Boxing fans: Don't you just hate it when your local bar shows the big fight? Don't you wish you could help shut them down?
If so, there's a job opening for you.
It sounds unbelievable, but a Texas-based firm actually hires people around the country to search for and report bars that show unlicensed pay-per-view boxing matches.
Called Audit Masters, it works with a simple promise. Pay-per-view companies will provide a list of venues in a given city that have purchased a big event. Anyone who signs up for Audit Masters can search for a bars pirating the stream (meaning they're showing the fight, but aren't on the list). Sign an affidavit, head out to the bars, and boom—you can expect a check for $250 in seven to eight weeks.
If its testimonials are to believed, the company hires people who liken themselves to bounty hunters. The company says many of its auditors are off-duty police officers or “PD related.”
"The 1st time I went out, I caught 7 pirates," according to Jeff Mallow, of Miami Dade, Florida. He elaborated the thrill of the job:
I know two things are going to happen:
1. I am going to bust some bars engaged in illegal activity
2. I am going to make some decent money for the night
I also get a personal satisfaction from the fact that some of these bars will be closing and when a bar that was a detriment to the community is closed, the community as a whole is better off, to me, as a law enforcement officer, it is a win, win situation.
Audit Masters wasn’t open on Friday, and therefore unable to respond to the Daily Dot's questions. It did, however, apparently post an ad to Philadelphia Craigslist Thursday, which promised "undercover" work on behalf of the "owners of the rights to the HBO/Showtime Pay Per View signals."
The ad specifically referenced two big fights, Canelo versus Trout in April and Mayweather versus Guerrero in September.
Screengrabs via Audit Masters