Pssst! Want a free Apple iPad? Yeah, me too!
Did you know that you can get an iPad simply by registering to become a beta tester? Well, actually you can’t – but the spammers and scammers would like you to believe that you can.
Security company Sophos recently explained how such scams work, as shown in this YouTube video:
While Facebook closed down that particular scam, others appear by the day. For example, here’s one that I unearthed just the other day:
When you visit TestitandKeepit.com you’re asked to enter your name, email address and email password:
I stopped at this point without actually providing my password. Had I done so, I have no doubt that my email account would have been hijacked and used to send spam or phishing emails out to all of my contacts.
Social networks have become extremely popular with scammers as they enable them to reach a large number of people in a short period of time. You’ll have heard it a million times before, it’s worth repeating … if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. While there may be a few competitions out there in which you can win an iThing, BlackBerry or some other piece of electronic gadgetry, there are also a heck of a lot of scams. And as that Sophos video mentions towards the end, do your Facebook friends a favour and don’t invite them to become a fan of a Facebook page unless you are certain it’s legitimate. It’s also a good idea to talk to your kids about these sort of things. My 12 year old son was so excited a while ago because he was “one of a select few chosen to beta test” some crappy game in the pipeline, after he provided a bunch of personal information. He had enough common sense to give false information, but it’s easy to see where a child could get excited over something “free” and give away info they probably shouldn’t be giving, even if it is only an email address.
So now, be honest, how many ways have you tried to get your paws on the new iPad?
“So now, be honest, how many ways have you tried to get your paws on the new iPad?”
certainly, not I. I’ll see how it fairs against HP Slate.
I find it quite funny that so many people have jumped on the ‘free iPad scam’ bandwagon! There are far more and far worse scams on the internet every day.
People need to use their common sense when it comes to things being given away for ‘free’ as there is generally always a catch. I run a site that gives people all the information they need to get free gadgets on the internet, I provide 100% complete and transparent information and advice, explaining in detail every step that is required to claim their choice of gadget, and I have received numerous messages of thanks from my readers. Unfortunately because of al the bad press the free iPad scams are getting recently, the legitimate sites are also getting negative press.
[...] with all the excitement around the imminent retail availability of the iPad, there are bound to be scammers-a-plenty looking to bilk you out of your hard earned cash, or worse – maybe steal your identity [...]
I agree 100% with Tom.
Although there are obviously a couple of scammers out there that have made plenty of money out of people wanting a free ipad, people shouldn’t let one scammer put them off getting what is there for the taking on the internet.
Companies like HSBC, Alliance and Leicester, Lovefilm, Netflix, Blockbuster, Sky and BT pay incentive sites like FreebieJeebies (mainly UK but kind of international) good money for you to try their product (and there genuinely are free trials of products from household name companies, there are also paid ones, but obviously the free ones are the most popular and the ones that you want to go for) and FreebieJeebies then pass this cash (well, most of it) onto you in the form of any reward you want.
This will also include ‘free ipads’. The BBC, CNN, NBC and tech magazine T3 have fully investigated and found this to be all legitmate, backed by some of the largest worlwide companies around, the free ipad is simply a different form of the marketing via the internet that started with the free iPod sites. You can now get anything you want.
Be sensible, do your research. For goodness sake don’t get scammed, search the internet, you can find out pretty quickly if something is legit on the internet nowadays.
Find something genuine and you’ll soon see that you can get all the gadgets you want for free, you just have to be a bit savvy about it and not get conned.
Yeah Amy. And harvest all your friends emails in the process. My brother’s girlfriend’s little brother just invited me to one of these offers. Undoubtedly they can sell these email address for a bundle later on.
I just came across a craigslist entry today claiming to be giving out free iPads. I hadn’t heard of this scam before, so I googled “free ipad scam” and found my way here! Thanks for shedding some light on this for me!
You’re welcome Casey. I’m glad you found it helpful!
I want an ipad very serious not because people are using them but is like i always dream of them but i cannot afford them. Please i need one please. Thank you very much for accepting me and my great request.
Great share! Thanks for showing it to us. I want a free ipad really bad.
actually, i accedently got a premium one and they were textmessaging me for 3 months. then it stopped. the bad part is the received mail was $5 each.so now we have to pay more than $300… my parents are very mad at me right now because we dont know what we have to do now… so i was going to find that webpage and tell to police office but i couldn’t find the website. what do i have to do??
please email me how to do because our cellphones company said it wasn’t their job to help us what to do now…. please..PLEASE!!!!!…email me.
Thank you
sincerely,
Jess
or just reply to this comment. thanks!!! but it have to be quick!!!
Yeah, that’s just a pain in the ass. That’s happened to me and my other siblings countless times. Did you ever try to text back “stop” or “cancel?”
In the world we live in today, I would love to have a ipad. I’ve seen them on TV and it would be cool to have one.
I would like to participate in your free ipad test i hope this will be lot better than any gadgets nowadays ..i want to know how easy to use and what quality possible should be ..thank you and hope u can deliver to me soon
[...] effective way to share info and photos with your circle of friends, cyberstalkers, pedophiles and thieves can also use the medium for [...]
want ipad visit http://www.giveaway.blogspot.com
want ipad visit http://www.giveaway.blogspot.com quickly
sry guys it typed wrong check posts in http://www.giveawaythings.blogspot.com sry for wrong site
hey Roy You where right i signedup and within 2 weeks i got my ipad thanks for ur site http://www.giveawaythings.blogspot.com there are many options and site which are great i loved ur Blog Gr8 work and i am now going for apple macbook awesome way to get free apple products just some tax dosent matter for me gr8 blog is there more sites to get products. i am becoming greedy lol
If you want a iPad goto ebay you’ll probably have better luck there than anywhere else besides scammers never really give out a iPad I took some time and read the bottom of a scam page and it even said you won’t win a iPad… Don’t waste your time… Save up and buy one