Hmmm, Free Xbox 360? Scam or no?

[Mattiekrome]

Hmmm, Ive been hearing this ad for a "free xbox 360" on the radio alot lately. I try to not be guillable, and always steer clear of the typical "scammish" sites where you get free ipods, tv's, and the such. But the big difference is, I have never heard an actual commercial on the radio for any other free gear. Makes me wonder if its legit or not. I've done some googling, and I see alot of people who say its a scam site. But the comments are from people who have never tried it. I have yet to find any hardcore evidence that it is actually a scam. I know its one of those deals where you have to complete a set number of "tasks" or "offers" before you qualify for the free xbox360, and I know that is the general makeup of most of the scam sites as well. They set up the "offers" so that they cant be completed within the alloted time limit. Anyone heard these commercials before, or know anything about it? What kinds of stuff do you have to complete to qualify? Arrgh, somebody stop me quick!

:onfire:

Oh, the site is www.myxboxdeal.com (http://www.myxboxdeal.com) , I know that similar threads like this have been locked in the past, but I'm not actually going out for referrals, just merely a discussion on the topic.

[ShenmueFan]

Nothing is ever free, especially expensive stuff.

I'm not even going to read what you wrote because it's a scam.


Either you will be giving your money directly to a fraudulent individual/company or you will be signing up for offers and completing surveys without any reward ever coming to you.


If it sounds too good to be true...

[jcalder8]

Frequently Asked Questions:

What's the catch?

Our Advertisers cover our costs for your <GIFT_NAME> as well as the shipping and handling. To get your gift, simply complete the requirements as outlined in the requirements section of this web site. Once you complete the requirements, we will ship your Free <GIFT_NAME> free of charge! Should you choose any type of promotion or service that requires a charge, obviously the payment for that promotion or service is made between you and the advertiser.

Why are the Advertisers paying for the gift?

Advertisers hire us to drive users to their web sites to show you their great offers. It’s great for you as you get to take advantage of these limited offers through this promotion only. You simply choose the specials that you are interested in; participate, if needed, in exchange for your Free <GIFT_NAME>. Everybody wins, especially you as you get your Free <GIFT_NAME>.

Why are you doing this?

Instead of spending money on advertising to persuade you to go to the Advertisers' sites, we have collectively compiled promotions that we believe you will find interest in. Should you find them of interest by taking advantage of them – we give you a Free <GIFT_NAME>. We change the offers/promotions on a daily basis, do a few now – some the rest later – either way – you get your free <GIFT_NAME>!

Do I have to redeem my <GIFT_NAME> by a certain date?

Yes. You must correctly submit your Gift Redemption Voucher within 180 days (6 Months) after it becomes available in the Gift Status section or else your Gift Redemption Voucher will expire and you will not receive your Free <GIFT_NAME>.

What do I do if I've sent in my Gift Redemption Voucher and haven't received my Free <GIFT_NAME>?

The process of shipping your gift can take 6 to 8 weeks after we receive your Free <GIFT_NAME> Redemption Voucher. Be sure to keep a copy of your Gift Redemption Voucher before you mail it. If, after that time, you have not received your gift, please contact us.

How many free <GIFT_NAME> can I get?

There is a limit of one <GIFT_NAME> per household.
Just look at the FAQs they didn't even bother to change it from the scam site they got it from

I can't wait to get my <GIFT_NAME> :-D

[PapaStu]

Some of these sites have actually worked in the past (a free iPod one comes to mind, there was some serious DP discussion about it about 2 years ago). I've heard this and a 'Free Laptop' commercial on the radio airing one after the other out here in Chicago on the Alternative Rock station.

Take it for what you will. What they do is usually have you give them a CC# and they charge you for various services that you 'try out' and can cancel at after the inital trial (they are usually very hard to cancel) and a few referals that sign up via your link and start the process themselves.

[norkusa]

I don't know anything about the free 360's but the free iPod deals do work. I know because I got one of them (4th gen/20gb).

Basically how it works is you and X-amount of your friends have to sign up for a special trial offer thru the site sponsors (I did the 2 weeks free of Blockbuster.com). The web site that you're trying to get the free Xbox/iPod/Macbook/etc from gets around $50 from the sponsors for each sign-up you give them. In my case, me and 5 friends had to sign up in order for me to get the iPod (so $50 x 6 = a 20gb iPod).

