Nobody wants to give you a free iPad
Cidu Bill on May 21st 2010
There’s an e-mail circulating about promising you a free iPad in return for testing it out for a couple of months. It will appear to have been forwarded to you by one of your e-mail contacts.
It’s a scam designed to get your e-mail password, and then use the password to send more copies of the same fake offer — as well as other shady spam — to everybody on your e-mail contacts list, appearing to have been sent by you.
Filed in Bill Bickel, iPad, scams, spam | 26 responses so far
yellojkt May 21st 2010 at 06:18 am 1
What about Microsoft doing the e-mail test that will win me a free trip to Disneyworld?
George P May 21st 2010 at 07:46 am 2
If people just applied “If a deal seems to good to be true, it probably is” to stuff they read most of this could be avoided.
I’d add this corollary: “How are they making money with this?” If it isn’t obvious, then it isn’t true.
In general, though, I think “don’t try to get something for nothing” would work best.
mkilby May 21st 2010 at 08:50 am 3
E-mail scams that distribute viruses are only slightly more annoying than all those stupid offers about “winning millions in an e-mail lottery” or for “help transferring funds to a foreign account” (the ones described here and above are only a few of the many in circulation). The depressing thing is that there are still people out there who are stupid and/or greedy enough to fall for these scams (otherwise there wouldn’t be so many jerks fishing around for suckers).
How about a law making it illegal for Internet providers to forward fraudulent e-mails via their servers? I don’t like the idea of censorship, but there has got to be some way to stop the flood of garbage.
Jay May 21st 2010 at 09:07 am 4
Once I receive the money I’m getting for helping out the widow of an exiled prince, I’d be happy to send everybody an iPad.
Derek May 21st 2010 at 09:54 am 5
Well, duh. People are tripping over themselves to buy iPads. Why would you get someone to test them for free, when you can get paid $500 for someone to test one?
Morris Keesan May 21st 2010 at 10:36 am 6
Most of us like to think we’re smart enough not to get caught by this kind of thing. Recently Cory Doctorow got successfully phished; he writes about it in the current issue of Locus magazine. (Short version: he got what appeared to be a tweet from a friend, clicked on the link to sign into his own twitter account to respond, entered his password, and because he was using a small-screen handheld device on which he didn’t see the whole URL, realized just too late that the link was not twitter.com, but twitter.somescammerdomain.com .)
The moral: even if you think you’re good at recognizing scams, let’s be careful out there.
Keera May 21st 2010 at 10:58 am 7
I’m safe. I don’t understand what the attraction is with iPads - except that they seem to make really great cat toys.
Morris Keesan May 21st 2010 at 11:07 am 8
Keera, I read a really nice succinct article the other day about the “cult of Apple”, and how some people will buy anything Steve Jobs tells them to, because of their feeling of connection to this community. Unfortunately, I don’t remember where I read it, but it helps explain why people were lining up to buy the iPads on their first day of release, when there was absolutely no indication anywhere that there would be any shortage, or any difficulty buying them, through multiple outlets.
mkilby May 21st 2010 at 11:26 am 9
Oops. I used an illegal word in my comment (3), which means that it is still awaiting moderation. It still shows up when I reopened the page, but I assume the rest of you haven’t seen it yet. Here’s a slightly updated version (CIDU Bill can kill the original):
Keera May 21st 2010 at 11:37 am 10
Morris, I’ve heard of such articles.
I have used Macs for 20+ years because I have never seen the point of an OS built on DOS. Whenever I watch a tech troubleshoot a PC, I get a blast from the 80’s (and in the computer world, that’s just wrong). However, I have an iPod Touch and have found just enough short-comings not to fall in love with this particular Apple interface. I mean, it doesn’t even have a built-in to-do list! So while I am happy with Mac computers, the i-whatever handhelds are not my thing.
Bob May 21st 2010 at 11:58 am 11
I don’t click anything on the net unless there’s Viagra involved.
Jeff S. May 21st 2010 at 11:59 am 12
I won my 32G iPod Touch otherwise I wouldn’t own one.
Back on topic, I fell for an early eBay scam, but like Doctorow, as soon as I logged in, I realized what I had done. I closed the browser, opened a new one, immediately logged into my REAL eBay account and changed my password. I also called my bank and cancelled my credit card. I was lucky… nothing happened. MANY others aren’t as lucky.
I’ll write more once I get back from Nigeria. I have to go pick up some money.
The Bad Seed May 21st 2010 at 12:05 pm 13
I have an iPhone and don’t miss a built-in to-do list, because it does have post-it notes and I have my iPhone set to automatically sync with my Outlook server (where all of my appointments, meetings, to-do’s, etc are stored).
The Bad Seed May 21st 2010 at 12:12 pm 14
p.s. Apropros on nobody’s comments in particular, just a current pet peeve on mine…
People get all hung up about one device or another being “best”, but everyone’s brains are wired differently and everyone has different needs and wants, so they should be happy to find a device (or relationship or job or…) that works well for them. One of my ex-friends is an ex-friend because she will constantly berate you for liking anything that she personally doesn’t believe you should like. She was always trying to bully me into getting Lasix or at least contacts, despite the fact that I love wearing glasses. Of course, my iPhone sucked and if I had any taste I would have waited for a Droid. And our final fight (the final straw) was because I dared to love a very well-respected and -rated restaurant that she’d been to ONCE and hated - you wouldn’t believe the incredible insults and personal attacks on my lack of taste! What should it matter to her?
I’ll repeat that this isn’t aimed at anyone here, but I just don’t understand why some people get so personally affronted if we don’t agree on what particular cell phone or car or home computer to have. I’m kinda happy if I have something unique - as much as I love my Honda Element, it was a little discouraging when I started to see them everywhere. Plenty of people tell me it’s ugly, and that totally doesn’t matter to me. Meh.
