Michael Quoc; Creator of the Factoidz Ponzi
It has always been the creed of the Internet that whatever can be hacked will be hacked, and what can be scammed will be scammed.
It depends on how good a hacker one is how deep one goes, how good a scammer how much can be scammed.
Mike Quoc is the Bernie Madoff of Online Writing Scams.
It depends on how good a hacker one is how deep one goes, how good a scammer how much can be scammed.
Mike Quoc is the Bernie Madoff of Online Writing Scams.
Who is Mike Quoc?
The son of Vietnamese refugees, Quoc grew up in California. He worked for Yahoo! and hit upon the idea of exploiting online writers with a simple Ponzi called Factoidz.
As any Ponzi scheme, the first 'investors' would be paid and act as 'Shills' who would run about extolling the virtues of the scheme. The Shills would rope in more 'investors' until such time one set of 'investors' would be paying the other set.
As in all Ponzis there reaches a stage where 'investors' are not paid.
As any Ponzi scheme, the first 'investors' would be paid and act as 'Shills' who would run about extolling the virtues of the scheme. The Shills would rope in more 'investors' until such time one set of 'investors' would be paying the other set.
As in all Ponzis there reaches a stage where 'investors' are not paid.
What's a Ponzi?
A Ponzi scheme, named after Charles Ponzi who hadn't exactly meant to create one, is how one gets one set of suckers to pay another set of suckers.
The first group enters the scheme and is actually paid. They run around getting more investors. The second set is also paid, and they bring in more investors.
The first and second set 'reinvest' and their 'reinvestment' is used to pay the Third Set. The first and second are not paid until the Fourth Set Invests.
As the Ponzi grows more people need to be brought in to pay the previous set until the money coming in is far less than those who need to be paid.
The first group enters the scheme and is actually paid. They run around getting more investors. The second set is also paid, and they bring in more investors.
The first and second set 'reinvest' and their 'reinvestment' is used to pay the Third Set. The first and second are not paid until the Fourth Set Invests.
As the Ponzi grows more people need to be brought in to pay the previous set until the money coming in is far less than those who need to be paid.
How Quoc's Factoidz Ponzi Works
Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff went to prison for their Ponzis. As it was the investing of money into schemes that didn't exist or didn't pay the rate of return averred, a prosecutor need merely do the math to prove the fraud.
Quoc avoided that kind of a Ponzi with the creation of Factoidz; an online writing site. What Factoidz purports to be and what Factoidz is are somewhat different.
Quoc avoided that kind of a Ponzi with the creation of Factoidz; an online writing site. What Factoidz purports to be and what Factoidz is are somewhat different.
Factoidz claims to be an online writing site in which contributors are paid for their published work.
One joins Factoidz as a "Member". Members can not publish.
A Member submits writing and if it is approved s/he becomes a 'Writer'. A 'Writer' shares in the revenue the item generates via the advertisements on the Page. The work of a 'Writer' is subject to moderation.
After a period of time the 'Writer' who produces good work is raised to 'Staff Writer'. At this level there is no longer moderation and what is written is immediately published.
One joins Factoidz as a "Member". Members can not publish.
A Member submits writing and if it is approved s/he becomes a 'Writer'. A 'Writer' shares in the revenue the item generates via the advertisements on the Page. The work of a 'Writer' is subject to moderation.
After a period of time the 'Writer' who produces good work is raised to 'Staff Writer'. At this level there is no longer moderation and what is written is immediately published.
The Shill
Factoidz pays between four and six times what other sites pay to writers in the first two months. Where one makes Ten Dollars a month on Triond he may earn between Forty and Sixty Dollars a month on Factoidz.
Considering there are often LESS Ads on a Factoidz page than on Triond where does this excess revenue come from?
How is it that a comparative article receiving the same number of hits on another site reaps pennies to the Factoidz dollar?
The answer is the heart of the Ponzi.
The payment made to the New Writer is not based on his or her earnings; it is the revenue earned by those who have been locked out of the site and their work confiscated.
In a basic Ponzi, there is no 'investment'. The money deposited by each investor is used to pay other investors. Bernie Madoff, for example, was able to keep his scheme going for many years as most of his 'investors' would 'roll over' their money. There was no money to roll over. This was learned when the investors asked for their pay out.
In Quoc's Ponzi he simply steals the revenue earning articles from one writer, using that revenue to pay a New Writer who, in a few months, he will lock out of the site, and use their money to pay subsequent writers.
New Writers who have received this largess produce more work, run from site to site extolling the virtues of Factoidz.
Considering there are often LESS Ads on a Factoidz page than on Triond where does this excess revenue come from?
How is it that a comparative article receiving the same number of hits on another site reaps pennies to the Factoidz dollar?
The answer is the heart of the Ponzi.
The payment made to the New Writer is not based on his or her earnings; it is the revenue earned by those who have been locked out of the site and their work confiscated.
In a basic Ponzi, there is no 'investment'. The money deposited by each investor is used to pay other investors. Bernie Madoff, for example, was able to keep his scheme going for many years as most of his 'investors' would 'roll over' their money. There was no money to roll over. This was learned when the investors asked for their pay out.
