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Just been on Ebay. If you have too, you may have noticed a number of auctions advertising the URL for a site selling Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube for £25.
Sounds too good to be true, thus IS too good to be true. That's a good rule of thumb for these kinds of things.
So here's *why* it's a scam, just so you know:
I stumbled on an ebay 'auction' giving the web address for free. The site is 'itsvirtuallyfree.co.uk'.
At the site, it tells you what happens:
You pay money and join a 'list'. When you get to the top of a list you wait for another X many people sign up. Then they send out your console.
On a quick greedy-eyed glance over, it looks like you simply join a list, which is always kept at a certain length, and as someone new joins, you move up a place to get to the top, and get your console.
A skeptical law student - eyed read shows the truth:
You pay money and join a list. When one person is at the top of the list, they have to wait for X many more people to join the list, so the list gets longer by X many people, then they ship out the console.
So for every single person who gets one console, the list gets longer by X people.
A working example:
Pay £5, wait for 60 people to join the list.
You pay up and wait. When (If) you get to the top of the list, you then wait for 60 more people to join the list, each paying their £5, before the company ships out a single console.
Thus for every single console they ship out, they take £300 in new fees for embership to the list.
£300 a console, not bad.
A list is terminated (the company keep your money even if you never get a console) when it's had no new members for a certain time period. By this point the list will be very long.
A very tidy earner for the 'company' behind it, and a novelly veiled pyramid scam.
As with all pyramid scams, it's possible to join in and make a profit *if you get in early enough*.
However, only a tiny fraction *do* get in early enough, you're far more likely to wind up with nothing.
You can bet the lists will be pretty long by now, I think it's safe to say you're more likely to be in the group of people that get mugged.
And another note, why are these ebay sellers so keen to get rid of the info? To push themselves up the list.
Why try to sell it and make a profit? Because they too see an (sl)easy buck to be made.
Don't let them make a fool of you.
(P.S. - The posting in many forums is to make sure everyone sees it. You can help by POPing this up until everyone's had a chance to take a look).
Sounds too good to be true, thus IS too good to be true. That's a good rule of thumb for these kinds of things.
So here's *why* it's a scam, just so you know:
I stumbled on an ebay 'auction' giving the web address for free. The site is 'itsvirtuallyfree.co.uk'.
At the site, it tells you what happens:
You pay money and join a 'list'. When you get to the top of a list you wait for another X many people sign up. Then they send out your console.
On a quick greedy-eyed glance over, it looks like you simply join a list, which is always kept at a certain length, and as someone new joins, you move up a place to get to the top, and get your console.
A skeptical law student - eyed read shows the truth:
You pay money and join a list. When one person is at the top of the list, they have to wait for X many more people to join the list, so the list gets longer by X many people, then they ship out the console.
So for every single person who gets one console, the list gets longer by X people.
A working example:
Pay £5, wait for 60 people to join the list.
You pay up and wait. When (If) you get to the top of the list, you then wait for 60 more people to join the list, each paying their £5, before the company ships out a single console.
Thus for every single console they ship out, they take £300 in new fees for embership to the list.
£300 a console, not bad.
A list is terminated (the company keep your money even if you never get a console) when it's had no new members for a certain time period. By this point the list will be very long.
A very tidy earner for the 'company' behind it, and a novelly veiled pyramid scam.
As with all pyramid scams, it's possible to join in and make a profit *if you get in early enough*.
However, only a tiny fraction *do* get in early enough, you're far more likely to wind up with nothing.
You can bet the lists will be pretty long by now, I think it's safe to say you're more likely to be in the group of people that get mugged.
And another note, why are these ebay sellers so keen to get rid of the info? To push themselves up the list.
Why try to sell it and make a profit? Because they too see an (sl)easy buck to be made.
Don't let them make a fool of you.
(P.S. - The posting in many forums is to make sure everyone sees it. You can help by POPing this up until everyone's had a chance to take a look).
Just been on Ebay. If you have too, you may have noticed a number of auctions advertising the URL for a site selling Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube for £25.
Sounds too good to be true, thus IS too good to be true. That's a good rule of thumb for these kinds of things.
So here's *why* it's a scam, just so you know:
I stumbled on an ebay 'auction' giving the web address for free. The site is 'itsvirtuallyfree.co.uk'.
