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Don't Click Here For A Free iPod

Posted by timothy on from the scam-by-any-other-name dept.

fermion writes "Do you wonder what all those free iPods links are about? Do you wonder why apparently rational Slashdot users would use their .sig line to push an offer that seems little more than a thinly veiled pyramid scheme? Answers to these questions can be found in this NYT article (personal information, with no free iPod, is required). The plan itself seems simple. Rat out your friends to advertisers, and get a free gadget. The firm in question, Gratis, Inc, gets a bounty on each customer. The firm claims to have a revenue of $15 million in 2004. They claim to give away 500 iPods a week. If, as the article claims, each contact earns a bounty of around $50, we might presume that 1 in 12 contacts get a free iPod. This firm seem fairly upfront. Another firm mentioned in the article, Consumer Research Corporation, seems much less so. As always, read the fine print."

3 of 594 comments (clear)

  1. it's a scam by iamhassi · · Score: 1, Flamebait
    it's a scam:
    --"I have had two friends sign up for this promotion. Both got five friends at the same time and one was told her iPod was being shipped and the other was denied for mysterious reasons. So even if you fulfill the requirements, you'll only get super-spammed instead of an iPod."
    --"I know several people who completed the offers, had their friends complete the offer and never got anything. Not to mention they got signed up for every mailing list in existence."

    posts like that are enough for me to declare they're a scam.

    --
    my karma will be here long after I'm gone
  2. Re:That would be a great place to work... by Kafka_Canada · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    lol... you're a BRILLIANT prick.

    --
    Fuck it
  3. Re:It's not that it's not legit by Rebel_Princess · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    Why does it bother some of y'all so much? Some throw away Hotmail addresses for a $300 device seems like a pretty good deal.

    Is it the whole corporate machine thing? Or the 'spamming' your friends? "Hey Joe, go make a new Hotmail address and sign up for a free trial on my card. Here's $10 for the 4 minutes of trouble for making an email account."

    I could sell an iPod on Ebay and heat my house for 4 fucking months with the proceeds, OR feed my family (me) for 3 months(I eat light).

    Boo-hoo, if only I'd used those 30 total minutes rounding up friends to make a fake email, I could have improved myself and taken over Steve Jobs... job. Why didn't I listen to BWY?

    And WHY did I spend 5 minutes flaming some chump on Slashdot? I wouldn't be stuck at piddly Apple and could have taken over Bill's job by now :`(

    OHH why oh bwy??