A man who sold bogus advertisements to Las Vegas stations KLAS and KVVU may be setting his sights on stations in the Pacific Northwest, according to Broadcasting & Cable.
The man, who operates under the names Tyler Hilman and Jonathan Hilman, contacted CBS-affiliate KLAS using an email address that resembled one from a firm they are familiar with. He said the advertising spots in question were with Netflix; in fact, the ads that actually ran were for a “dubious memorabilia outfit” called everymemorabilia.com, according to B&C. The man disappeared without paying for the spots.
“The person knows enough about the industry to dupe clients into fraudulent buys,” KLAS general manager Emily Neilson told B&C. “We want others to watch out so they don’t get into the same situation.” The ads ran on KLAS for a week.
Yesterday, a man contacted KATU in Portland and KOMO in Seattle in a similar manner, with an email address resembling global ad agency OMD, about running spots for Netflix. The man, who identified himself as Jonathan Hilman, said he wanted ads for Netflix to begin running on the stations on October 14. According to B&C, the stations did not do transactions with him.