Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Have You Been Offered A Free Computer?

Posted by Anonymous on 4/5/2010 at 6:21 PM ET 5000 Points
THIS IS A REALLY IMPORTANT QUESTION TO ME...AND I THINK FOR YOU GUYS TOO.

Here's my dilemma. I replied to a question on MProfs, and BAM...a popup stating I had won a "FREE COMPUTER" a Dell, or a Mac...WOW. FREE.

Now, I'm a BIG FAN and participant of MarketingProfs, so I thought I'd see what this is about.

I spent several minutes going through the amazing amount of stuff (offers), for FREE TRIALS from Video Professor, Netflix, some skin cream...etc. Now, I really don't NEED any of the offerings...seriously.

And, let me even say that I don't really want any of the offerings either. I'm covered with healthcare, I don't have a skin problem, I don't rent movies, I don't need video professor...you kind of get the idea...right? I really don't.

But, hey...I want a FREE COMPUTER. I want to try it out and let people know how I feel about it, in a report or whatever they may need as a response to using the thing.

So, after going through all the questions (and there are many), I think I am getting to the end...and, all I have to do is accept two of the many "FREE" OFFERS.

OK, I scroll down...and pick two...HOWEVER...in order to do this, I suddenly learn that I MUST give NETFLIX and VIDEO PROFESSOR my CREDIT CARD NUMBERS.

<b.And, I MUST agree to these folks selling my information to anyone they choose.

HERE COMES MY QUESTION(S)...

Would you do this?
Would you give up your personal information?

I mean, I think MarketingProfs is a SOLID group, and they wouldn't partner with anyone who wasn't as ethical as they...right?

I think this. BUT, what about all those folks who will eventually end up with my personal information...let's say within the next 2 years...WHAT ABOUT THEM?

Seriously, with a kid in college...I could use the extra computer...I'll test it...I'll report on it...BUT, I'm a bit uncomfortable about my personal information, over and above what's already there.

What would you do?
What would you suggest?
Would you become a part of a program like this?
If you were running a program like this, how would you work it?

I am going to put some good points on this question, so I really want some thoughtful answers...I want to trust these people...but, do you think I can? Would you trust them?

I think this is the biggest, most important question I've posted, or seen on this site. PLEASE, HELP ME OUT. And, if you have a better way to do this, let's hear it.

If you believe MarketingProfs is going to benefit from this, please tell me how. I had a push back...I didn't want to push back, because I trust MP's. But, something ...(gut-feeling), said PUSH BACK.

Any GOOD thoughts about this?

Randall
White Mountain Marketing
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 4/5/2010 at 6:34 PM Accepted
    Randall, I haven't seen the pop-up you're talking about, but it smells like a scam to me.

    Just because it's on Marketing Profs doesn't mean it's authorized. I know that sounds odd, but in the last couple of weeks I was visiting a friend's blog and had some weird window pop up saying my Win32 files were infected.

    He has no ads. I have no Win anything files since I have a Mac. I tried hit cancel on the popup and it wouldn't close. I finally had to quit Firefox to get rid of it.

    This has happened several times.

    Listen to your gut! It's not worth getting spammed by every phisher, scammer, and con artist on the internet.


    Jodi
  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 4/5/2010 at 6:36 PM Accepted
    I would not give up my credit card number. If it sounds too good to be true, etc.

    I don't think you can necessarily say that because the ad appears on MarketingPriofs, that means the company has been vetted.

    The ads here are run by a network, not directly by MarketingProfs. And I would not be surprised to learn that there's not much of a vetting process there at the network, either.

  • Posted by michael on 4/5/2010 at 6:51 PM Accepted
    (just typed an answer and it dissappeared...frustrating!)

    Randall,
    I haven't gotten that pop-up yet.

    Like you I don't have a problem shareing personal information with sites i trust. I do it all the time. personal information. Credit card number? No. I don;t care if they sell my information. What did I get for it? One child in college and one wedding to pay for in a few months makes me open to several options.

    I do a lot of surveys for sites and am happy to share good and bad feedback...unsolicited...from companies with whom I do business (wow..check my grammer there!) because I have a vested interest.

    I do spend a good amount of time on MP and would like it to be better.

    Assuming I was running a progam like this I'd have asked MP what their success rates were. Depending on the target I might over-explain the reason for the pop-up. Not a big believer in pop-ups so that might be overly cautious rather than effective. They tend to be more for the masses. There are several newsletters that I get that I know will have a pop up as soon as I click on the link. I toggle away from it before it even loads. So..how effective is that? Still like the newsletters tho.

    This is probably more of a rambling than a response. Sorry.

    Michael
  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/5/2010 at 6:57 PM Accepted
    I've never had the experience you describe, Randall ... and I have finally learned to avoid anything that sounds too good to be true.

