Interviews with Nigerian Scam Operators
• 419Eaters — A Scam Baiting site for Nigerian Scam Artists