Have you seen ads like this on the internet and wondered if they’re for real?
Well, they’re for real, but I don’t advise signing up for this kind of deal. Here’s why…
When you see any “free” offer, you should be very careful. Very few things are really free. You should ask yourself these kinds of questions:
Question: An ipod costs $69 to $399 dollars. How are they paying for it if they’re giving it to me for free?
Answer: You have to give them something of value.
Question: What do I have that’s valuable to them?
Answer: A lot.
- Your personal information - you have to give them your name, email, home address, gender, date of birth, and phone number. They use this information to send offers to your email account, to your home via direct mail, and to your phone with telemarketers.
- Your credit card - you also are required to sign up for one of the offers they present to you. All of these offers will involve giving them your credit card number. The offers are things like a Blockbuster online rental membership, DVD and music clubs, credit card offers, ringtones & horoscopes. They are paid a bounty from these companies when you sign up. Companies will pay anywhere from $10 - $70 per sign up.
- Your friends and family - in order to qualify for the free item you have to get 5 friends or family members to sign up AND request one of their offers.
See how the money is now adding up? The company will receive possibly $40 per sign up which equals $240 (6 users x $40).
Were you worried they weren’t going to make any money on this deal? Don’t worry, they will still make more.
In fact, Eliot Spitzer, the fireball New York Attorney General has recently filed suit against Gratis Internet, the parent company of sites Freeipods.com, FreeCDs.com, FreeDVDs.com, and FreeVideoGames.com (just an aside - “gratis” means “free” in Spanish).
The suit alleges that Gratis:
“… sold personal information obtained from millions of consumers under a strict promise of confidentiality.
From 2000 through 2004 Gratis made numerous explicit promises to the users of its web sites about protecting personal information. Among the promises the company made were:
‘We will never give out, sell or lend your name or information to anyone’;
‘We will never lend, sell or give out for any reason your email address or personal information’;
‘We at [Gratis web site] respect your privacy and do not sell, rent or loan any personally identifiable information regarding our customers to any third party’; and
‘Please note that we do not provide your E-mail address to our business partners.’
Even on its sign-up pages, Gratis promised consumers that it ‘does not . . . sell/rent emails.’
However, the Attorney General’s investigation confirmed that Gratis’s owners, Peter Martin and Robert Jewell, repeatedly violated these promises during 2004 and 2005 by selling access to lists of millions of Gratis’s customers to three independent email marketers. The marketers then sent hundreds of millions of email solicitations to those users, on behalf of their own customers. In each of these deals, Gratis wrongfully shared between one and seven million confidential user records.
This is believed to be the largest deliberate breach of a privacy policy ever discovered by U.S. law enforcement.
Need another reason to avoid offers like these?
Here’s a good one - if you jump through all their hoops and qualify for your free ipod, you’ll have to send them an IRS W-9 form, since the iPod’s value will have to be counted as revenue.
What information is provided on a W9? Oh, only your name, address, and Social Security Number. Is that the kind of information you want in the hands of these people? I don’t think so.
Save your pennies and buy your own stinking iPod. That’s what I recommend.
(67 votes, average: 4.43 out of 5)
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Awadh Amar
March 27, 2006 @ 5:53 pm
Nice article to read. Never thought about it. Nice pick.
Cat
March 31, 2006 @ 8:34 pm
I always wondered what would happen if you took up one of those internet offers.
James
May 6, 2006 @ 4:53 am
Great website! Bookmarked! I am impressed at your work!
Dedr
May 16, 2006 @ 9:16 pm
If you click the icon you will have a 99% chance that it asks for information regarding your adress etc. EVER HEARD OF ID THEFT?
catfishkay148@yahoo.com
May 17, 2006 @ 8:22 am
I WANT TO KNOW HOW TO BLOCK ALL THESE FREE OFFERS IN MY BULK MAIL. IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD I GET UP TO 300 TO 500 OF THESE. I’M A NEW USER IN THE CYBER WORLD AND DON’T KNOW MUCH OF ANYTHING EXCEPT NEVER GIVE OUT PERSONAL INFO. I INVESTIGATED A COUPLE OF LAPTOPS ADS BUT DID GIVE MY DOB, GENDER, ETC BUT NO CARD OR ANYTHING ELSE INFO. WHAT DAMAGE HAVE I GOT MYSELF INTO? PLEASE REPLY. MACAFEE WAS INSTALLED WHEN I BOUGHT MY COMPUTER SO HOW SAFE IS THIS. ABOUT A FIREWALL, I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS AND IF I EVEN HAVE ONE. MY POPUP BLOCKER DOES NOTHING FOR THESE FREE ADS INCOMING TO MY BULK MAIL. I’M A SR. CITIZEN 66 SO AM A VULNERABLE TARGET. WHAT ELSE DO I NEED?