    There's no free lunch. I've been through the identity theft drill once; and don't want to go through it again. (Not a result of anything I did, but still a little scary when you think about the possibilities.)

    I'm amazed that the ad you describe would be on (or related to) MarketingProfs. I thought their security and privacy policy were better than that. Is it possible that it's related to your browser?
  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/5/2010 at 7:37 PM Moderator
    OMG! You are right, Randall. I just got a notification from my pop-up blocker that MarketingProfs has tried to deliver a pop-up!

    This is concerning to say the least.

  • Posted by wnelson on 4/5/2010 at 7:47 PM Accepted
    Randall,

    I've never had such an experience with MarketingProfs. This kind of "advertising" is used with many other sites - including Facebook games. Not Facebook itself, but if anyone ever goes to a game and then wants to earn extra points, you are directed to a site that drives you to taking advantage of one or two of many "free" offers like this. I've also run into it with emails "business magazines" that direct me to a site or in answering a banner ad to a site. Many of these kinds of ads are a virus. They won't let you go until you act and they will flood you with popups until you do.

    As far as MarketingProf's involvement in such a thing: I'm wondering if you have encountered a virus. Let's call it a "Ventriloquist" virus. Viruses can know where you are on the internet. By knowing "trusted websites," a programmer can use bits and pieces in their ad that make it look like it's from that website to make those who trust that website trust the ad and give up all their information. Very clever, if that's what it is.

    No, don't give up your information. It's not worth the "free" stuff. Use your virus software and go through your system and have it get rid of all the bad stuff. See if it still comes up. I bet it won't.

    Wayde
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 4/5/2010 at 7:47 PM Accepted
    Randall - Unless you already want/need the products they're offering, then you're paying for the computer indirectly. I've seen Tester-Rewards elsewhere https://track.tester-rewards.com/Rules.aspx?p=5516894b594c45b2ba154269191ee...) and after reading all the fine print, haven't been tempted. I've been tired of seeing the "would you like to take a survey" popup appearing for the last week or so, but haven't yet (fingers crossed) seen this offer.

    To answer your question, unless I initiate a purchase, I don't provide my credit card #. Identity theft is no fun.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 4/5/2010 at 8:01 PM Accepted
    I suspect what you are seeing is not related to MP's, but is actually on your machine. I have heard of viruses or spyware doing this. May be worth running a virus scan or similar and see if anything pops up.

    Another easy way to check this is to use a different browser. if you normally use Firefox, try doing the same thing with safari or Internet Explorer.
  • Posted by steven.alker on 4/5/2010 at 8:07 PM Accepted
    Hi Randall

    Wow - it's happened before but courtesy of advertisers and MarketingProfs technical naivety. About 3 years back I can remember an advertiser whose ad, when it appeared which it did at random, once clicked on, kept drifting all over the place and planting endless free offers on my screen. And these PC's and Laptops are tied down like Fort Knox.

    I reported it, but management hadn't seen the problem and it was clever, it didn't seem to reveal itself to their internal IP address or when they ran it within their firewall.

    So I got one of my total geek friends to investigate this and lo and behold, buried in a harmless looking advert was below the radar directions to all sorts of rubbish.

    Unfortunately for them they left their IP address traceable to the said geek friend, so by the next morning their web-server was minus its operating system.

    I somehow doubt that MarketingProfs are the ones doing this - there may be a more interesting and sinister explanation.

    If MarketingProfs are, then the same geek is an even better friend now and the solutions are far more sophisticated than 3 years ago!

    I'd dare bet that it did not originate from MarketingProfs though, but I’ll try and make it happen to me and then pass on the info the geek needs to do a trace.

    I’ve still got his capture software on this PC!

    Best wishes and I’ll have another look tomorrow morning.

    Steve
  • Posted by steven.alker on 4/5/2010 at 8:25 PM Member
    Hey, it was a scam question on Yahoo 9 months back – well tester rewards was the subject of the question and they didn’t like it at all.

    https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090705184458AAmTnYF

    Steve Alker
    Xspirt
  • Posted by steven.alker on 4/5/2010 at 8:46 PM Member
    If it directs you to tester-rewards.com then I am unlikely to be able to get a pop up unless they are using a third party advertiser. 100% of their traffic is generated in the USA because that’s the only place their tortuous and stupid offers are valid.

    Their T’s and C’s read like a long list of reasons why you won’t get your laptop, why you will buy a lot of rubbish you don’t want, that you will get free credit cards which can only be used in certain over-priced on-line stores and even charge you before you start using them.

    I’d say it is a total no-no, but I’d love to find out how they got the pop up onto MarketingProfs.

