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Previous: NYT.com search | Main | Next: To restaurant/toilets sign
May 26, 2006 12:03 AM
Broken: Promotions Gateway web ad
Jeremy Coots points out:
I ran across this ad from Promotions Gateway offering 500 free music downloads (which of course is available only if I follow certain stipulations, as noted by the asterisk, although that is a different issue).
Anyway, if I did follow the requirements to receive the free music downloads, why would I need to have the music downloads shipped? The whole reason for downloads is that they take place online, there is no need to "ship" the downloads to a home address.
This seems just like a way for them to capture my mailing address so they can send me spam through snail mail.
Maybe they burned the downloads to a disk and are mailing them to you. That would be shipping downloads.
Hmmm...
I think mp3 shipping is calculated by weight, not volume, so free shipping is a REALLY good deal. Go for it!
Of course they want your address. The only reason the downloads are "free" is because lots of other companies pay them for your contact details so you can be spammed to hell and back.
I took a look at the website. They now appear to be offering a free $250 Visa card. This whole thing seems rather sketchy. Basically, one agrees to sign up for six "offers" to receive the prize, but there is no information available on the nature of those "offers" (e.g. how much they cost). Clicking on the FAQ link brings up a page that reveals, "Only one reward per household may receive a reward." What does that mean?
Anyway, shipping music downloads may not be as broken as it sounds. Most likely if one signs up for the music downloads a gift card for the downloads will be shipped upon completion of the so-called "offers". Whoever runs the website is either careless or does not have a good grasp on the English language (as noted in my previous paragraph).
The website is broken for two reasons: 1. The language used is not specific enough to let one know that one is acutally signing up to receive a gift card in the mail. 2. One must agree to sign up for offers without knowing the nature of the offers.
These websites prey upon the naive. I would advise anyone to stay away from these so-called "free" offers. Nothing is free.
The OP has it right, they want your mailing address and email for spam. There are no gift cards, no free downloads, no free plasma television. On a related note, that Paypal email is probably fake, and that Nigerian prince who promises to pay you thousands is you'll send him a $500 money order is probably a high school dropout from Queens. Really I thought these types of scams were common knowledge by now. But this post is technically not broken, since the real customers of Promotion Gateway are the companies that send the spam, not the suckers who click the popup ad.
The OP has it right, they want your mailing address and email for spam. There are no gift cards, no free downloads, no free plasma television. On a related note, that Paypal email is probably fake, and that Nigerian prince who promises to pay you thousands if you'll send him a $500 money order is probably a high school dropout from Queens. Really I thought these types of scams were common knowledge by now. But this post is technically not broken, since the real customers of Promotion Gateway are the companies that send the spam, not the suckers who click the popup ad.
You know, as sketchy as a lot of those "FREE IPOD!" things seem, I know a couple of people who actually got free iPods. It takes a bit of work though. You have to do things like sign up for magazine subscriptions and credit cards, but you can cancel them when you get your prize, and it still comes out to be far cheaper than buying an iPod straight up.
Out of curiousity one day, just to see what the scam actually was, I followed one of those links from a banner ad to a similiar site.
After about 10 or 20 pages of "offers" requesting my email address (which I faked to "nospam@example.com") and other personal information (which I also faked -- I hope Mr Sam Nospam at 111 Bogus Terrace, Fakecity, New Jersey doesn't accuse me of identity theft), I gave up, assuming that I would never actually get to the "prize".
Out of curiousity one day, just to see what the scam actually was, I followed one of those links from a banner ad to a similiar site.
After about 10 or 20 pages of "offers" requesting my email address (which I faked to "nospam@example.com") and other personal information (which I also faked -- I hope Mr Sam Nospam at 111 Bogus Terrace, Fakecity, New Jersey doesn't accuse me of identity theft), I gave up, assuming that I would never actually get to the "prize".
"These websites prey upon the naive" says it all.
To put it another way,
ALL YOUR IDENTITY BELONG TO US.
shipping mp3 is like having a fax based website. You click on a link and the corresponding page is faxed to you. Neat ha?
P.S. If you're a teenager you might not know what fax is, ask your dad.
What's broken is not that they ship it to you (some people might like to have a hard copy) but that they don't give you a choice. Besides that this "free gift" website shouldn't be trusted.
Have you ever noticed that on these free items sites where you have to wade through dozens of pages that there are always a few offers that are prechecked?
I too went through one site and finially got transferred to another site with the same selection routine. I never got to a prize.
They are all rackets assuming along the way you will pick a few offers by mistake.
I think they want to spam and scam you, where the prize is an exired coupon or something useless like that.
ROFL doubletake! Watch where you stand in that argument...oh, right, you don't HAVE a place to stand, considering you're double-posting as well!
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Previous: NYT.com search | Main | Next: To restaurant/toilets sign
free is a very good price
Posted by: gmangw at May 26, 2006 12:24 AM