Here’s an interesting, and ironic, story I recently heard.
For the longest time, criminals have been using privacy phones to talk to their associates about their illegal, underground business.
They heavily relied on Phantom Secure, a company that provides privacy phones specifically for drug traffickers.
These phones had no built-in GPS, no apps to potentially track any data, and all messages were routed through proxies before they were sent, which masked their locations.
What was special about the Phantom Secure phone was that it had a killswitch feature. So if any law enforcement were to get their hands on the phone, criminals were able to set off the feature which would erase all data within the phone.
Eventually, the CEO got arrested basically for confessing that his products were created specifically to serve drug traffickers, and now the drug traffickers are in need of a new privacy phone.
One day, the FBI and Australian Federal Police were talking about it, and that’s when they thought of this brilliant idea.
They realized that the hole in the market, that is, criminals without a privacy phone company to rely on, would be something they can take advantage of.
So they created their own privacy phone, called ANOM.
That’s right.
They basically created a pseudo-phone company and marketed it towards criminals. In the context of sting operations, this is what’s known as a honeypot.
And whenever these criminals would send text messages, they would be sent to both the intended recipient and the FBI.
After months of waiting and data collecting, law enforcement made their move and arrested over 800 criminals.
If you ask me, that is one of the finest marketing schemes ever done.
And it all started with them observing their market and serving their needs. And ironically, it led to the criminals’ downfall.
It’s really no different from creating a lead magnet to attract people to join your email list.
The only difference is you’re not leading them down a path to their demise. You’re nurturing them, and solving whatever problem they need to fix.
To learn more about that, check out How to Become an Email Titan.