Are the "Buy Facebook Fans" Sites Scams?

[karma]

I recently paid $40 via Paypal to a site promising 1,000 Facebook fans. After paying, there was no place to enter my page's url, and no contact at all from the company. I sent two emails over several days, and when I didn't get a response I opened a Paypal dispute. They finally contacted me and said they were forwarding my campaign to their marketing department. But I noticed they never responded to the Paypal dispute. So is this all a scam?
To answer some questions~~

Once you open a dispute with Paypal, you have to wait a certain amount of time to make a claim. So I'm not worried about getting my money back if this is a bogus site. (On the other hand, they're Paypal Verified, so I would think if they had prior claims against them, Paypal would not do business with them.) I'm just wondering if they actually deliver.

The fans they get are real people (allegedly...) who have an interest in your site. They sound out thousands of invites until you get the amount of new fans that you paid for. The point of doing this is to grow your fanbase. When people see a "popular" site, they are more apt to join vs. a lame one with two fans

[dannyboy2111]

they could be if you dont trust it than dont use it

[Mr Genius]

can you not cancel the payment with paypal, (i dont know what it called chargeback i think)
it looks like a scam to me

[skypod]

I've seen ads for "fans" and "friends" here on Y!A and on Ebay, and they have ALL been scams. Get your money back through PayPal!

[clayjar_azn]

Why the heck would you want to buy Facebook fans? Sounds scammy to me. Do they invent fake fans or something? They can't make Facebook users fans of any page without their knowledge.

[dsf ffw]

I tried this recently with one of the more popular buy fans sites. I too got no response from the company and opened a Paypal dispute. Finally they contacted me and said they were going to start "soon." Suuuuuuuuuuuuuure. And then one morning I woke up and had a whole bunch of new fans, and they kept streaming in. BUT THEY WERE ALL FAKE. I noticed every singe one was a "hot" girl from the same college, with very generic American-sounding names. Identical profiles. The wall posts had some of the same material (eg, everyone had the same video posted).

So. If all you want is a higher number of fans so your page looks more popular, go for it. If you want REAL fans, then don't waste your money.

Hope you found this helpful