Everyone who has previously fallen for these scams, or has enough experience to understand that most of the offers are scammy. That leaves a lot of suckers to be mined.

My nanny (a very nice, intelligent woman, but naive about such things) wound up with a $500 cell phone bill last month after falling for a bunch of scams in a single week.

You have a nanny and you're posting on HN? How old are you?

It could be that he has children himself, so "his nanny" watches over his children and not over him.

I was joking :) Stupid, I know.

There are days I wish I had someone to spoonfeed me applesauce and give me a warm bath, then put me down for a nap. Alas, I can't afford that kind of "nanny"...

Her children. :)

I signed up for a love film (uk version of netflix) subscription to for a similar "scam" (not facebook or game related). In that case I was toying with getting the subscription anyway (and I still have it 8 months later and am very happy I took the plunge).

However I do think that was a lucky experience; I saw something I wanted to try out, got it and got a freebie in the process. Win win.

I liked the follow up Techcrunch post where the Hot or Not guy is quoted as saying that the idea isnt in itself a bad one (affiliate sign ups) - just that the industry has slid the wrong way. Im sure he's correct; It worked for me and it can work for others too. But Im guessing that the number of times it is easier to just scam people is higher.

Good on Arrington for having a good public bitch about this.