The major red flag for me in this article was the line "He couldn’t really answer the questions, but I agreed to run a small trial. Based on our results, that marketing consultant is no longer with us." It really colored the rest of the article for me - making me incredibly skeptical of the manager and his instinct, opinions and judgement. It was no surprise then when the reason he was "scammed" was because his checkout process had the form equivalent of a big red call to action saying "leave my site" in the discount code box. I always Google for discount codes when I see those boxes.
If anything, this should be read as an educational piece for consumers about who is really making money when you search for discount codes online, rather than outrage at the affiliate marketing world.