The Bad Seed May 21st 2010 at 12:14 pm 15
p.s. (repost of #13 with the offending word changed, please feel free to delete that one, Bill)
Apropros on nobody’s comments in particular, just a current pet peeve on mine…
People get all hung up about one device or another being “best”, but everyone’s brains are wired differently and everyone has different needs and wants, so they should be happy to find a device (or relationship or job or…) that works well for them. One of my ex-friends is an ex-friend because she will constantly berate you for liking anything that she personally doesn’t believe you should like. She was always trying to bully me into getting Lasix or at least contacts, despite the fact that I love wearing glasses. Of course, my iPhone was worthless and if I had any taste I would have waited for a Droid. And our final fight (the final straw) was because I dared to love a very well-respected and -rated restaurant that she’d been to ONCE and hated - you wouldn’t believe the incredible insults and personal attacks on my lack of taste! What should it matter to her?
I’ll repeat that this isn’t aimed at anyone here, but I just don’t understand why some people get so personally affronted if we don’t agree on what particular cell phone or car or home computer to have. I’m kinda happy if I have something unique - as much as I love my Honda Element, it was a little discouraging when I started to see them everywhere. Plenty of people tell me it’s ugly, and that totally doesn’t matter to me. Meh.
Elyrest May 21st 2010 at 12:15 pm 16
I’ve never gotten any of those scam emails - maybe I’m lucky or just don’t know enough people to spread my address. I have gotten, on my Yahoo account (and only this one), various emails about increasing my size and, of course, for Viagra. I’m not really sure what part I should increase in size though because I’m missing the pertinent one.
You can get a free iPad if you try to pay cash for one and get a lot of press when Apple refuses to sell you one though.
Cidu Bill May 21st 2010 at 12:26 pm 17
What Morris said. The difference between this and your normal Nigerian spam is that this one’s slick enough to look real, doesn’t ask you for money or your credit card informaton, comes addressed to you individually and personally, and appears to be coming from a friend. Well, it is coming from a friend, technically, since that friend was tricked into giving up access to his her her e-mail account. In my case it came from one of the smartest people I know (and as a bonus, one whose son works for Apple).
Don’t mock warnings. The next one could be for the scam that has your name on it.
Winter Wallaby May 21st 2010 at 12:46 pm 18
Yeah, usually unsolicited offers to get free prizes are scams, and you should be careful. But, keep in mind, sometimes they’re real!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsYoeoEE3ww
Winter Wallaby May 21st 2010 at 12:47 pm 19
Or: http://xkcd.com/570/
Mark in Boston May 21st 2010 at 02:10 pm 20
Enter your username and password to read the rest of my comment.
Username: _______________
Password: _______________
Keera May 21st 2010 at 03:54 pm 21
The Bad Seed @13, that’s what bugs me about the iPhone/iPod Touch: Why not have an offline task function in it - with alarms? It can do alarms so why not reminders?
LOL, Mark @20!
Back to the problem at hand: I try to be careful but got too careful once: PayPal sent me an invitation in Norwegian, asking me to sign up and use PayPal. I was sure it was a phishing attempt since I’ve been using PayPal in English for years. It turned out to be legit.
Todd May 21st 2010 at 04:43 pm 22
I’m convinced that Apple uses some kind of advanced subliminal messaging in their devices. My sister-in-law has always used Windows computers, but her two son-in-laws both have iPhones, which she’s gotten to play with, and now she wants both an iPad and a Mac as her next computer.
Todd May 21st 2010 at 04:55 pm 23
Also, Leo Leporte gave away two iPads: One to a Twitter user who posted she hated technology, and one to a random follower of her. He was copying Conan, who convinced his audience to follow a random Twitter user.
George P May 21st 2010 at 06:54 pm 24
Keera, I’m sure many Mac users have valid reasons for buying them, but that’s not really the problem; it’s that so many of them think that buying the right gadget makes them better people, and that they define themselves by what tools/toys they use.
I am not a “PC person”, as many a Mac user has claimed, or a “PC”, as Microsoft is now advertising. I am a human being with many interests. I use a computer as a tool, and that computer runs Windows. I have a car that I used to get around, and it has a four-cylinder four-stroke engine that burns gasoline. I am not a “gas person”. I am not a “Honda person”. I am not a “Kitchen Aid person” or a “Shun person” (although those two are getting closer).
I do rely on the products I buy to make me look cool, mostly (and obviously) because I don’t care whether I impress hipsters or not.
Keera May 22nd 2010 at 02:01 am 25
George @24, I never buy anything for the logo or the image. I fell for Macs because the printer worked right away (at the time, I couldn’t care less about the OS). Up till then I’d had a job setting DIP switches on printers so they’d work with various PCs, and I was fed up with PCs.
IME, Mac users themselves are pretty level-headed about the products they use. But oh, boy, do the journalists love to write about Apple! I was amazed at all the hype the iPad got in Norwegian newspapers when it came out, considering it was going to be at least 6 months before it would be sold here. And you can’t phone with it.
Dave in Boston May 22nd 2010 at 02:24 am 26
To be fair, Windows Me was the last one based on DOS. However, Windows NT was also invented in the 80s, and Unix meanwhile (including both MacOS X and Linux) is crapware from the 70s. Your choices are limited.
The best way to avoid getting phished (ISTM) is to use a separate private mail address for important commercial traffic, or if you’re paranoid, a different address for each different organization. As long as these addresses aren’t leaked or stolen, the phishers won’t have them and any phishing attempts will appear in your regular public mail. The problem with this method is that you need multiple addresses with multiple inboxes and mail software that can cope with this properly. (And safely; it all relies on the inboxes never being mixed together.) As far as I know I don’t think consumer-grade email services are really up to the task.