Do you believe in "Get this for free" adds?

[Zeithri]

As the topic states, do you?
I have as of yesterday, fixed a socalled "grabconsole" thingy as you can see in on this picture further down. Since I lived in Sweden, they would be unable to ship consoles to me and thus only give me paypal money. Well I don't mind, I could very well use that amount of money to take a trip to England as I've planned this summer and save them for other things.



Personally, I can believe such yeah.
Heard from a IRL friend who has friends who doesn't work and only lives of these kinds of sites. The only problem I have with this thing is the part where you sign up and they show that the only thing you can get referelas from is if the one you refered, signs up on that page and some of the random crappy idiotic poker sites. Although I am against poker, I do know that there are people who do play such and thus I can get the thing there.

These grabconsoles and whatever more they were affilirated with has also been reviewed on NBC. But since my computer lacks realplayer and it has sofar been impossible to download it I have not seen it.

But back to topic; Do you believe in these things?

[FM-77AV]

Ha ha, these things are scams. Don't waste your time.

[Zeithri]

Did you even read the "NBC Review" part before deciding on your oppinion?
And do VOTE too.

[FM-77AV]

It is not my opinion. It is a scam.

[Zeithri]

I'll let you know in 15 people..

[Gamemusicfreak]

I always thought they were scams so I just never bothered with them.

[Century]

I don't know about all of them, but I'm pretty sure I know of people who got free mp3 players from the deal in the US a couple of years back. Maybe wrong, but can't remember.

So, I'm not sure. But I wouldn't do one unless I knew it wasn't a scam.

[RathNatakaru]

Hmm. I usually think they are scams due to the fact, my friend sent me tons of junk mail after he started his free ps2 quest.

[Skeletore has a boner]

Alot of them are legit, if you manage to complete the insane requirements, you will get the item.

However, the work to fufill those requirements is often more time then the product is worth, and you coulda done something even marginally more exciting for more money.

[sideshow]

The way I see it. Why would anybody post an add on the internet saying you can get something for free? Wouldnt it be a waste of their time doing that unless they were benefiting from it. You would have to be the richest and nicest person on the friggin planet to post an add giving away free Playstation 3's.

This is a scam.

[Zeithri]

Not according to NBC.

[Skeletore has a boner]

They *are* benefiting, they're not just "Giving it away for free", they're advertising to you, and making you advertise to others for them, to get it.

[Majuunun]

A friend of mine did something where she referred 5 friends to various services like Blockbuster Video's version of Netflix.

She got a refurbished but working 20 gig iPod from the deal. She told me I ought to try it and I almost replied "I don't think I have 5 friends that are stupid enough..."

[Zeithri]

Haha Majuunun ^^

Duece: It's also highly unlikely that they actually have any PS3s to give away, given the ridiculously small launch allocation.

Well, for the first so ain't PS3 worth it ^^ the second is that they don't ship -any- consoles to Sweden so all I can get is paypal money.

[Grave]

The Gratis Networks ones, if they exist anymore, are not a scam. I got a 1GB iPod Shuffle (when they were new) for completing one offer and referring three people who did the same. I didn't have to pay a dime. I can't speak for other networks, but I know other people who've done offers with Gratis and received a number of nice things. It just takes some time and some effort.

A lot of the offers they give you the option of doing require a fee, like Blockbuster Online. The one I did was a free trial of Bargains.com. I cancelled on the last day and was not charged a dime. A friend who didn't cancel on time (despite my constant reminders to) was not so lucky. Generally, you'll have to refer one person per $50 the item costs. If you play your cards right, it can work out in your favor, but again, it does require some effort, and some vigilance on your part in keeping with the terms of the offer.

[Stan]

Aren't these ads (not adds, btw) typically for pyramid schemes? A few might actually get something out of it (if they jump on soon enough and can advertise it to enough people), but most people have trouble finding enough referrals. So, for the cost of a few products, the company gets a ton of advertising (and spamming) accomplished.

[Grave]

That's more or less how it works. The company gets a ton of advertising, and the people involved only get something out of it if they're vigilant about it... and most of the people who sign up aren't. So I imagine they don't have to give out as many as they would if everyone was all about it.

[Skeletore has a boner]

If your really interested in these... a word of advice.

Proxy servers...
UPS store mailing addresses...
Visa Gift cards...

By thier powers combined, you can complete all the requirements by yourself, well it does require a minor investment...You can get a couple grand wortha toys for about $50-$100 and some time invested.

I got a video ipod and a macmini doing it(I coulda got alot more, but I wasn't doing it for profit or anything I even needed, I just have a natural talent for punching holes in any plan and wanted to see if it'd work, and it did).

[FM-77AV]

Hah, must've required quite a lot of proxies.

[Skeletore has a boner]

3-10, you just need one for each fictional identity because they log IP addresses and compare for this kinda thing, you could alternitively go wardriving and get the same benefit, just has to be different for each account you register/use.

The UPS store addresses are real verifiable street addresses, though pricy($3-$15 per month, per address), again, for each fictional signup.
(you could simply register your neighbors or random addresses, and they'll recieve a buncha junkmail, thats kinda an asshole thing to do though).

The Visa gift cards($5) are the big part, alot of the "Free" advertisements you could do, ussually have long turn-around times for getting the credit as having completed them(a month+ sometimes!).

On the otherhand, the ones that require a CC ussually will give you credit instantly, but either charge a small $1-$5 fee for the trial, Or...they sign you up for a subscription(with the game being that you forget about it, and they let it in a few months before you notice you've been paying).
It varies by where you buy them, but typically when you buy a Visa Gift card, you can put anyones name on it, and it appears as a valid CC for that (fictional) person, indistinguishable from a real one.

This serves the benefit that...

#1. They can't possibly over bill you
#2. Your real credit info is safe and you can still use the much faster CC offers
#3. depending on what you agreed to, failure to pay means they cant report it to any beaurus against you.

All in all, its alot of work for "Free" stuff.

Get a job!


Edit:
Worth mentioning, this is technically illegal, although the chances of them finding out...catching you...and prosecuting you(for petty fraud/misrepresentation, a $500 fine max-USA), is virtually nil.
(especially since they're not losing money, they still got paid from the advertisers regardless).
Anyways, just a warning.