What these companies bank on is that you'll give up after 1 or 2 sign-up's, so they keep the $50 or whatever they get for each offer sign-up you gave them. A lot of people don't follow thru with it either and that's how they make their money. It totally works though if you are determined enough to do it. The hard part is finding 5 suckers to sign-up for you. What I did is just go to a few message boards and bribe people with some nice used games from my trade pile for sign-ups.

There are a few tricks you gotta look out for though. As you can probably guess, these people keep a VERY close eye on your account. If they suspect any cheating or multiple sign-up's from the same person, they'll reject it or they'll ban you all together (regardless of how many sign-up's you already have). I had my brother do an offer for me and his sign-up was rejected. Most likely because he did it from work and someone else from that IP address already signed-up.

But I eventually got my free iPod, so these offers definitely DO work if you're determined enough to follow thru on them.

[ShenmueFan]

I don't know anything about the free 360's but the free iPod deals do work. I know because I got one of them (4th gen/20gb).

Basically how it works is you and X-amount of your friends have to sign up for a special trial offer thru the site sponsors (I did the 2 weeks free of Blockbuster.com). The web site that you're trying to get the free Xbox/iPod/Macbook/etc from gets around $50 from the sponsors for each sign-up you give them. In my case, me and 5 friends had to sign up in order for me to get the iPod (so $50 x 6 = a 20gb iPod).

What these companies bank on is that you'll give up after 1 or 2 sign-up's, so they keep the $50 or whatever they get for each offer sign-up you gave them. A lot of people don't follow thru with it either and that's how they make their money. It totally works though if you are determined enough to do it. The hard part is finding 5 suckers to sign-up for you. What I did is just go to a few message boards and bribe people with some nice used games from my trade pile for sign-ups.

There are a few tricks you gotta look out for though. As you can probably guess, these people keep a VERY close eye on your account. If they suspect any cheating or multiple sign-up's from the same person, they'll reject it or they'll ban you all together (regardless of how many sign-up's you already have). I had my brother do an offer for me and his sign-up was rejected. Most likely because he did it from work and someone else from that IP address already signed-up.

But I eventually got my free iPod, so these offers definitely DO work if you're determined enough to follow thru on them.


For all that work, energy and high-risk that they'll "ban" you at step "9 of 10" or whatever, why not just get a part-time job for two or three weeks and buy whatever item they are offering? Even if you have to put in five more hours in overall had you done it "their way" at least you'll know you'll get paid for your work and your personal information / credit card #s won't be on file with a half-dozen companies.

Seriously, I see these stupid, ugly ads for these gimmick scams all over the web and I ALWAYS ask myself, "Who is DUMB enough to even try these???"

[Sph1nx]

I did a blog post about these awhile ago on gameSniped. (http://www.gamesniped.com) There are a lot of legitimate companies out there. In fact there are many popular forums for people who complete *TONS* of offers and end up getting pretty much every system, cash, laptops and more.

In fact, I got my Wii this way. It was a bit of work and it *DID* cost some money, but not a bundle.

Only thing is, you need to be sure you're signing up at a legitimate site as there are a lot of scam sites out there. Sounds like that site didn't even bother set their site name in their script, very likely a warning sign.

If you want a link to those forums, ask and I'll dig through my bookmarks.

[Neil Koch]

Seriously, I see these stupid, ugly ads for these gimmick scams all over the web and I ALWAYS ask myself, "Who is DUMB enough to even try these???"

The same people that click on penis enlargment emails or fall for the Nigerian scam. I used to do tech support and there are just a lot of ignorant/dumb people out there who take anything and everything they see on the internet at face value. People are getting wiser, but from the scammer/spammer perspective, if they get 1 click out of 100000 hits, they're doing their job.

I've never bothered doing any of the "free whatever" things, since they seem like too much hassle, but I have a friend who supported himself while he was out of work by getting free systems and then eBaying them. But it ended up almost being a full-time job in and of itself between filling out all of the surveys and then making sure everything got canceled.

Also, some of the systems took a long time (like 6 to 8 weeks) to get shipped. You can probably guess that these companies aren't going to bother rushing your "prize" out to you.

Like ShenmueFan said, it would probably be just as easy (or ever easier IMO) to get a part-time job at Best Buy or Target and just work for a few weeks if you really want a new system, but don't have the cash.

[norkusa]

Seriously, I see these stupid, ugly ads for these gimmick scams all over the web and I ALWAYS ask myself, "Who is DUMB enough to even try these???"

