Hi lads, here's my $0.02 on BTC Robot.
Someone joined our chatroom on IRC, posting a referral link to btcrobot.com.
21:53 < randnick> Is this a place one can tell people about stuff related to bitcoin...post links?
21:54 < randnick> links to offers related to the bitcoin world
21:58 < randnick>
http://randnick.btcbot.a.clickbetter.com/22:01 < randnick> well, btcfaucet, this is something really good for ANYONE doing stuff with bitcoin.
22:02 < randnick> I am not interested in trying to spam, NO.. I did ask, didn't I? Don't knock it when you don't know it. Its trading 24/7 bitcoin...and IT WORKS
22:02 < randnick> It is NOT a scam
22:03 < randnick> I bought a licence, am using it....and am not like you guys...am total newbie to BTC....making money with it already
22:04 < randnick> I didn't say it was risk free, did I?
22:05 < randnick> Is trading ever risk free...?
22:06 < randnick> WOW....lot of sceptical people here....never mind. I could SHOW results...but am NOT here to try convince anybody. Just wanted to share it
22:10 < randnick> Thanks for your time and help...I'm out for now. I do not tolerate negativity...and there seems to be a lot . Oh, faucet, you know of millions of trading robots, do you. I DON'T BELIEVE IT
22:10 < randnick> Goodnight, all....
It's great that such a new product (2 weeks old) has hardcore fans like this already. Obviously a job well done.
Anyway, the guy shared his opinion, now let me share my thoughts.
===
FIRST LOOK AT THE WEBSITE ===
1) Multi-Level-Marketing style template: check
2) Flashy designs and elements: check
3) Huge fonts, one sentence takes up half a page: check
4) The phrases "autopilot", "undeniable proof", "bulletproof profit": check
5) Embed of actual report on TV about Bitcoin: check
6) Crazy profits earned by users with no work: check
7) Bar chart with arrow pointing upwards: check
8) Created by Russians,
"verified" with a Chinese address: check
9) Affiliate advertising / referrals: check
10) Exit splash page giving me offers when I try to close the site: check
===
QUOTES FROM THE WEBSITE ===
"It removes the risk of trading"
"Watch Undeniable proof of the Bitcoin Robot trading Live and making $386.18 profit completely on autopilot!"
"The amount of traders using the robot does not affect its effectiveness, so we thought, why not release it to a limited amount of pioneers who, like us, can take advantage of this new growing opportunity."
===
THE VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKqnaFncFns ===
"I'm going to show you undeniable proof of the Bitcoin Robot trading live and making profits in front of your eyes"
"I decided to record using my handheld camera instead of screen recording - so you can be sure everything is live, and not some kind of photoshop"
"That's right, guys! $386.18 completely on auto-pilot (in 5 days). Not bad, huh? How much will YOU make?"
Personally I lost it when he started talking about undeniable proof based on him using a camcorder instead of screen capture. :)
===
WHAT GOOGLE SAYS ===
Google comes up with the following for BTC robot:
- btcrobot.com (registered 2013 aug 15)
- bitcoin-robot.com (registered 2013 jul 16)
- btcrobotreviews.com (registered 2013 jul 19)
- bitcointradingrobot.net (registered 2013 jul 19)
- btcrobot.co (registered 2013 jul 21)
- btcbitcoinrobot.com (registered 2013 jul 22)
- btcrobot-review.com (registered 2013 jul 24)
- botbitcoin.com (registered 2013 jul 27)
- botbtc.com (registered 2013 aug 04)
- rebelmouse.com/btcrobot
- prweb.com/releases/btc-robot
- a bunch of Youtube videos
Most of these review sites ask "Is this a SCAM? ILLEGAL?" and then by the bottom of the page, they become a promotion site with the image offers embedded and a link to purchase your copy. Clearly these are not actual review sites (
that were created BEFORE btcrobot.com even existed by the way) but created by/for the owners. This is called "Reputation Management" translating to "SEO Spam". They fill Google's pages with their own material, so when you google btcrobot and scam, you see their PR pages. Of course, BTC Robot will claim that this was outsourced SEO work to boost Google rankings, not aimed to conceal any scam reports. But seriously, which legitimate company ever started buying domains for themselves and spammed the internet with pages asking if their own business is a scam?
===
CLICKBETTER ===
When you order the package, you first get taken to a very professional looking payment page:
Clickbetter.com takes your personal information and credit card details. The only problem is, it shouldn't, because there is another checkout site that actually takes the payment. So basically they send your credit card number and other information through their own servers first (allowing them to make a copy) before the actual payment processor (SWREG). The average user will not notice much of this, except for having to submit two forms (with the second one pre-filled).
===
MORE GAME CHANGING PRODUCTS VIA CLICKBETTER ===
- quantum-binary.com ("Certified profit: $2,559 while sleeping")
- mobileprojectx.com/live ("Professional sales video guaranteed to generate you repeated $200 sales!")
- pinterestprofitsystem.com ("Drive traffic to your website with Pinterest")
- instantcashplugin.com ("Automated Profit System")
===
BITCOINTALK THREAD ===
I ended up in
Bitcointalk's BTC Robot thread. It starts out as expected:
- Kinetic915 (126 posts: "looks like a scam")
- donsanto (6 posts: "sounds like a scam")
- naphto (154 posts: "do not invest there, or be ready to lose your money")
- botsofbitcoin (60 posts: "Is it a take the money and run scam?")
Then suddenly,
eurobitcoin arrives to the party and the thread is fixed:
- eurobitcoin (42 posts, mostly btcbot related: "No, BtcRobot is not a scam")
- petskup (4 posts: "Hello Ladies & Gentlemen! We have the results of the BTC Robot Contest. Here are the 7 Winners out of 152 contestants")
- jimmut (15 posts: "Well it just made a few trades...so I guess I just needed to give him time. So I guess its working.")
- oceans2892 (5 posts: "lol mine started trading yesterday too")
- BTC fan (3 posts: "So far so good with my trading")
(not claiming these users are all affiliated with BTC Robot but including eurobitcoin at least 3 of them seem to have registered specifically to post something neutral or positive in the thread)
===
MY THEORY ===
This is my theory: these guys are very much into affiliate web, guerilla marketing, get rich quick schemes and picked Bitcoin for their current buzz campaign. They hired help from Freelancer and maybe Fiverr workers, created professional looking and sounding videos, bought a bunch of domain names, hired copywriters, utilised their already existing SEO blogs, and basically got all of their domains up to google page 1 for 'bitcoin robot' and similar keywords.
They have certainly put money into this, and I have a gut feeling that they also have budget prepared to hand out a $50 here and a $100 there, should anyone question the legitimacy of the site (they probably restrict it to well respected members of the community, not just give it to anyone but whoever is making a fuss and focusing people's attention on the subject).
Either I'm right, or these guys are way ahead of everyone with their "Russian Brains" and can predict to a 95%+ probability which way prices swing on btc-e, even if btc-e is flooded with people who are all using the same bot.
If anyone has more patience and time to look up info on these operations please share your findings.