Afflicter All About Accountability

‘Who’s Who’ Scams Are Timely

If you’re fortunate enough to have a job in this economy, it’s likely that you still haven’t gotten much of a raise in the last couple of years or seen much opportunity for promotion.

People are desperate for opportunities for career advancement right now, helping out professional networking web sites like LinkedIn.

But older than LinkedIn, Twitter and the other Internet properties that professionals are using to promote themselves are ink-and-paper Who’s Who directories, that are supposed to list accomplished people in different walks of life.

With everyone looking for a leg up on their professional rivals, the opportunity to be listed in “Who’s Who in —-” may be more attractive than ever. Or at least that’s what scammers are betting.

CSOonline.com writer Ben Roethke recounted his experience the other day with “Heritage Who’s Who.”

Now, the Afflicter has his own vague memory of having his name listed about 20 years ago in a Who’s Who directly for high school students with decent grades. As we recall, it cost about $10.

That’s a far cry from Roethke’s experience with Heritage Online and its press to get Roethke to pay for a listing in the “2009-2010 Heritage Who’s Who Business Leaders Honors Edition.” Aggressive telemarketers pushed him to pay as much as $699 for entry into Heritage’s “Platinum Program,” where along with the directory listing, he supposedly would have received decorative wall plaques proclaiming his admission into the Who’s Who, and press releases announcing his accomplishment.

Their sales pitch tried to appeal both to Roethke’s ego and to apply pressure, as the saleman cited a looming deadline for the new Who’s Who to be admitted to the Library of Congress.  (There is, of course, no such deadline.)

Roethke reports that no one holds a copyright on the term “Who’s Who,” so anyone can purport to be publishing an official Who’s Who directory.

And an informal poll he conducted of people who’ve paid for admission to Who’s Who directories, found no one who said that they received any benefit from their listing.