People that are dumb enough to get free stuff for little effort. ie: Me and Sph1nx. :roll:

[norkusa]

double post

[Lady Jaye]

I agree that it seems like a lot of work, especially compared to getting a part-time job. And the whole aspect of being careful to weed out the fraudulent ones from the legit ones just make this not worth trying.

But at least we have proof that they do work.

And yeah: the fact that the site mentioned by the OP didn't even bother updating the info to specify the object of the prize is either warning flags for fraud or a major sign of lack of professionalism.

[cyberfluxor]

My rule of thumb it that the only information they can have is: name, birthday, address and phone number. If they go beyond that then you may want to rethink what you're trying to get and if there's a disclaimer to read it carefully. I use an alias to fill out forms to so that if junk mail or calls come to where I'm at I know to just ignore it. I use the same information each time so if they're checking records against another company it'll match.

[Mattiekrome]

Well the curiousity got the best of me. I decided to make a "spam" email and log-in to the site just to see the kind of offers I had to complete. There were several offers that come from fairly reputable sources, AOL, BMG Music, Columbia House, VISA, etc. And there were also some for lesser known companies, that I have done business with in the past like VistaPrint and Netflix. Then there were some offers from sites that I wouldnt click on ever, some kinds of generic auction type sites that you need to join and make a purchase, but before you can join you need to give up the credit card info. Not going that far.

Oh, and after reading the rules/FAQ/TOS, the reason it says <GIFT_NAME> is because this xboxdeal.com site is also part of a larger ring of sites that give out other <GIFT_NAME_HERE>. Ipods and the such... I agree, if I'm building a website with a sketchy "feeling" to it already, I surely wouldn't put <GIFT_NAME> in the rules.

[ShenmueFan]

Good to be cautious about the credit card info.

Despite what people say, even if you CAN cancel something you sign up for, most places make it incredibly difficult. You have to call them (no electronic cancellation, sorry) at specific times (M-F 9am-6pm EST or something where weekends are blocked off usually) and then dig through automated prompts for several minutes only to be put on hold for 10-20 minutes since they know, by that point, you are going to cancel and are trying to discourage you from going through with it by make unbearablely long wait times.

THEN,

Even if you do get them to cancel whatever you have to store that confirmation number and the person's name who you talked to and watch your credit card account like a hawk until the next billing date comes and goes w/o you getting charged. If you do get charged, not only do you have to go through that all over but now you're out whatever they charged you unless you have them refund your money which can take up to 30 days for some companies.

Why on earth would you even want to deal w/ all that crap?

And odds are you're probably gonna get a reconditioned or used item anyway that could be dead on arrival as soon as you open the box and then what? You just wasted all that time and energy for nuthin'.

[RPG_Fanatic]

I just seen an ad for a free 360 on G4. Maybe it's the same company.

[norkusa]

I think you guys are making it sound more difficult than it really is. Just as long as you sign up for a deal with a big name comapny like Blockbuster, Visa, Ebay, etc. you won't have any problems canceling. Just make sure you cancel before your free trial ends and you won't have to worry about getting any charges to your credit card.

[ShenmueFan]

I think you guys are making it sound more difficult than it really is. Just as long as you sign up for a deal with a big name comapny like Blockbuster, Visa, Ebay, etc. you won't have any problems canceling. Just make sure you cancel before your free trial ends and you won't have to worry about getting any charges to your credit card.

:) Aww, that's cute.

Seriosuly, if companies weren't out to trick or decieve you, they wouldn't ask for your credit card info at all until your trial ends. These companies act the same way that mail-in rebate companies operate. You ASSUME they are honest because they are a big name company ----but---- how come no one uses mail-in rebates? 1) Because it's a hassle to save receipts, cut out UPCs, etc. and mail them in a specific time frame and then wait for your check which will take months and 2) Even if you do all that you're supposed to, the company can say "Oh, we have no record of ever receiving that!" and you're out completely.

If these things worked for you, great. I think you're more incredibly lucky than incredibily clever but hey, if you wanna prove me wrong, go sign up for a few more free things. Eventually you WILL get burned and boy, will you get burned bad!

Also keep in mind folks that with certain companies and services, even if you cancel the credit card you used to sign up in order to "stop them from charging you" those comapnies can still collect money from you and turn you over to collection agencies and affect your credit. Hughes.net (the satellite internet company) is notorious for that and if you wanna have a taste of a crappy company making it very difficult for you to cancel, sign up for the download movie webservice Vongo.com.

Have fun w/ that :)

[RPG_Fanatic]

:) Aww, that's cute.

