Comments on: Did we win a free $300 gas card by phone marketer? Please help?

By: Marketing Grad

Marketing Grad — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:39:00 +0000

If people would stop being so gullible, we could finally get rid of all those scams and telemarketers. Wishful thinking I know.

Yes, the nice man who called you today will give you $300 of free gas and will also buy you a big penthouse, a Ferrari and your own private jet for FREE. Congratulations for being picked and qualifying!

By: rtfm

rtfm — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:31:22 +0000

Contrary to what another person here says, you haven’t given him enough to steal your identity. All you have given him is your name and address, which are available to anyone who picks up a telephone book. You don’t need to worry about identity theft.

What you *do* need to worry about is that now you have confirmed that someone living at your address is the type of person who listens to sales pitches over the phone and believes them. That means they’ll be able to sell your contact information as “live” to other direct marketing firms, and I would suspect that very soon you’ll be inundated with similar sales pitches, both by phone and by mail.

The “gift card” that you’re going to receive, if you ever do actually get it, will probably come with a list of requirements that you have to do in order to activate it (such as signing up with some kind of service for a certain amount of money per month), or it will turn out that it’s only good for one dollar off a fillup, or some fine print like that. If I were you, I’d just throw the information out when it arrives.

By: Robin G

Robin G — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:32:03 +0000

That was a scam. You’ve given him enough information to steal your identity. You’ve given him your phone number, current address, name, and father’s name. Get a credit report and file a police report about the possible identity theft.

By: My Evil Twin

My Evil Twin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:54:46 +0000

There’s no such thing as a free lunch.