On the basis that you are talking about it and adding further traffic to it, I would deduce that it is, in fact, a marvellous bit of marketing!
I have not got the cojones to understake such blatently underhand marketing tactics myself but I still recognise marketing nous when I see it.
I guess the point is that some people, 'noobs' as you say, may fall for it. On this basis, these sorts of marketing tricks are immoral and should be reported at Ebay, Flippa, et al, when spotted.
There are a lot of people making a lot of money with similarly brutal marketing campaigns.