At the site, it tells you what happens:
You pay money and join a 'list'. When you get to the top of a list you wait for another X many people sign up. Then they send out your console.
On a quick greedy-eyed glance over, it looks like you simply join a list, which is always kept at a certain length, and as someone new joins, you move up a place to get to the top, and get your console.
A skeptical law student - eyed read shows the truth:
You pay money and join a list. When one person is at the top of the list, they have to wait for X many more people to join the list, so the list gets longer by X many people, then they ship out the console.
So for every single person who gets one console, the list gets longer by X people.
A working example:
Pay £5, wait for 60 people to join the list.
You pay up and wait. When (If) you get to the top of the list, you then wait for 60 more people to join the list, each paying their £5, before the company ships out a single console.
Thus for every single console they ship out, they take £300 in new fees for embership to the list.
£300 a console, not bad.
A list is terminated (the company keep your money even if you never get a console) when it's had no new members for a certain time period. By this point the list will be very long.
A very tidy earner for the 'company' behind it, and a novelly veiled pyramid scam.
As with all pyramid scams, it's possible to join in and make a profit *if you get in early enough*.
However, only a tiny fraction *do* get in early enough, you're far more likely to wind up with nothing.
You can bet the lists will be pretty long by now, I think it's safe to say you're more likely to be in the group of people that get mugged.
And another note, why are these ebay sellers so keen to get rid of the info? To push themselves up the list.
Why try to sell it and make a profit? Because they too see an (sl)easy buck to be made.
Don't let them make a fool of you.
(P.S. - The posting in many forums is to make sure everyone sees it. You can help by POPing this up until everyone's had a chance to take a look).
Sounds too good to be true, thus IS too good to be true. That's a good rule of thumb for these kinds of things.
So here's *why* it's a scam, just so you know:
I stumbled on an ebay 'auction' giving the web address for free. The site is 'itsvirtuallyfree.co.uk'.
At the site, it tells you what happens:
You pay money and join a 'list'. When you get to the top of a list you wait for another X many people sign up. Then they send out your console.
On a quick greedy-eyed glance over, it looks like you simply join a list, which is always kept at a certain length, and as someone new joins, you move up a place to get to the top, and get your console.
A skeptical law student - eyed read shows the truth:
You pay money and join a list. When one person is at the top of the list, they have to wait for X many more people to join the list, so the list gets longer by X many people, then they ship out the console.
So for every single person who gets one console, the list gets longer by X people.
A working example:
Pay £5, wait for 60 people to join the list.
You pay up and wait. When (If) you get to the top of the list, you then wait for 60 more people to join the list, each paying their £5, before the company ships out a single console.
Thus for every single console they ship out, they take £300 in new fees for embership to the list.
£300 a console, not bad.
A list is terminated (the company keep your money even if you never get a console) when it's had no new members for a certain time period. By this point the list will be very long.
A very tidy earner for the 'company' behind it, and a novelly veiled pyramid scam.
As with all pyramid scams, it's possible to join in and make a profit *if you get in early enough*.
However, only a tiny fraction *do* get in early enough, you're far more likely to wind up with nothing.
You can bet the lists will be pretty long by now, I think it's safe to say you're more likely to be in the group of people that get mugged.
And another note, why are these ebay sellers so keen to get rid of the info? To push themselves up the list.
Why try to sell it and make a profit? Because they too see an (sl)easy buck to be made.
Don't let them make a fool of you.
(P.S. - The posting in many forums is to make sure everyone sees it. You can help by POPing this up until everyone's had a chance to take a look).
Wow... Pyramid Scam... Thought everyone had realised that nothings for free anymore. Ah well, ignorance is bliss, and I'm sure a lot of people are very happy losing money according to that.
It's a very novel(sp) idea, and whoever set it up will make a few quid out of greedy idiots!
Glancing around the site, you can't help but notice how unprofessional it is. First of all there are numerous spelling mistakes and then (the icing on the cake) their contact mail is a hotmail address.
Keep way away everyone, you have been warned!
Glancing around the site, you can't help but notice how unprofessional it is. First of all there are numerous spelling mistakes and then (the icing on the cake) their contact mail is a hotmail address.
Keep way away everyone, you have been warned!
Thanks for the link. I did a backtrace on their I.P. address and sent details to the website hosts. Hopefully legal action will ensue.