A salutary lesson for Facebook and Instagram advertisers

This week, we received a bill for a lead generation campaign promoting, further investigation revealed, a non-existent T-shirt manufacturer; created prima facie by one ‘Ada Miko?ajczyk’.

Now, if I’m honest: had Ms Miko?ajczyk (not, I dare say, her real name) reined in her rapacity… resulting in our receiving an invoice more than ten times the norm… I would not even have noticed; rather, the fraudulent payment would have slipped through, automatically and without comment.

But, in addition to being a bottom-feeding, low-life, parasite, Ms Miko?ajczyk is clearly galactically greedy; and idle too: intent on maximising her ill-gotten gains, before crawling back under the rock whence she came.

So, it didn’t.

What, then, is to be learned from this experience?

Well, going forward we will of course check ALL our invoices, however trivial – since Miko?ajczyk’s smarter extortionist ilk are, we have since discovered, wont to ‘test the water’: initially extracting more modest sums, before attempting ‘the big score’.

There’s also I think a lesson for the Miko?ajczyks of this world.

If you were to temper your larcenous instincts with a modicum of patience – maybe dial down the ambition levels a little – you’d probably be able to bleed a whole lot more out of unsuspecting SMEs such as ours.

Better though, how about this.

Rather than defrauding COVID-impacted businesses – many of whom are hanging on by a thread -   how about doing something useful with your time and talent: applying your undeniable skills in a more productive way, that benefits other people?

And hey: if you’re as capable an entrepreneur as you are a thief, you might just earn a decent living into the bargain.

I use the word ‘decent’ advisedly.