It really works!

[shelly]

Wow, my daughter just got a free ipod from one of "those" websites. This one
seems to really send them out!! You just need to complete one offer!

Nice!

Check it out!!

Deleted spam by moderator.

 

[geeman]

delete!

 

[JPatrick]

I'm busy right now, could you just get another one and send it to me?

 

[retire@40]

OK, what do I have to sign up for this time?

Please "Shelly," go promote this in the "suckers" forum.

 

[SLC Tortfeasor]

Hey Shelly:

Dump your spam somewhere else. Some of us here are have enough know-how to do more than just flame you.

 

[haha]

Hey Shelly:

Dump your spam somewhere else.  Some of us here are have enough know-how to do more than just flame you.

I am interested in this threat. What do you mean?

ha

 

[tozz]

I suspect he is just tweaking Shelly's torts.

 

[laurence]

Hey Shelly:

Dump your spam somewhere else. Some of us here are have enough know-how to do more than just flame you.

LOL! As a computer security guy, I smiled at that!

Love your tag line, "All your base are belong to us! You have no chance to survive, make your time!"

 

[Martha]

Are any "do this simple thing and get this product for free" solicitations ever worth while? Are there ways to get free stuff? Or do you run the risk of having your identity taken, or at least run the risk of getting spammed to death?


Pharming and Phishing. I buy things over the internet. We do financial business over the internet. How can I be sure I am dealing with who I think I am dealing with?

I still am far too ignorant about this internet stuff.

 

[vic]

Shelly has only *one* posting on this board. That posting is for the "free" ipod. That should be enough of a warning not to go to Shelly's link. Don't worry about telling Shelly to take a hike, she is already on another board posting her crap.

 

[Sillysal]

Martha

Make sure that you type the address of the page you want to go to directly into the address bar, rather than use a link to go to it. And this is one example of when you definitely want to spell it right, because bogus sites will often be just one letter off from the real thing. Also, for financial institutions, make sure there is a working FDIC link in the bottom right corner of the page.

When ordering online, make sure that there is a pic of a lock (locked) at the bottom of the internet frame. Also, try to order from trusted businesses. For example, it might cost $2 more to order a book from Barnes and Noble's site than from someone on ebay, but which do you think is safer.

When it comes down to it though, it is generally much safer to do banking online or order online than to give a waitress your card and let her walk off to the back with it.

 

[wabmester]

When it comes down to it though, it is generally much safer to do banking online or order online than to give a waitress your card and let her walk off to the back with it.

Debatable, but I guess it depends on the waitress. That little lock icon only tells you that the data sent between you and merchant is encrypted. That will prevent most people from simply "sniffing" the network to get your confidential info. But once it safely gets to the merchant's servers, all bets are off. Chances are that they store your credit card number and contact info unencrypted in some database. And chances are that many customer services reps, paid about the same as your waitress, have access to that information. Not to mention a dozen better-paid geeky admins who never went through any sort of security screening.

In any case, the ipod thing is a well-known pyramid scheme. The poster went to the trouble to obfuscate the URL so you can't see their personal referal information, which allows them to cash in when you follow the link.

Free stuff is *usually* a scam, but check fatwallet.com for an occasional bona fide freebie. For example, AOL was giving away $100 amazon.com gift certs a while back, but that's the rare exception.

 

[Martha]

Thanks SillySal and Wab. Another question. We are often on the road and connect to the internet with our cell phone to the computer. Is there an extra risk in doing this? Could someone intercept what we are doing online? I have heard this is the case if you use Wifi.

 

[Sillysal]

Could someone do this? Yes.

What are the chances of this happening to you? I would say small. I have just received identity theft training from a state detective who specializes in it. Most of the thefts occurring in the past few years have been relatively simple compared to wifi hijacking. For example, in rural areas that still have roadside mailboxes, people just walk right up and get your mail out. Even more scary, there was a case in kentucky where someone paid a bank teller for cutomers' info. From my point of view, you don't stop using a bank because of this. People don't quit their jobs because their empolyer gave all their personal data to the UPS guy. So, I would say you're relatively safe on wifi. I think the main thing to do is be as careful as possible and MONITOR, MONITOR, MONITOR your personal data. It is not just the credit bureaus that now have to give you a free report on yourself - it is other data collection agencies as well (Choicepoint ring any bells?).

Also - you can put a fraud alert on your credit card, which means that lenders are not supposed to grant "instant credit" in your name (such as stores, etc.) If you have not been a victim of identity theft already, I think you have to call and have this renewed every 90 days. Not convenient, but since most fraud is simple credit card fraud at this point, it could save you lots of headaches in the future.