Tammy
June 1, 2006 @ 12:48 pm
I aslo get alot of free ads in my mail and I have filled out some of them with my address and DOB and name, but never put in my credit card info, hey it said FREE, but now im sacared that I might have problems with identity theft and frayd, not too long ago, i received a check in the mail and went to trya nd cash it and they told me it was a fraudilent check and I was really upset and the place wouldnt give me back the papers with my info on it and I told them I didnt want them to have all my information.. I am a young adult just learning the rules or this sad world. PLease help me and give me some feed back. Thank you
Hag42
June 6, 2006 @ 5:13 pm
Firstly, I’m no expert on how scanty of information can be used to thieve an Identity. I don’t believe they can do much with only a Gender and a birthday. With a Name attached it’s probably not good but that is still not enough info for most scams. NEVER give out SS Number, Drivers licence number, Credit card number, bank numbers, or passwords (including security names like mothers maiden name) except to sites that you personally typed into the address bar, and that you completely trust. Catfishkay148 I wouldn’t recommend that you display your address on any website. Sadly people have created crawlers that will actually analyze pages and extract e-mails off them and the use them to scam people. I have a heard of this happaning on Forwarded e-mails too (when you hit CC on the addressee bar, every person you sent the letter to can see who else you sent it to, and if there is one scammer in that pool…). To block the offers invading you, well… Sorry not much you can do, The bulk Folder is for that purpose, or you can get a new e-mail, and keep your old one to give to buisnesses, and use your new one for personal use.
Tammy, Sorry you had to learn the hard way, Again, I don’t believe a name and DOB and address are too dangerous (except for stalkers) as for identity theft I think you’ll be ok. The Social Security Number itself is the most used number to associate idetnities at the credit bereaus. So most of the time they can’t use that info to hurt you. If you are worried call the Credit bereau and put a fraud alert on your account. There is not much helping scammed e-mail addresses, get a new address and guard it with your life.
Nate
June 15, 2006 @ 7:06 pm
Thanks for all this information! I almost fell for one of these
Hag422
July 23, 2006 @ 9:38 am
Firstly, I’m no expert on how scanty of information can be used to thieve an Identity. I don’t believe they can do much with only a Gender and a birthday. With a Name attached it’s probably not good but that is still not enough info for most scams. NEVER give out SS Number, Drivers licence number, Credit card number, bank numbers, or passwords (including security names like mothers maiden name) except to sites that you personally typed into the address bar, and that you completely trust. Catfishkay148 I wouldn’t recommend that you display your address on any website. Sadly people have created crawlers that will actually analyze pages and extract e-mails off them and the use them to scam people. I have a heard of this happaning on Forwarded e-mails too (when you hit CC on the addressee bar, every person you sent the letter to can see who else you sent it to, and if there is one scammer in that pool…). To block the offers invading you, well… Sorry not much you can do, The bulk Folder is for that purpose, or you can get a new e-mail, and keep your old one to give to buisnesses, and use your new one for personal use.
Tammy, Sorry you had to learn the hard way, Again, I don’t believe a name and DOB and address are too dangerous (except for stalkers) as for identity theft I think you’ll be ok. The Social Security Number itself is the most used number to associate idetnities at the credit bereaus. So most of the time they can’t use that info to hurt you. If you are worried call the Credit bereau and put a fraud alert on your account. There is not much helping scammed e-mail addresses, get a new address and guard it with your life.
Amaruq
July 28, 2006 @ 11:47 am
There is an email going around sent by most of my contacts to all their contacts telling them to leave theyr email and password for a free ipod. then sends letters to people using theyr stolen accounts to get personal and private information. If you happen to recieve any emails offering free ipods dont answer them or click any of its links. If any thing try to contact the sender and ask them if they sent the email. If they didn’t send it someone may have theyre password! I would suggest changing your password immediately if you think you have fallen for this rapidly spreading scam.
CIA
August 30, 2006 @ 7:18 pm
TO ALL US CONSUMERS: ALERT: !!!BEWARE OF THE BLACK WIDOW AKA ( JACKIE LILES } SHE HAS BEEN KNOW TO ROB PEOPLE BLIND, DO NOT TAKE THIS LIGHTLY, !!! WHEN SHE STRIKES,!!! SHE STRIKES HARD
Edward Romanoff
September 14, 2006 @ 6:26 pm
Posted by Edward Romanoff
Attention Internet users! Identity Theft is a Goner!