In Quoc's Ponzi he simply steals the revenue earning articles from one writer, using that revenue to pay a New Writer who, in a few months, he will lock out of the site, and use their money to pay subsequent writers.
New Writers who have received this largess produce more work, run from site to site extolling the virtues of Factoidz.
Member to Writer to Staff Writer to Writer to Member
As a Member of Factoidz one can not publish. A scan of many of the best articles on Factoidz will reveal they were written by a Member. This means that when the article was published the writer was not a Member; either s/he was a Writer or a Staff Writer.
As Members earn nothing for the work on the site and are unable to remove it, Quoc syndicates the article as if he owns the copyright and pockets the revenue it earns.
The procedure of dropping a person from Staff Writer to Member has no basis. If challenged, Quoc will claim the writer is a 'spammer' or breached the 'Terms of Service.' There is no 'hearing' there is no 'defense', nor is the allegation true.
There is one employee of Factoidz, Michael Quoc, hence there is no 'whistleblower'.
As he needs a handful of 'satisfied writers' to join the Newbies in touting Factoidz, he maintains a small stable of hacks. These hacks find their earnings slipping as the 'hits' on their articles are of 'low value'.
Where on other writing sites the ratio of pay per view is specified, on Factoidz it is not. It depends on how much Quoc has been able to rip off per month, how many suckers he has been able to lure and must pay, how much one of his hacks will earn.
As Members earn nothing for the work on the site and are unable to remove it, Quoc syndicates the article as if he owns the copyright and pockets the revenue it earns.
The procedure of dropping a person from Staff Writer to Member has no basis. If challenged, Quoc will claim the writer is a 'spammer' or breached the 'Terms of Service.' There is no 'hearing' there is no 'defense', nor is the allegation true.
There is one employee of Factoidz, Michael Quoc, hence there is no 'whistleblower'.
As he needs a handful of 'satisfied writers' to join the Newbies in touting Factoidz, he maintains a small stable of hacks. These hacks find their earnings slipping as the 'hits' on their articles are of 'low value'.
Where on other writing sites the ratio of pay per view is specified, on Factoidz it is not. It depends on how much Quoc has been able to rip off per month, how many suckers he has been able to lure and must pay, how much one of his hacks will earn.
Quoc; The Noose Closes
Having ripped off so many writers, (he is especially focused on non-American writers because they have the greatest difficulty in prosecuting him) the blogosphere teems with warnings.
Every other writing site has negative reports on Factoidz. Many Americans have reported him to various Legal Agencies.
To continue his Ponzi, Quoc got a 'seal' from the Better Business Bureau of America, a useless agency that does very little to protect consumers, which he prominently places on his site.
He does constant Googles of Factoidz and Mike Quoc and personally informs the owner of the sites on which unfavourable articles are posted that they are 'Defamatory'. The owners, afraid of him, for he portrays the 'honest' businessman often remove the articles.
Persons who Google Mike Quoc or Factoidz will often find a 'blank' site when clicking on the unfavourable article. This is due to the effort of Quoc in 'protecting' his Ponzi.
Quoc himself posts comments, claiming the unfavourable article was written by a person who was banned for being a 'Spammer'. He has never been called upon to prove this.
Thousands of writers have had their work stolen by Quoc. Thousands more are anxious to join the ranks of victims.
Every other writing site has negative reports on Factoidz. Many Americans have reported him to various Legal Agencies.
To continue his Ponzi, Quoc got a 'seal' from the Better Business Bureau of America, a useless agency that does very little to protect consumers, which he prominently places on his site.
He does constant Googles of Factoidz and Mike Quoc and personally informs the owner of the sites on which unfavourable articles are posted that they are 'Defamatory'. The owners, afraid of him, for he portrays the 'honest' businessman often remove the articles.
Persons who Google Mike Quoc or Factoidz will often find a 'blank' site when clicking on the unfavourable article. This is due to the effort of Quoc in 'protecting' his Ponzi.
Quoc himself posts comments, claiming the unfavourable article was written by a person who was banned for being a 'Spammer'. He has never been called upon to prove this.
Thousands of writers have had their work stolen by Quoc. Thousands more are anxious to join the ranks of victims.
Does it Really Make Money?
On a standard writing site, the writer is often paid something like 6 hits = 1c. As it is usually 50% revenue sharing between the writer and the site those six hits actually earn 2c.
Six thousand hits to a site gross $20.00.
As there are hundreds of thousands of articles on Factoidz many getting far more than six thousand hits a month, Quoc is a millionaire.
He has lost revenue over the past six months due to the sheer bulk of complaints made against him and his site, and the number of articles written. This is why he has become so active in his defense of Factoidz and himself.
Six thousand hits to a site gross $20.00.
As there are hundreds of thousands of articles on Factoidz many getting far more than six thousand hits a month, Quoc is a millionaire.
He has lost revenue over the past six months due to the sheer bulk of complaints made against him and his site, and the number of articles written. This is why he has become so active in his defense of Factoidz and himself.
ENTER KNOJI
Although his Shills are active, (defending the pennies he pays them), with 98,600 returns on a Factoidz+rip off Google, it's time to move on. Quoc has created a brand new 'writing site' called Knoji. It will be just like Factoidz. Same policies, same rip off, new name.