 

[unclemick]

My bank - alerted me within the last year - on internet purchase activity - which I went in and spent a half day at the bank straightening out. Don't use their debit or credit card - ATM withdrawal only - duh - turns out they gave me 'free debit and credit' unbeknowst to me.

I fixed that. Dorks!

 

[wabmester]

We are often on the road and connect to the internet with our cell phone to the computer.  Is there an extra risk in doing this?  Could someone intercept what we are doing online?  I have heard this is the case if you use Wifi. 

There is no more extra risk when you see that little lock icon. But it's that "sniffing" thing again. When your data is unencrypted, hackers can sniff it. If you use a cable modem at home, for example, you'd be surprised how easy it is for others on your same network segment (which could be a *lot* of people) to sniff your data. The only difference with wireless stuff is that anybody physically close enough to you to pick up your signal can do the same thing. WiFi has various encryption schemes to help prevent this, but some are better than others. I believe that these days, all data over cell phones is encrypted, but I don't know how strong the encryption is.

But I agree with Sillysal that it's much easier to simply steal mail from your mailbox.

FWIW, I usually use my Discover Card for online purchases because they have a web-based one-time-use number generator for me to use.

 

[SLC Tortfeasor]

Love your tag line, "All your base are belong to us! You have no chance to survive, make your time!"

Glad you like it.  Don't you think the "all your base" phenomenon should live on forever? 

 

[laurence]

Absolutely! It really is accidental poetry.

I think I'd have my signature line be something like, "some one set us up the bomb!" but it would just be too obscure...

 

[dimwit]

I must say the team on this board is anything but dimwitted - I think it goes with the territory of souls in the true pursuit of freedom.

This scam is cheap from the onset - what do they think 'free' means when you have to ...'meet all of the membership requirements as outlined in the Terms & Conditions before you can receive your FREE Gift. Membership requirements include the completion* of one sponsor offer from group 1, two sponsor offers from group 2, and three sponsor offers from group 3. *For credit card offers, you must activate your card by making a purchase, transferring a balance, or making a cash advance. Please note that you may complete only one Discover® Card application as part of this offer. '

I doubt Shelly shall ever return for a follow up statement.

 

[needtoretireearly]

I don't know which offer she was promoting.

The "free ipod" sites are not all scams, I know for a fact. 

I've received a lot of "freebies" (yes and ipod too, which I sold on ebay for about $100) from completing offers and gathering referrals.  It is a pain in the behawnkis, however.  All the time spent cancelling the trial offers and the time spent gathering referrals adds up to a LOT of time.

There are message boards dedicated to trading referrals for the free sites.  Ex : I do someone's site and they do mine.  I have signed up for a lot of trial offers I never would have signed up for otherwise. 

The advertisers pay the free site and that is how they afford your free gift.  You must gather so many referrals so many people do not obtain enough to become eligible.  The only way to get them I've found is to trade on free site message boards.

However unless you are just interested in free sites as a hobby like I am, I wouldn't advise it.

I've put so much into free sites, these past four months, doing the trials I've just now come out ahead of breaking even.  Between the money I've spent on the offers and time spent the free stuff is barely worth it.

But I've never had my info stolen....I have had to dispute a couple credit card charges however.  They were from free trials I cancelled but that were charged to me anyway.

It was easy to dispute and get the money back, just a hassle that's all.   I made sure never to use my bank debit card, always credit cards. And I NEVER do the credit card offers, as I don't wish to have my credit pulled.

Anyway there is a lot of misconception and really most free sites are not scams.  I have seen a few that are but out of the 70+ I've seen it's only a handful which are scams and don't send your free items if you complete the requirements.

All my friends think they are scams, or too risky.

Guess I should get a second job instead but for some odd reason I enjoy signing up for these free sites.....

 

[azanon]

Wow, my daughter just got a free ipod from one of "those" websites.

Bulls***. You probably dont even have a daughter. I have read that under certain conditions (and with a lot of work), you can get a "free" ipod. How much are they paying you Shelly?

 

[azanon]

Time to pick on Laurence.

Laurence, this has exactly nothing to do with "Young dreamers". Why not either move it or delete it? I know you saw it cause you responded.

 

[Andre1969]

Well I'm still young (kinda) and dreaming of a free Ipod, so does that help?

 

[Martha]

I deleted the OP spam link. Did not delete the topic because of the subsequent discussion.

 

[laurence]

Time to pick on Laurence.

Laurence, this has exactly nothing to do with "Young dreamers". Why not either move it or delete it? I know you saw it cause you responded.

Well, these ideas are pipe dreams, but not exclusive to the young. Sounds like the right call to me, sorry Martha. ;-)