    Pity Shelley is leaving, because self taught or not, she’d have this one pinned down in the space of a gnat’s bollock and faster than a hamster on steroids. Good luck though to Carrie, I have a feeling that this will be well covered up.

    If the perpetrators are ultimately tester-rewards then here are their technical details:

    https://www.serverinsiders.com/domain/testerrewards-com.html

    Woo-Hoo they’ve got a public IP address and hundreds of associated sites so back doors will abound!

    Best wishes

    Steve Alker
    Xspirt
  • Posted by Valerie Witt on 4/5/2010 at 11:52 PM Moderator
    Hi all. I haven't been able to make the ad appear either. If you see it, could you try taking a screenshot? Then send the image file to us at our support at marketingprofs.com address. Thanks!

    Val
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 4/6/2010 at 12:08 AM Member
    I am not seeing this at all on my system. PC/Vista/Google Chrome or IE8.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/6/2010 at 1:44 AM Moderator
    Problem has not recurred. I swept for viruses, adware, malware, etc. and found nothing out of the ordinary ... just the regular cookies.

    I will remain vigilant, of course.
  • Posted by Harry Hallman on 4/6/2010 at 8:41 AM Accepted
    Jezzzzzzzzzzzz. How long have we been surfing the Internet?

    Never click on anything that looks too good to be true.

    Use pop-up blocker.

    Don't always blame everything on the person or website you are visiting, especially if they are trusted sources of information.

    Pop-ups suck anyway, even when they appear to be from good companies. So just ignore them.

    When you use the Internet as an information source as we marketers do, you will run into marketing scams and ploys that can attach to your computer. Sometimes, we fall for them.
  • Posted by CTO on 4/6/2010 at 9:57 AM Moderator
    Hi, All -
    Thank you for reporting the problem. Please rest assured that we would not intentionally allow pop-up ads of this type on MarketingProfs.

    We have tested in several browsers, on multiple computers, but have been unable to reproduce the behavior. Based on feedback from Randall, it sounds like Gamevance adware is causing the problem. Removal information can be found here: https://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=remove+gamevance+ads&aq=f&aqi=&...

    As mentioned prior, possible culprits may be spyware, malware, or viruses. Try using Spybot and Malwarebytes to detect these, as well as anti-virus software.

    If you experience these pop-up ads on MarketingProfs again (which we do not allow), please take screenshots of the ad, and also any other ads on the page ... and, of course, don't interact with the ad. Please send screenshots to tech @ marketingprofs.com.

    We'll continue to investigate the problem, and thanks again for your help in identifying and resolving this issue.
  • Posted by steven.alker on 4/6/2010 at 11:11 AM Member
    Randall - I too got the gamevance reference - it's linked to many spammy sites. It evades most anti virus because it’s signature is not that of a virus or a Trojan but a shonky game.

    Rather stupidly, if you scan your registry for gamevance or %gamevance% and delete them all it will not come back. AS long as it is in the run keys in Regedit it will load every time you open your PC but if you just get rid of the registry entries, it does not spawn again!

    Steve
    PS Thanks for the Hollywood Studio photos. Have you ever thought of playing capt’n Birds Eye who sells fish fingers (whatever they are) for Findus or Birds Eye on the TV in the UK.

    He’s an old sea dog who delights children on his boat by offering them these fish fingers (Whatever they are again) You are a dead ringer – beard, bit grizzled, distinguished, authoritative – just what advertisers of fish fingers (OK what the hell are they) really need

    Children should eat freshly caught sea bass and wild Scottish salmon – not something which looks like fish paste in batter. Then they will not grow up to be drug addicts or socialists.
  • Posted by matthewmnex on 4/7/2010 at 9:24 PM Member
    Hi W.M.M.A.

    2 things to chack.

    1. toolbars. You may have recently downloadd and installed a new toolbar.

    Be very careful with toolbars - they are offered for free but they have to make money somewhere so they are funded by: spying insode your unit and getting your behavior info then seving pop up adds based on what they think you may be interested in.

    My rule is, I simply don't use tool bars (they just slow down your system antway).

    2. re-targetting cookies.

    THe latest trend in advertising is re targetting. Just viewing a banner is now enough to have a cookie dropped in your hard drive. Clean your cookies regularly.

    It sounds to me as though a small programme has been dropped in your machine that wasn't caught by your antivirus scans because ti was probably packaged inside the tool bar or anoter programme that you downloaded.

    It is not a virus per se so it was not tagged but it is a very annoying litttle programme.

    These issue wwll only get worse and worse in the coming months and years despite legislation.

    I am constantly on my kids about downloading stuff but they do it anyway because they think it is free.

    As mentioned earlier, NOTHING IS REALY FREE so think 10 times before downlaoding anything :)

    Please let us kow if the toolbar or other recent downlaod was the culprit.

    Thank you,

    Matthew
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