Don't Click Here For A Free iPod

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."

Comments

it's a scam

[iamhassi]

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.