Company Looking To Hire 'Piracy Investigators' Promising $500+ Per Night

from the or-they-could-spend-it-on-better-business-modeling dept

Reader TPBer alerts us to a Craigslist ad in San Antonio looking for "piracy investigators," for whom they're willing to pay $500+ per night to go around to various bars and other such venues seeking out places showing live sporting events on Pay-Per-View. Since Craigslist ads don't last long, here's a screenshot: Of course, it seems like this ad was placed in the wrong section. Why put it in "services offered" rather than job opportunities? It doesn't look like Craigslist charges for job ads in San Antonio (as it does elsewhere), so it's not to avoid the fees.

Either way, the actual website this points to, PiracySurveillanceJob.com is somewhat entertaining. Apparently, the whole thing involves a California-based company. The application page notes that any work you do will be "under the direction and license" of a California Private Investigator named Wayne & Associates, which appears to be owned by a guy named Randy Cervantes in LA.

As for how much the job pays, apparently, it's based on how many venues you can find showing PPV events who haven't paid up on your given night, and it works as follows: With leads provided to you:
With a video: $100
W/out a video: $75

Self generated leads you come up with:
With a video: $175
W/out a video: $150 Also, to prove that people actually get paid, they've posted a pdf of checks to people, with some identifying information redacted (not very well, actually). They also list a Twitter account you can follow for "discrete notifications" of future jobs, but of course, all of the followers of that account (13 as of this posting) are listed publicly.

I also like the various requirements for the job, including that you have to call a ton of places up yourself the day before an event to ask if they're showing the event, and then compare that to the "legal list" that is sent to you of places who have paid for a license. It also says that you cannot be "timid or shy" and that you shouldn't apply for the job "if you're on your last $20," since they expect you to pay for your own gas to travel from bar to bar.

Anyway, the whole thing is a bit amusing, if you were wondering how operations like UFC (who is listed as a client) go about tracking down bars and such playing unauthorized showings of their events. It seems like a lot of money and effort for this sort of thing, but they must think that it leads to some sort of benefit.

Filed Under: piracy investigator