If you write content for a living beware of an old scam that has recently hit a new and pathetic low–content fishing scams.  The scam involves getting writers and content producers to produce content for free under the guise of a “sample” or a “demo”.  The scammers then either publish your work on their site networks or submit your work to paid content networks.  Some even have the nerve to sell your materials as PLR packages or actual custom retained work at freelance sites.  I’ve seen the wide variety of ways this scam has been pulled.

Here’s how to protect yourself.

1) Insist on using past work (which you have client clearance for or non-client content you’ve set aside for demos) as your “sample” or “demo”.

2) If they are insistent on custom samples, make it clear that you still own the custom sample and reserve the right to publish the sample on your sites.  You must make it abundantly clear that you still own the content. If they agree, once you release the sample, publish it/date stamp it on one of your sites.

Here are alternative deals you can pursue:

- the recipient can publish your content but you still own all rights.  This means you can sell it to someone else and you can publish it.

- the recipient must link back to you using your content.  The recipient agrees not to take off the link and other ownership indicators.

3) Have a DMCA form ready.  If you see your work appear after you run copyscape on the site where you published your demo, check out the pages that appear.  If the demo appears on a dedicated host, contact the host company with your filled out DMCA form.  If the demo appears on a Web 2.0 free site, contact the site network owner.  If the demo shows ADS, contact the ad sites and make your DMCA claim and demand action.

Where does spam play into all this?

We’ve noticed  recent surge in the use of spam to pull of this type of scam.  Be careful of IM, forum, and email harvesters posing as “customers.”