A Time-Waster For Your Thursday: The Case Of Sarah Phillips

[indeedproceed]

Consider the following: A woman in her 20's is a popular poster for a betting sports site. They like her posts, they see she already has a following on the message boards, they hire her. She writes a few columns, playing the 'intelligent sports hottie' troupe ala Erin Andrews, but with betting.

ESPN took notice, and hired her.

But then, things started..coming to light. A handful of pretty nefarious looking internet scams with her name attached to them started popping up. Questions about her actual picture started rising, to the point where people actually began to wonder if Sarah Phillips was actually a real person. Deadspin investigated.

http://deadspin.com/5906658/is-an-espn-columnist-scamming-people-on-the-internet

http://deadspin.com/5906849/sarah-phillips-admits-she-concealed-her-identity-made-poor-choices-with-who-to-trust

http://deadspin.com/5907081/sources-sarah-phillips-and-nilesh-prasad-picked-games-together-scammed-people-together-got-fired-from-t+mobile-together

http://deadspin.com/5907079/another-sarah-phillips-scam-im-a-writer-for-espn-and-i-plan-to-take-over-the-world

This (stuff) is crazy. Just...crazy. Worth the read.

[JSD]

It's amazing the evolution of con-artists and what they can do now behind a computer screen. Two obviously highly intelligent people using their smarts to get paid by stealing. People need to be smarter, though. The NBA Memes kid has got to be smarter than to give his administrative password up like that.

[ManUp]

How cute the Bonnie and Clyde of scamming? They almost got away with it too, crazy.

Thanks for the read IP, Tp.

[CelticHooligan3]

Thank you for the post. TP.

[DKClassic]

Good set of articles, good read.  Hopefully this ends the scandal, but it's hard to believe that "Sarah" has genuinely cut ties with Prasad/those involved.

[indeedproceed]

http://deadspin.com/5907722/source-sarah-phillips-steered-business-to-a-bookie-who-was-probably-nilesh-prasad

Now they're saying that she steered bets towards Prasad.

[StartOrien]

My favorite part was the excerpt from the guy who hired her on his gambling website who pretty much said

"yes, we got fooled BUT SO DID E-S-P-FRICKING-N!"

[indeedproceed]

My favorite part was the excerpt from the guy who hired her on his gambling website who pretty much said

"yes, we got fooled BUT SO DID E-S-P-FRICKING-N!"

haha, yeah. I thought the knocks they'd thrown out there to covers.com seem to be a little poorly thought out. ESPN actually talked to the girl but never met her face to face, yet they hired her as a columnist. Comeon, meow.

[StartOrien]

My favorite part was the excerpt from the guy who hired her on his gambling website who pretty much said

"yes, we got fooled BUT SO DID E-S-P-FRICKING-N!"

haha, yeah. I thought the knocks they'd thrown out there to covers.com seem to be a little poorly thought out. ESPN actually talked to the girl but never met her face to face, yet they hired her as a columnist. Comeon, meow.

To be fair, from the comments I've seen made by the writers I follow on twitter this doesn't seem to be an uncommon practice.

[indeedproceed]

My favorite part was the excerpt from the guy who hired her on his gambling website who pretty much said

"yes, we got fooled BUT SO DID E-S-P-FRICKING-N!"

haha, yeah. I thought the knocks they'd thrown out there to covers.com seem to be a little poorly thought out. ESPN actually talked to the girl but never met her face to face, yet they hired her as a columnist. Comeon, meow.

To be fair, from the comments I've seen made by the writers I follow on twitter this doesn't seem to be an uncommon practice.

I've gotten hired to do small things online without a face-to-face or even a phone call, but never anything like what ESPN did.

[StartOrien]

The other best part of the story was the guy that thought he was going to do the Scrooge McDuck dive into money by contributing memes.

Step 3, profit?

[indeedproceed]

The other best part of the story was the guy that thought he was going to do the Scrooge McDuck dive into money by contributing memes.

Step 3, profit?

Well the whole idea that they're going to monetize twitter accounts is just wild.

[StartOrien]

The other best part of the story was the guy that thought he was going to do the Scrooge McDuck dive into money by contributing memes.

Step 3, profit?

Well the whole idea that they're going to monetize twitter accounts is just wild.

See, to me that makes SOME sense. Obviously not to the level they were saying, but I know at this point every site I read is pretty much either directly or indirectly through following people on twitter. So I think you could justify it as advertisement.

[indeedproceed]

The other best part of the story was the guy that thought he was going to do the Scrooge McDuck dive into money by contributing memes.

Step 3, profit?

Well the whole idea that they're going to monetize twitter accounts is just wild.

See, to me that makes SOME sense. Obviously not to the level they were saying, but I know at this point every site I read is pretty much either directly or indirectly through following people on twitter. So I think you could justify it as advertisement.

I know companies are crazy about reaching potential clients, but the thought that they're gonna 'walk' (cuz we now know there is no face-to-face interaction in such things) up to some hipster and offer them a ton of cash for their 8,000 followers is just wild to me.

[StartOrien]

The other best part of the story was the guy that thought he was going to do the Scrooge McDuck dive into money by contributing memes.

Step 3, profit?

Well the whole idea that they're going to monetize twitter accounts is just wild.

See, to me that makes SOME sense. Obviously not to the level they were saying, but I know at this point every site I read is pretty much either directly or indirectly through following people on twitter. So I think you could justify it as advertisement.

I know companies are crazy about reaching potential clients, but the thought that they're gonna 'walk' (cuz we now know there is no face-to-face interaction in such things) up to some hipster and offer them a ton of cash for their 8,000 followers is just wild to me.

I'm far removed from understanding marketing at any level anymore, but my guess is that a covert ad through someones twitter account/blog/tumblr, etc. is both more effective and cheaper than any other form of advertisement.