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May 26, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Promotions Gateway web ad

PromoJeremy 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.

Comments:

free is a very good price

Posted by: gmangw at May 26, 2006 12:24 AM

broken

first!

Posted by: SpicyMeatball at May 26, 2006 12:24 AM

erg! i have wanted to be first for oh such a long time now... you beat me by mere seconds!

Posted by: SpicyMeatball at May 26, 2006 12:25 AM

Maybe they burned the downloads to a disk and are mailing them to you. That would be shipping downloads.

Hmmm...

Posted by: VNet at May 26, 2006 12:34 AM

Just give them a bogus address, like the neigbor that you hate.

Posted by: Serpent_Guard at May 26, 2006 12:37 AM

I think mp3 shipping is calculated by weight, not volume, so free shipping is a REALLY good deal. Go for it!

Posted by: abcdario at May 26, 2006 01:39 AM

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.

Posted by: Alden Bates at May 26, 2006 05:52 AM

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.

Posted by: eBob at May 26, 2006 08:51 AM

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.

Posted by: Ron Mexico at May 26, 2006 09:24 AM

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.

Posted by: Ron Mexico at May 26, 2006 09:24 AM

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.

Posted by: T-1000 at May 26, 2006 10:11 AM

Never click on pop-up adds or respond to spam, your just ruining the internet for everyone!

Posted by: kellog at May 26, 2006 11:16 AM

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".

Posted by: Steve at May 26, 2006 11:41 AM

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".

Posted by: Steve at May 26, 2006 11:42 AM

Holy double post, Batman.

Is it spam when they send it snail mail?

Posted by: JAC at May 26, 2006 12:20 PM

"These websites prey upon the naive" says it all.

To put it another way,

ALL YOUR IDENTITY BELONG TO US.

Posted by: Identities R Us at May 26, 2006 01:36 PM

Not broken. They're downloading the music to a disk and sending it to you.

Posted by: Fuzzy at May 26, 2006 02:30 PM

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.

Posted by: alpes at May 26, 2006 03:06 PM

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.

Posted by: Fuzzy at May 26, 2006 03:15 PM

What's with all the duplicate posts? There has to be some way to eliminate duplicate posters!

Posted by: DoubleTake at May 26, 2006 03:52 PM

What's with all the duplicate posts? There has to be some way to eliminate duplicate posters!

Posted by: DoubleTake at May 26, 2006 03:53 PM

It is to send you a gift card for 500 free downloads for the music store of your choice.

Posted by: The Boy at May 26, 2006 04:45 PM

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.

Posted by: Dennis at May 27, 2006 11:56 AM

I think they want to spam and scam you, where the prize is an exired coupon or something useless like that.

Posted by: Another guy named Alex B. at May 28, 2006 12:29 PM

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!

Posted by: Another guy named Alex B. at May 28, 2006 12:32 PM

ITS SPAM!!!!! THEIR NOT SENDING YOU MP3'S, THEIR SENDING YOU VIRUSES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Jeff at June 24, 2006 10:41 PM

Yeah, it might just be a snail mail way of spamming

Posted by: gamechaser001 at July 10, 2006 08:15 PM

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