Motioncodes is a new science that has actually been around for thousands of years. For a moment, think about how you distinguish one person from another. What is recognized and stored in memory? How is this information gathered? What sets us apart to make us unique? Answer: subconscious expressions (body language) of the face and body. The progression of technology: from caves drawings of our distant ancestors to paintings, photography, to film, and finally computers-allows us to remotely (via any surveillance camera) pinpoint the whereabouts and identify/verify a criminal. We can digitize and store human body movements that are unique to everyone-just like fingerprints. There are numerous applications! For example: It makes crime impossible to commit (that’s right! IMPOSSIBLE). Just imagine: no crime, no terrorists, no wars, no identity theft. But…there is a strong opposition to the elimination of crime. Presently in the U.S. alone there are millions of people that make a living from fighting crime: police, lawyers, prison guards, and the media. Many of these people would lose their jobs. We submitted motioncodes to the government, security agencies, and the media. With no surprise, we have received no response! So these are the obstacles before us now: the CRIMINALS and the CRIME FIGHTERS. What to do? We are appealing directly to the public and forming a membership organization to force this Crime Processing Industry to implement a motioncodes crime prevention system. If you are interested in helping us with our efforts, please contact The Preventech Foundation and you will receive more information about motioncodes products and systems, at motioncodes@yahoo.com
jay
October 7, 2006 @ 7:40 am
I have received phone calls to my cell phone telling me I have won 400 dollars worth of airline vouchers. They already knew my name and address, and said they needed the routing number off of a voided check. I was wondering if a check routing number is sufficient info for them to steal my identity.
Nowaczek
October 24, 2006 @ 4:48 pm
I was scammed by a freebies site within YourGiftsFree Network. I requested a $100 payout but got denied of it cause of “fradulent activity”. Apprently My name does not exist and my address doesnt exist on the face of the Earth.
I opened a support ticket and asked them to explain why I was on hold and what is fradulent activity, they refused to elaborate on it and said “Your Account is on hold indefinitely. Thanks.”
Bottom Line: Screw YourGiftsFree , screw all freebie websites! They are all viral scams as explained by
http://www.uglx.org/scam2
thinsurface
March 5, 2007 @ 1:23 pm
This is an excellent article. I should have my pre-teen read it, who is always clicking on free ipod, free digital camera, and other free offers while online. I have tried to explain the dangers, especially since it actually MY information that would be going out to one of these free offer sites, not my pre-teen. I have often read about identity theft, and it’s a great concern of mine. I recommend that people begin to educate themselves, or things may get worse. If we all work together to protect ourselves, then most people would be safer, and lessen the likelyhood that identity theives would be successful in this crime. There is another great article about how to protect yourself from identity theft here: http://www.peoplesearchnews.com/security/tips-for-preventing-identity-theft/
Christi
April 20, 2007 @ 4:36 pm
You have a pretty good blog, but you don’t post anymore?? Would love to see some updates!
Dave
April 23, 2007 @ 8:39 am
Thanks for the kind comments Christi. I’ve recently been working on the site content and template which launched just a few weeks ago. I’ve now updated the blog template to match and I’m back to posting new stories.
Please stand by… :>
dave
onederer
May 7, 2007 @ 8:58 am
Above are good suggestions, and may I offer another to protect one’s identity?
All of our mail, letters, magazines, get our name-address portion of the mail, cut off, and it gets burned. This way if we throw away one of those mail pieces, there is no name or address that a dupster diver can get his/her hands on to commit thiefery.
We also use a proxy with our computers, so the other end can’t directly trace us. Our email addresses are on-line addresses such as Yahoo.com, or gmail.com, or a service such as hotpop.com, which forwards our email to our actual email box. This makes it much harder to locate your acutal location.
Hope this information is helpful.
cheers!
Good_Credit
May 18, 2007 @ 11:31 pm
Excellent point. People who willingly give all that personal information, including their Social Security number, will be prime candidates for ID fraud. Unfortunately there is no free lunch! I thought this article had a good list of the types of people who are more likely to fall victim of Identity Theft:
Who is more at risk of ID Theft?
In today’s world, practically anyone can become an Identity Theft victim. Who can say with any certainty that their personal and financial information will never be breached or fall into the wrong hands? There are certain characteristics however that can make you more “at risk” of becoming a victim.
Belonging to any of the high risk groups listed below does not necessarily mean you will have your identity stolen; it does mean there’s an increased chance compared to the average person. Also, if more than one of the following categories apply to you, the higher your chances of becoming a victim, and all the more reason for you to be more watchful and vigilant about ID Theft:
* if you have never checked your credit report
* if you seldom check each line item on your credit card and bank statements
* if you are a college or university student
* if you live or have lived with roommates
* if you have changed your residence recently or move frequently
* if you travel frequently or just came back from a long trip
* if your residence was robbed or broken into
* if you use your credit and debit cards frequently
* if you have an unlocked or unprotected mail box
* if you do not shred or destroy junk mail with your name, especially offers from credit card and finance companies
* if you do not safeguard or shred or destroy your credit card, bank, and other financial statements
* if you have ever lost or had any of the following stolen: wallet or purse, or any identifying document such as a Social Security card, driver’s license, government ID card, passport, medical insurance card, etc.
