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Internet ScamBusters ™
The #1 Publication on Internet Fraud

By Audri and Jim Lanford
Issue #192 August 16, 2006

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Note 2: Please share this newsletter with 3 or 4 of your
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Hi xxxx

Today we answer a question that we’ve gotten from a lot of
subscribers: are the emails and websites that promise free
designer handbags (or computer equipment, or plasma TVs, or
video game systems, or other valuable prizes) legit? In other
words, can you actually get these prizes — or are they all
scams?

We’ll tell you the story of a friend who decided to find out
the real scoop — and whether or not she ever got her free
designer handbag.

First though, why don’t you now check out some of the most
popular recent articles from our other websites (the second
one is especially popular):

A Rewards Credit Card That May Put The Others To Shame

What if You Could Predict Airfare?

Can Getting Rid of a Computer or Replacing a Hard Drive Lead
to Identity Theft?

Do You Know What To Do During a Power Outage?

Let’s get going with today’s article…

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Can You Really Get Free Designer Handbags and Other Valuable
Prizes?
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Let’s begin with a story: We recently spoke to a friend we’ll
call “Emily” who complained about how many times she’d
received an email promising a free designer handbag worth
hundreds of dollars — but she had always passed up the offer.
Emily said she thought it sounded too good to be true.

After all, she asked: “Who wouldn’t want a handbag from
designers like Fendi, Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Coach — free?”

We advised Emily NOT to do what she wound up doing. But
against our strong advice and her better judgment, Emily
decided to see what would happen if she followed through.

Emily said she’d report her results — so that if it was a
scam like we predicted, at least our subscribers could benefit
from her mistake. (Please don’t try this at home — you’ll see
why as we share her story.)

Just Because They Say It’s Free Doesn’t Mean It Is

Here’s what happened: Emily visited the link in the email and
was brought to a website where she was offered the choice of a
Fendi bag, a Marc Jacobs bag, a Gucci bag or a Coach bag.

The values of these bags ranged from seven hundred dollars to
seventeen hundred dollars.

The website asked Emily to select the bag she wanted and to
provide them with her email address.

She thought: “Doesn’t sound like too much to ask for
considering the reward being offered, right?”

She thought that if her email address really was the only
thing they wanted from her, it may have indeed been a good
deal.

However, Emily dug a bit further and found out what that bag
would really cost her.

Get Ready For Spaham (misspelled intentionally)

Just for the fun of it, Emily thought she’d check out the
website’s privacy policy before actually giving them her email
address or any other information.

It’s a good thing she did.

It seems that the companies that offer these types of
promotions don’t keep your information confidential.

In fact, the privacy policy states outright they’ll share your
information with third parties. To translate this into
layman’s terms, it means your information will be available
for sale to almost any party wishing to purchase it.

If you do provide your email address to one of these websites,
get ready for a boatload of spaham in your inbox. And if you
think opting out of the mailing list will save you
frustration, you’re wrong.

The privacy policy of this site also stated that while opting
out will discontinue emails from the actual website, it won’t
discontinue emails from the companies who bought your
information from the site.

Fortunately, Emily followed our advice from previous issues of
ScamBusters here: she used a “throw away” email address. And
that is exactly what she had to do with that email address!

But There’s More

If you think a designer bag is worth selling your information
to strangers (especially using a throw-away email address),
there’s a lot more you need to know about these offers.

To actually get the prize you’re being promised, you have to
complete a survey.

The survey asks for your name, address and phone number and
then bombards you with dozens of online offers and asks you to
check a box indicating whether or not you’re interested in
each offer displayed.

Emily said that getting through the twenty-minute bombardment
of offers was bad enough.

Then she found out that she HAD to complete a total of ten
separate offers to qualify for the bag. Accepting these offers
would involve getting phone calls or paying money.

It was becoming clear that this bag was not going to be “free”
at all.

Take It a Step Further

Let’s assume you didn’t mind your inbox being spahammed or
your information being sold and there were actually ten offers
you wanted to accept. You’d get your bag, right?

Wrong.

Not only do you have to complete ten offers, you have to refer
five people from separate households to the site and all five
of those people also have to accept ten offers.