Seriosuly, if companies weren't out to trick or decieve you, they wouldn't ask for your credit card info at all until your trial ends. These companies act the same way that mail-in rebate companies operate. You ASSUME they are honest because they are a big name company ----but---- how come no one uses mail-in rebates? 1) Because it's a hassle to save receipts, cut out UPCs, etc. and mail them in a specific time frame and then wait for your check which will take months and 2) Even if you do all that you're supposed to, the company can say "Oh, we have no record of ever receiving that!" and you're out completely.

If these things worked for you, great. I think you're more incredibly lucky than incredibily clever but hey, if you wanna prove me wrong, go sign up for a few more free things. Eventually you WILL get burned and boy, will you get burned bad!

Also keep in mind folks that with certain companies and services, even if you cancel the credit card you used to sign up in order to "stop them from charging you" those comapnies can still collect money from you and turn you over to collection agencies and affect your credit. Hughes.net (the satellite internet company) is notorious for that and if you wanna have a taste of a crappy company making it very difficult for you to cancel, sign up for the download movie webservice Vongo.com.

Have fun w/ that :)

Yeah it sounds better to just go charge a new system on your credit card instead.

[norkusa]

If these things worked for you, great. I think you're more incredibly lucky than incredibily clever but hey, if you wanna prove me wrong, go sign up for a few more free things. Eventually you WILL get burned and boy, will you get burned bad!


Well, I already signed-up and got my free iPod, so I know it works. Pretty sure luck didn't have anything to do with it either. Thanks for your concern though. I'll remember you when I'm playing my free Wii. LOL

[dgdgagdae]

Seriosuly, if companies weren't out to trick or decieve you, they wouldn't ask for your credit card info at all until your trial ends. These companies act the same way that mail-in rebate companies operate. You ASSUME they are honest because they are a big name company ----but---- how come no one uses mail-in rebates? 1) Because it's a hassle to save receipts, cut out UPCs, etc. and mail them in a specific time frame and then wait for your check which will take months and 2) Even if you do all that you're supposed to, the company can say "Oh, we have no record of ever receiving that!" and you're out completely.

Absolutely dead on there. For a trial subscription to Sports Illustrated, why do you need my credit card info? Why do I have to opt-out instead of opting-in? Because it's a PITA, and people won't do it, and that's how a lot of companes make their money - off of other people's laziness. The same kind of laziness that decides it's easier to get a free Xbox 360 by going through all this rigamarole than by working for it and purchasing it.

As long as suckers are willing to keep signing up, these scams will continue to be popular. And that's what it is - a scam. Some people get stuff, but here's the thing - these companies are making money somehow. And it's not by providing a legitimate service.

[norkusa]

As long as suckers are willing to keep signing up, these scams will continue to be popular. And that's what it is - a scam. Some people get stuff, but here's the thing - these companies are making money somehow. And it's not by providing a legitimate service.

Like I already said, the site receives a specific amount of money from each referral you get from the sponsors. It's usually between $25-$90. Most of the time, people will give up after only getting a couple sign-up's and that's how the free Xbox sites or whatever make their money.

Of course you need a credit card to sign up. The reason the companies pay $25-$90 per referral are banking on the fact that you'll forget to cancel before the trail period is up and they'll start charging your credit card. Just cancel after your referral goes thru. It's not that complicated.

[Ed Oscuro]

Seriously, I see these stupid, ugly ads for these gimmick scams all over the web and I ALWAYS ask myself, "Who is DUMB enough to even try these???"
I am frankly more surprised that they get enough money from their "services" that they actually can afford to ship out free iPods or whatever. Excellent points, of course.

[petewhitley]

Seriosuly, if companies weren't out to trick or decieve you, they wouldn't ask for your credit card info at all until your trial ends. These companies act the same way that mail-in rebate companies operate. You ASSUME they are honest because they are a big name company ----but---- how come no one uses mail-in rebates? 1) Because it's a hassle to save receipts, cut out UPCs, etc. and mail them in a specific time frame and then wait for your check which will take months and 2) Even if you do all that you're supposed to, the company can say "Oh, we have no record of ever receiving that!" and you're out completely.

Almost everything you've said right there is a total and complete misperception of how the majority of reputable companies work. Examples such as that are FEW and far between.

[GarrettCRW]

I am frankly more surprised that they get enough money from their "services" that they actually can afford to ship out free iPods or whatever. Excellent points, of course.

Given that this all sounds suspiciously like a pyramid scheme, the only people losing out are the poor schmucks at the bottom of the afforementioned pyramid.