* if you do not use anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall on your computer, or do not keep your software up-to-date
* if you are a high income individual
sonobang
June 11, 2007 @ 7:42 pm
yea of course..ipod..it is ipod blog afterall!
yes tey do give away ipod!
BuggOUT
June 25, 2007 @ 8:11 pm
Oh, and I’ve actually had two admins give out my email address to members they tend to forget about the Privacy Act laws, just stupid. And these sites are breeding grounds for SPAM. Why? Because when you sign up there is an area where they tell you who your referrals are and this area will give you the emails of these referrals. And the tripped out thing about this is these free sites have a privacy policy. LOL, whatever! They are breaking their own policies just by the setup of referrals.
luke
July 24, 2007 @ 11:18 pm
i actualy have gotten stuff from one of these sites i just recently recieved an xbox 360 and they didnt hit me with any bull crap i had to buy a couple of psters online that totaled for like 20 dollers and sign up for a block buster membership which i was already looking into doing any ways that only coast 17 a month. the only down side was some junk mail and junk e mail but if you call the number on the junk mail you can request an imediate hult from the company and i had to change my emal address all i sent was a money order to the companies i had to sign up for and i got an x box and and some posters and a ton of movies for about 40 bucks. i only gave my name and address. i thought it was pretty cool i guess you gotta know how to play them
Fodies McBride
September 7, 2007 @ 9:09 am
Is is possible that you can tell me what to do as far as notifying all credit departments of a judgment that I obtained from the court on a tenant who owes money for rent?
afabor monday
October 17, 2007 @ 4:17 pm
I which to get the ipod, if i cannot get the free ipod pls email me thanks.
afabor monday
October 17, 2007 @ 4:28 pm
pls give me the ipod to give my brother
Free iPods
February 7, 2008 @ 11:33 am
i actualy have gotten stuff from one of these sites i just recently recieved an xbox 360 and they didnt hit me with any bull crap i had to buy a couple of psters online that totaled for like 20 dollers and sign up for a block buster membership which i was already looking into doing any ways that only coast 17 a month. the only down side was some junk mail and junk e mail but if you call the number on the junk mail you can request Free iPods an imediate hult from the company and i had to change my emal address all i sent was a money order to the companies i had to sign up for and i got an x box and and some posters and a ton of movies for about 40 bucks. i only gave my name and address. i thought it was pretty cool i guess you gotta know how to play them
Way to spread paranoia...
March 12, 2008 @ 5:40 pm
While it may be true that there are some rogue sites out there, there are legit ones. Of course they make money from it, do you think they are going to do it for nothing? I dont think people are that stupid. If you are smart you can get items a lot cheaper than you would pay in a retail shop. If you are an inexperienced internet user they probably arent the best thing to get into. But if you are smart and have your wits about you they are great.
As for identity theft…I don’t know how companies operate in the US, but here in Australia there is no way you can “steal someones identity” with their name and address and whatever else you have knowledge of. Documents are needed…
And finally if you do get scammed, contact their webhost, contact the affiliate company that you completed the offer through, hell contact everyone that you can find that they are associated with and tell them what happened. Contact your Credit Card company and tell them you were scammed and you would like to reverse the transaction. Contact the company that you signed up to and tell them you want a refund etc etc.
Be smart.
Jenny
April 19, 2008 @ 7:31 am
You should check EmailScamLetters.com to get latest email scam letters. Its an online searchable database and central reporting resource for scam emails. EmailScamLetters.com report the latest scams, including Email scams, Lottery Scams, Phishing, Identify Theft, Employment & Auction Scams and other Internet Fraud received by email. This site is updated daily. The database is available to law enforcement agencies around the world to conduct online investigations into reported scam emails. Visitors may report scams by signing up for an account and submitting scam emails directly to its database!
PRECIOUS
June 19, 2008 @ 2:40 pm
I WOULD LIKE A PINK IPOD IN THE MAILBOX
AND A IPHONE IN THE MAILBOX AND A GIFT CARD AND TWO IPODS AND TWO MORE IPODS AND SIX CELL PHONES AND MORE IPODS AND A JESUS NECKLACE AND BARBIE BOOKS AND HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL DOLLS AND A HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL KEY CHAINS AND HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL CLOTHES AND HANNAH MONTANNA THINGS AND A WHITE IPOD AND A PINK MAC BOOK COMPUTER AND A PINK CACULATER AND A ORANGE IPOD AND A PIZZA GIFT CARD AND SOME JEWRLES AND A PIZZA COUPON AND POPYES COUPON AND A MP3 PLAYER AND A CHINA DOLL
spencer
August 29, 2008 @ 10:44 pm
i think the best advice here is to just IGNORE all those stupid “free” pop-up adds and tell your friends to do the same! people are just too gullible now to realise its a scam.
Secret Whispers » Blog Archive » Update: FREE iPods?!
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