Now let’s say each of the five people you refer actually
complete ten offers. Then you get your bag, right?

No, not yet.

Those five people each have to refer five more people — then
you qualify for the bag.

What are the chances of that happening? Probably almost none.

So Who’s Getting the Prize?

These not-so-free offer sites don’t always offer free designer
handbags. Some offer gift certificates to stores, others offer
gift certificates to restaurants, some offer laptop computers
and others offer video game systems.

The prizes change, but the end result remains the same.

When most people visit one of these sites they enter their
information, accept a few offers and then realize there is no
possible way they are going to actually get the prize. At that
point they exit the site.

The companies that run these websites count on people leaving
the site in the middle of the process. That way they don’t
have to give you the prize.

The company now has your personal information and will sell it
to third parties for a profit. The company has also profited
from the few offers you did complete.

A Waste of Time — At Best

Here’s Emily’s conclusion: “The website owner now has a bundle
of cash at your expense and you have absolutely nothing. In
fact, you’ve just wasted a bunch of your time.”

The average person spends at least twenty minutes at one of
these sites before they realize the direction in which things
are going — and that they will never get the prize.

One more thing: some of these sites are even worse than we
just described. Even if you miraculously managed to jump over
all the hurdles to get your prize, you still wouldn’t receive
it — since some of these sites are outright scams. And there
is no way to know beforehand.

So do yourself a favor — avoid spaham and websites that offer
free designer handbags or other valuable prizes.

(And no, Emily never got her “free” designer handbag.)

That’s it for now — time to close for today. Wishing you a
wonderful week.

- Please Check Out These Offers – They Keep ScamBusters Free -
- – - – - We Highly Recommend All of These Products – - – - -

———-==========**********O**********==========———-
Are Credit Problems Driving You Crazy?

One of the biggest causes of stress and unhappiness in most
people’s lives is money — especially when your debt keeps
rising and the bills never stop. In no time flat, you can be
buried in extra debt just from credit card interest charges
and service fees alone!

But no matter how deeply in debt you are, there still is hope.

An amazing, eye-opening ebook now reveals everything you need
to know to protect, improve and restore your credit — without
lawyers, bankruptcy or costly “credit repair” services.
Discover the full story now at:

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How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be…

Rather than just dreaming about making your dreams come true,
why not actually make your dreams happen?

In fact, it can be fairly easy — much easier than you ever
imagined!

How? By following the little-known steps outlined in an
outstanding and innovative recent book.

Here are just two of the initial rave reviews — read them
carefully if you would like to go from where you are now to
where you want to be:

“All I had when I started in the film business was a dream,
but a dream without a plan gets you nowhere. That’s where
Pam comes in. Her new ebook shows you exactly what steps
you need to take to identify and to live your dreams.

“If you are ready to make the most of your life, and really
want to live your dreams (and become a millionaire in the
process), Pam’s the one to help you do it!”
–J. Hill, Producer, Director, Writer, Hollywood, CA

~~~

“I’ve been a financial consultant for over twenty years,
and I have helped lots of people make lots of money. I’ve
never seen a better overall plan for personal and
professional success than ‘Turning Dreams Into Dollars: 5
Steps to Becoming a Self-Made Millionaire.’

“In my business, clients would pay thousands of dollars for
this type of information, and, believe me, it’s really
worth millions.”
–B. Duncan, Financial Consultant, Las Vegas, NV

Visit now to find out how you can make YOUR dreams come
true…

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Learn to Play the Guitar – Quickly and Easily – and Have a Blast…

There are a lot of books and courses on how to play the guitar.
Some of them are very good. And some of them are VERY boring.

Our highest recommendation, though, goes to Jamorama. What you
get is VERY impressive (including an ear training game) — and
the price is reasonable. (It costs less than having one or two
music lessons with a teacher!)

What we like best is that you start PLAYING — fast. After
all, you want to learn to play well enough quickly so it
sounds like music. Although you certainly won’t sound like
your favorite guitarist next week, you’ll find out how to
quickly play just about any song you hear — and have a lot of
fun. Visit:

———-==========**********O**********==========———-

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P.S. gimmie your credit card number and i’ll make you rich. jk