The Phantom Newsroom Test: Documents That Expose Fake Publications
A publication with no staff can still look convincing. These checks sort real mastheads from rented templates.
Scams
Fake Forbes/marketplace placements, PR fraud, phantom newsrooms — exposed with documents
Spotting Fake Bylines: How to Verify a Journalist Actually Wrote That Article
A name under a headline proves nothing on its own. Here's how to check whether the person behind it exists, works where the article claims, and actually wrote it.
Four Layers, 95% Markup: How Reseller Chains Launder Placement Scams Into 'Strategy'
From placement desk to local consultant, one $600 paid membership becomes a $12,000 'guaranteed feature.' The anatomy of reseller stacking and the pass-through questions that unwind it.
The Automated Placement Factory: AI-Generated 'Coverage' on Sites Nobody Reads
Machine-written articles deployed across operator-owned networks at pennies per piece, sold as media placements. The four-station pipeline, the unit economics, and the provenance questions that break it.
The $8,000 Podcast Slot: Pay-to-Play Shows and the Manufactured Audience
Download farms, network-number shuffles, and referral mills — how pay-to-play podcasting sells audiences that do not exist, and the three-listener test.
Letters From a Newsroom That Doesn't Exist: The Spoofed-Media Phishing Economy
Credential capture, invoice spoofing, weaponized attachments — how fake newsroom emails exploit the fastest repliers in any company, and the verification discipline that stops them.