Blogger Alert: New Banner Placement Scam (Updated August 2026)

As someone that places advertisements on my websites fairly often, I get an email once or twice a week that promises $2,000 per week if I put up the company’s banner. Most time, it’s obvious as the company promising banner payment of such large amounts would NOT do that (e.g. Mashable, Reuters). There are a few different websites that try to showcase whenever these new scams start up; I usually end up sending these scammers the fantastic Geek Mamas piece. IP Locations has done something similar for the Mashable banner placement scam.

I just received an email purportedly (but obviously not) from Men’s Journal, which I have replicated below. Do NOT fall victim to these scams. Legitimate banner companies pay much, much worse based on our awful amount of traffic. 🙂

Email 1: Men’s Journal

Hello,

I hope you are doing well.

The Arena Media Brands, LLC and MEN’S JOURNAL are registered trademarks of The Arena Media Brands, LLC. I am reaching out as a contributor associated with Men’s Journal General Companies.

We are interested in placing advertisements on your website, including side banners, header placement, and footer posts.

For your reference, I have attached a sample showing the type of advertisement placement we are looking for.

We would like to run the advertisement for 40 days, and our current budget for this campaign is $2600. However, we are open to adjusting the budget according to your requirements and website value.

We can make payments via PayPal, Binance, or USDT, depending on your preferred method.

Looking forward to your response and hopefully working together.

Thanks & Regards

Email 2: The CNET scam

Hi,

We are from the CNET team and are currently looking for high-quality websites interested in adding a small CNET Insiders section to their footer or sidebar.

We are interested in establishing a long-term partnership with you and would like to share the complete details of our proposal.

We are prepared to pay between $2,500 and $3,000 per month for the agreed banner placement on your website. The content and information displayed through our banner will be designed to comply with the applicable requirements and will be focused solely on increasing CNET Insiders subscribers.

Our primary objective is to grow our subscriber base. We are not interested in or involved in any activity that could negatively impact your website. If you ever notice anything that appears illegal, inappropriate, or potentially harmful to your website in connection with our campaign, please inform us immediately. We are committed to reviewing any such concern and taking appropriate action.

Once the banner has been implemented and our details have been added, we will provide you with a private tracking link exclusively for our partnership. Through this link, you will be able to monitor the campaign’s performance, including how many subscribers come through your website, the source of the traffic, and the number of subscribers generated on a daily basis.

To ensure transparency and proper business cooperation, if you require an advance payment, we will need you to provide your complete company and business details before processing the payment.

As part of our long-term partnership, we would also be happy to feature your website on our own website. We can include your website link and mention your name or business details where appropriate, which may help increase your visibility and potentially generate additional business and sales for you.

The Gmail address from which we are contacting you belongs to one of our team members. Our team members use their individual professional email accounts so that each member can communicate with you directly, provide proper assistance, and dedicate sufficient time to your partnership and requirements.

Payments can be made through any of the following methods:

• PayPal
• BTC Wallet
• Payoneer
• US Bank Transfer

Once you agree to the partnership, we will immediately forward all the required details, including the HTML code and complete implementation instructions.

If you prefer faster communication, we can also connect via Telegram and continue the discussion there.

We are looking to work with reliable and professional website owners. If our partnership proves successful, you may also continue working with us on a long-term or lifetime basis.

Our goal is to build a transparent, professional, and mutually beneficial relationship. We value our partners and aim to ensure that both sides benefit from the cooperation.

Thank you for your support and cooperation. We value long-term relationships and look forward to working together in the future.

Disclaimer: CNET Insiders is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially associated with CNET or any of its parent companies. All trademarks, brand names, and logos belong to their respective owners. 

Email 3: Brand Ambassador

From atiwari@saifasteners.com

Dear editor,

I am writing on behalf of Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and its clients in the United States.

We are looking for a part-time Spokesperson/Financial Coordinator to support our company. This role involves minimal daily responsibilities with no conflicts of interest and a minimum compensation of $5,000 per month.

If you are interested, please reply to this email. We would be happy to provide more details.

Best regards, 
Lisa Lewis 
Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Below is a list of the email addresses from these scammers. If you wish to, go and leave a comment with similar scammers and I’ll update when I can. What other Banner Placement Scam offers have you received?

armanitalevender@gmail.com

matthewelliott.cnet.com@gmail.com

breefowler.cnet.com@gmail.com

hazilgeorge@gmail.com