Free Laptop Scam? - Comments Page 1

A variant on the 'free laptop' scheme/scam runs as follows:
A 'free laptop' was offered by a major electronic retailer if you signed up to a mobile internet contract. Sounds OK, except that when it comes to the signing up bit the retailer finds that he hasn't any of the dongles in stock, and then there is persuasion to convert the offer into a direct sale. Or am I mistaken about this offer?

Bob...the person who gets this kind of offer already has a computer and will probably not need a free one....the deal is too good to get....just like gambling with little odds in one's favor...they get a free email and information and sell it to the next network scam list....what a pity people still fall for these...

There are indeed many ways to spell "sucker".

"Free laptop" is only one of them.

How many lies does it take to qualify the source as a "liar"? "You are the 999,999th visitor" is a lie, isn't it? I would say I never went beyond that, but the truth is, I went the same places you did and concluded, as you did, that the laptop, if one ever was produced, was anything but free. When I see a bin full of laptops in the public square under a sign reading "Take One", I will grab one (if I am fast enough). Or maybe I'll just ask my fairy godmother for one the next time I see her.

My mama taught me that "there ain't no free lunch!"

Bob had it right concerning the fact that the promoter will receive some sort of commission for each of the "offers" (read: "sales") that the "winner" completes. Go ahead and look through the offers and you'll notice that the promoters do one of two things:

1.) They tell the "winner" (*cough*sucker*cough*) that they need to complete a very high number of offers. ALL of these offers cost the person money. Sometimes, in order for the offer to be considered "completed" the person must apply for a loan or credit card - that's not all, though. They MUST ALSO be ACCEPTED for the loan or credit card.

2.) They use some sort of "Tier Program" where the person has to complete (for example) six offers in the first tier, four offers in the second and two in the third. The first tier seems easy enough and the offers are usually either something most people have thought about joining at one time or another (DVD rental clubs, Book clubs, etc) or they are very cheap to complete. As the person progresses upward in the tiers the offers become more expensive and lock the person into some sort of contract for progressively longer periods of time.

The fact is, the free laptop probably does exist. I would venture to guess, though, that is a cheap piece of junk and that it's value would be nowhere near the cost of completing all of the offers. It's probably not too much of stretch to assume that the person will end up spending 3 times the value of the laptop in the offers. Plus, I can guarantee that after someone jumps through all of those hoops the "company" offering the free laptop will drag their feet when it comes time to pay up (ever see mail-in rebates that tell you you'll have to wait 12-16 weeks to get your money?). By the time that a person completes all of the offers, receives all of their verification documents and finishes jumping through whatever other hoops the company imposes on them the laptop/television/ultra-cool-gadget-you-never-knew-you-couldn't-live-without will have found a new home on clearance racks across the land.

WELL PEOPLE ITS LIKE THIS!. I ALSO WAS THAT 9999999 PERSON AND STARTED THE PROCESS AND WELL HOURS LATER FOUND OUT ITS NOT DESIGNED TO BE COMPLETED! ALL THEY WANT IS YOUR EMAIL ADD AND PERMISSION TO LEND/SELL IT WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY DO. THE NEXT DAY AFTER BEING STUPID ENOUGH TO BELIEVE THIS SCAM I ALSO FOUND OUT I HAD A MILLION AIRE RELATIVE IN NIGERIA I HAD NOT A CLUE I HAD?????? AND EACH DAY I WOULD GET MORE RELATIVES WHO WERE ALSO MILLIONAIRES THAT DIED EMAILS ALL FROM SOUTHAFRICA NIGERIA AND THAT AREA. BUT I NEVER GOT A LAPTOP!!!!! BUT HELL I AM A MILLIONAIR I JUST HAVE TO SEND $200 DOLLARS TO GET IT MAILED TO ME???? HEHEHE LOL BOTTOM LINE DEATH TO THE SCAMMERS.

Gary posted: "My mama taught me that 'there ain't no free lunch!'"

Amen to that.

I find it ironic that when I pull up your newsletter, that free laptop deal flashes on the screen. I know it isn't being done by you but there is some level of strangeness between your post and that ad.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This particular ad comes from a sponsor network that I use. I've requested twice that it be blocked, and I thought it was -- but obviously something more needs to be done. Trust me... I'm on it!

And let's say you do all of the steps above and finally get your laptop--what if it's an old laptop? One that someone donated to Goodwill because it had hardly any memory and it's running an operating system like Windows 95!

In the words of the immortal Bob Henlein: "Tanstaafl!"

And the great P.T. Barnum "There's a sucker born every minute."

Actually, these days that should be rewritten as "There's a scammer born every minute." PT was not very nice. It's not that people are suckers, they are naturally trusting and most look on the positive side of life. It's scammers that are the real suckers = low-life, bottom-feeding blood-suckers - that take advantage of decent people.

This is soooo fake and easy to spot. N00bs

http://a.tribalfusion.com/p.media/a4mM7iprnEXGMSXsJ10cvpmEnU3FM2VbfGV6MTPEv5QcUMPtfx0W7qWmbv3GQVXb3DUmyr4Av8RmnH4WFmXWMApWAv36YY5sUfUsJ6WGJ8SPUmWdU4Tbr35bEoUanmWaMjSTZbKSGjZcQFAoSHUcUVbamO2m7I/817456/pop.html

It is back in another form or ad, sort of? This is now a free Gateway laptop offer. You can get this one for being the first visitor. If the ad does not show, you must delete cookies and your cache and history.

I just got the offer for a free laptop while on the Verizon website, the're back!

Here's another two new scams, one from ConsumerRewardsSolutions.com as well as:

http://www.laptopdelivery.com/form/iframe/28141/4667/?&sid=1004uCcc&ref=28141

I was a fool and will be haunting these companies until I get my laptop or until they are out of business!

Check out these fabulously scammy terms and conditions folks!

Free-Laptop-Rewards.com is an independent rewards program for consumers and is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any of the listed products or retailers. Trademarks, service marks, logos, and/or domain names (including, without limitation, the individual names of products and companies) are the property of their respective owners. If you do complete the requirements you will receive a laptop of your choice. The requirements are ever changing and we do not know each days requirements or if changes have been made. Most of the times, the advertisers will ask you to sign up for a few free trials.

A new twist! I posted on twitter that someone broke in and stole my iMac. :( Within minutes I had several kind souls tweet me back offering to treat me to a new Mac Mini. Who would have guessed there are so many nice people giving away computers!

Think I ought to take them up on it?
:D