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Explanation of rules for active advertising systems

Due to incidences of WebMoney Transfer users being defrauded through fraudulant projects and a large number of financial pyramid schemes masquerading as systems for active advertising, WebMoney has decided to detail the system's rules for combatting illegal financial activity (http://webmoney.ru/rus/cooperation/legal/illegaltrade.shtml) as regards such projects:

In order to block access to the system for projects whose income and payouts to users are based on attracting other users with promises of high income, the following rule is in effect for such projects: ALL functions which result in charging users money to increase income through a project, or for receiving income, are prohibited.

In other words, a user may buy liquid goods and services ("liquid" in that they have a price and demand outside of the project), for example, buy advertising, pay for mini-games, buy "live" referrals from "live" users, participate in lotteries (if this does not violate other rules and does not mask a prohibited function as is the case with VIP advertising).

Everything else is banned and will lead to the deactivation of automatic interfaces, WMID blocking, and in the case of repeated violations, denial of service.

It is also forbidden to abet banned schemes in any way, for example, by accepting payments for the benefit of banned schemes, selling PIN codes or activation codes to load funds for banned schemes, helping to hide the WMID of a banned scheme, and so forth.

Examples illustrating such bans:

This section contains only EXAMPLES which explain why such limitations are put into place. This is NOT an encyclopedic list of functions which are prohibited.

WebMoney Transfer purposefully does not publish a list of prohibited functions so as to not lead to the legalization of a banned project if the project merely renames some of its functions. The owners of such a service should analyze every function of their projects to check for prohibited activity. Measures against WMIDs violating the rules will be taken even if the banned project function is not listed below or has another name.

  • VIP account (click upgrade, financial status, etc.): This function is a classic sign of a financial pyramid scheme, leading sooner or later to the defrauding of users and the closing of the project. For example, if an advertiser usually pays 0.02 WMZ per click, the clicker receives 0.015 WMZ which is a legal system (the difference of 0.005 goes to the project's founder) that can exist for an indefinite period of time. However if a VIP click is introduced for which a user begins to receive 0.035 WMZ, having first paid 80 WMZ but the payment from the advertiser does not increase, it is apparent that the project is "in the red" and can pay out only as long as the inflow of new users signing up for the service continues. When the number of newcomers to the project is reduced, the project simply does not have the funds to pay its obligations. The project then closes, in arrears and without the previously promised windfall.

Sometimes this function is masked as the purchase of (VIP) advertising. For example, a user buys an ad for 5 to 10 times more money, after which their price per click increases. This guise (as with all of the others) is strictly forbidden and does not alter the fraudulent basis of the project.

  • Financial network: A classic, undisguised pyramid scheme. It is necessary, for example, to buy 6 WMZ to enter, then gaining 4 WMZ for each user who is drawn in. This financial structure is strictly forbidden by the laws of practically all countries worldwide. This structure allows the forbidden project to receive a large income due to the payout of unsustainable amounts to members, thereby attracting yet more users to the project before it stops completely.
  • Referral bots (Garant referals): A user pays, for instance, 10 WMZ to activate one referral bot. This bot, in turn, brings a "stable" income of 0.05 WMZ per day. It is clear as day that this income is taken "out of thin air": after 200 days this function will bring only losses to the project's creator. This scheme cannot by its very nature survive for long, and as with the previous example, is used to support an unsustainable project before it is closed completely. This function accelerates the unavoidable demise of the project making it impossible even in theory to repay users the money that has been promised them if the number of new users falls.

Measures for repeat violations:

If the rules have been explained to a project, and after some changes forbidden functions are implemented again, this is interpreted by our system as proof of the inability of the project to derive a profit through legal means. In order to protect users from being defrauded by such systems, WebMoney Transfer treats such repeat offending projects extremely seriously. Interfaces will be deactivated PERMANENTLY without the possibility of their restoration at any time, and the fraudulent project will be requested to close. If this demand is not complied with, service will be denied regardless of passport or BL level.

These strict measures are aimed at protecting our users from misapprehensions due to a project's long history or high BL. As practice shows, fraudulent projects boasting such features attract a huge number of users, receiving enormous profits before the number of clickers nears 100% of all users interested in such activities, new users slow to a trickle and the project begins to incur enormous losses. It is unable to meet its obligations and defrauds a large number of users.

Additional requirements:

Due to the disproportionately large number of active advertising systems, and in order to protect our users from financial losses associated with defaults on obligations after such projects close, we are forced to impose maximally strict requirements (which are written in the rules, but not usually strictly enforced) for new, emerging projects to be convinced of their viability and competitiveness vis a vis existing projects.

To this end the following information is required from you when setting up new projects:

  • A description of the competitive advantages of the project compared to other, existing ones, and an action plan for attracting advertisers and making a profit.
  • A description of a business plan, the means by which you plan to make a profit, where and how to advertise, with examples of the project's ad placement.
  • Strict requirements will be imposed on the project's appearance and functioning. Projects with inconsistent frames and styles, with an inconvenient and stock design, with unreasonable colour choices (for example, dark blue text on a black background), with errors in scripting and on webpages will not be accepted.
  • Interfaces will be activated ONLY for projects whose administrator has programming experience or have an experienced on-staff programmer. Technical support employees may ask questions on the technical implementation of the project and the programming languages used for it in order to be sure of the project's development experience, potential for growth and viability.

If these requirements are not satisfied, a subsequent review of the application for activation will come not earlier than after one calendar month.

In order to prevent advertising mailings through the internal mail of projects facing imminent (and unavoidable) closure, the X6 interface is activated only for large projects which have demonstrated their viability and competitiveness. The specific criteria for project viability are maintained internally and are not publicized.