I keep getting numerous emails about testing a Dell Notebook and after you give them feed back-- you keep the notebook.

I also seel this online while surfing. It just seems to good to be true. Are these things legit?
Sandy

No

Cudni

Thanks Cudni--maybe I'll file a phish report

Sandy

There are some that are outright fraud.

There are others that promise "free" gifts after "participating." Participating means buying things, subscribing for things, taking out car loans, taking vacations, or whatever, from the sponsoring companies. Participants get some choice of which items they pay for, but at least some must be from a top tier of the most expensive choices. All requirements must be fulfilled within a limited period of time.

Lots of people sign up and pay for some of the items, but far fewer complete all, and they have surely paid full price for their prize by that time. It's not like you get to shop around for that vacation to make sure you are getting the best price.

There are quite a few posts around the internet from former participants complaining about these schemes, but it's hard to match complaints to companies, as the companies change names -- you won't find many websites that have been around long. It's hard to know which "new" company is really an old one whose reputation is trash.

There are a number of otherwise legitimate sponsors that get involved with these companies. Usually there will be a list somewhere on the website of possible participation choices and the companies sponsoring them. (Generally those companies don't include the company that manufactures the prize, in this case, Dell.)

Whatever you think about how ethical these schemes are, they spam the hell out of people via a succession of throwaway domains and redirection links so they can hit the inboxes of people without being inconvenienced by URL blocklists. I'd avoid patronizing the listed sponsors and let them know that you don't do business with spam sponsors.

BTW, phish reports are for sites that are pretending to be a familiar brand in order to obtain the trust of visitors. If the site isn't a fake Dell computer store site or something, it isn't phish. Submit those to SIRT. If you're brave and your browser isn't running javascript or active-X by default, you could follow the link to find the real target website and submit that, too. But you have to be careful to alter the URL, which likely has your email address encoded.