For a ‘free gift card,’ simply give away your personal information
You’ve probably heard it a thousand times: There’s no free lunch. But sometimes it helps to get a little reminder.
And so we turn our attention to e-mails making the rounds from something called BestShoppingRewards.
The company has a variety of come-ons, all basically structured the same. The e-mail I’m looking at says, “Vote for your favorite item at McDonald’s and get a FREE $50 McDonald’s Gift Card!” When I visited the BestShoppingRewards website the other day, the pitch was for a “FREE $500 Visa Gift Card!”
Sounds good, no? Well, prepare to run a gantlet of sneaky catches and curve balls.
The first red flag when you click on the e-mail or website is fine print saying that you’re agreeing to the privacy policy and terms and conditions of both BestShoppingRewards and something called CouponMob.
The privacy policy of BestShoppingRewards says the company will lay claim to your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, gender and birth date.
It also says that “we may share this information with other third-party businesses that may have no relationship to BestShoppingRewards.com in order to bring you special retail opportunities through direct mail, e-mail and telemarketing.”
For its part, the CouponMob privacy policy declares that “we reserve the right to share, sell, rent, lease and/or otherwise distribute any and all personal information with/to any third party.”
Perhaps you’re thinking this fire sale of your personal info is a small price to pay for $50 worth of junk food or a $500 gift card. Not so fast. Now the real fun begins.
You begin the application process by revealing all that info. The fine print at the bottom of this page says that “by clicking on the Continue above, I am requesting to be contacted by BestShoppingRewards offer sponsors and marketing partners regardless of any DNC List registration.”
That’s right: You’ve just handed dozens of marketers an end run around the government-run Do Not Call Registry.
When I clicked “continue,” I landed at a page with a bunch of “bonus offers,” such as a $500 Best Buy gift card. Clicking one of the bonus offers simply began the sign-up process all over again but with a new prize as the goal, or transferred me to a different marketing program.
But there was no link to continue receiving that McD’s or Visa gift card. Basically, you’ve just given away all your info in return for nothing.
Yes, but maybe that’s all they wanted, and the gift card’s in the mail. Nope.
I know this because I went back to the beginning of the sign-up process and found a link to yet more fine print spelling out that you must complete “2 Silver, 1 Gold and 1 Platinum offers” to receive your reward.
What’s that? Jumping straight to the Silver page, you discover that you’re required to sign up for two other services, such as a subscription to Netflix or membership in everyone’s favorite marketing prison, Columbia House.
On the Gold page, you’ll have to select one more service, such as a Discover credit card or teeth whitening. On the Platinum page, you’ll have to sign up for yet another service, such as DirecTV satellite programming.
When you finish that, you’ll be whisked once again to the “bonus offers” page, without any acknowledgement that you’ve completed your obligations and that your gift card’s on the way. Maybe you’ll get your freebie, maybe you won’t.
The only thing for sure at this point is that you’ve given your personal info to a big posse of marketers and you’ve signed up for at least four services you didn’t want in the first place.
And as if all this wasn’t impressive enough, buried deep within the voluminous terms and conditions for BestShoppingRewards is this little gem: The company “reserves the right to, at any time, substitute any gift with another gift or reward of lesser, equal or greater value.”
I take that to mean they could promise you a $500 Visa gift card but could in fact send you a stick of gum.
No one at BestShoppingRewards responded to my e-mails for comment. There’s no phone number on the website. A contact number on the registration for the company’s Internet domain is no longer working. The only address available online is for a Baltimore post office box.
There are hundreds of websites featuring similar promotions. Nearly every one lures you in with the promise of an attractive — and free — reward, and then makes you sign up for a variety of other things as you work your way through an elaborate enrollment process. Each also involves handing over personal information.
Whether you ever get your reward is an open question. I’d welcome comments from anyone who has run this sort of marketing obstacle course.
Gail Hillebrand, staff attorney with Consumers Union, advised people to be extra cautious when approaching these sorts of sites.
“If you hear a little voice in your head saying something is wrong, you should listen to it,” she said. “Be very careful any time you’re asked for billing information or personal information.”
My advice: Just walk away. If you want a Big Mac that bad, go buy one. It may not be good for you, but it’ll be a whole lot healthier than falling for these ploys.
David Lazarus’ column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.
