Reason why you may get involved in an unexpected fraud if you apply for 'apply for a campaign and get a new car!'

By Stephen Hanafin

Often you will see gift campaigns that showcase very attractive products such as luxury cars, luxurious travel, luxury meat that can not be eaten at all. But behind it is a carefully planned marketing strategy hidden, in some cases a fake campaign equivalent to a fraud is carried out, falling into a situation called so-called "no thing as high as you can" It is necessary to understand well that there is a possibility of getting it.

Why nobody ever wins that car giveaway at the mall
https://thehustle.co/why-nobody-ever-wins-the-mall-car-giveaway

One day, the latest model car " Acura · TLX " was exhibited in the center hall where many people gather at the shopping mall "Great Mall" in California, USA. This car with a vehicle price of $ 33,000 (about 3.6 million yen) was prepared as the top product of a certain gift planning, and around the car body there is a name, an annual income, the type of credit card and family composition etc. There were ten displays for inputting.

Writer Zakharie Crockett said that he was observing the situation, 22 people had applied for the campaign using the display even for an hour on Thursday afternoon. However, according to Mr. Crockett's survey, it is said that the opportunity for those applicants to actually get Acura · TLX is almost zero.

Crockett first started researching who is managing that gift campaign. Then, the Great Mall campaign was conducted lends space at $ 1,500 per day (about 160,000 yen), and found that the actual campaign executor is a company called Great Destinations Vacations . This company is a company offering a type of service that multiple users share (time-share) resort hotels located in various places.

When Mr. Croquette actually called Phone Calling to Great Destinations Vacations and asked the actual winning rate, the interaction with a man named "Patrick" on the phone call was as follows.

Patrick: "What's your name?"
CROCKET: "ZACK"
Patrick: "What's your last name?"
Crockett: "Why do I need my family name ...?"
Patrick: "I need a surname, I can not go without it"
Crockett: "I understand, but ... ...."
Patrick: "It's not when you're playing, OK? Well!" (Saying you hung up)

Mr. Crocket, who was in the process like this, asked his colleague Lindsay to cooperate. I prepare a phone number that can not be tracked in a special way and called again "Patrick" with a pseudonym called "Katie Sunders". Patrick who answered the phone again asked for fake full name, age, marital status etc. of "Katie · Sanders" and finally said "It is necessary to be 28 years old or more to apply for the campaign" I heard he hung up.

Mr. Crockett further decided to cooperate with another colleague, Mr. Connor, to be a father of "Katie". Calling again and proceeding with the exchange, Patrick told Mr. Conner to come to the office of Great Destinations Vacations and listen to the 90-minute explanation on timeshare, furthermore "vacation plans that can go free to Disneyland" Even if I recommend you to recommend it. When Mr. Conner asked, "By the way, did the car hit someone else?" Patrick said, "I guess it may be you! I am waiting!" I heard.

But I know that this content is completely lie. In the content of the statement that is required to confirm when applying at the shopping mall, the provision that "the car and ship being exhibited is an image is quietly stated" as described below. The dealer's testimonies also revealed that the exhibited Acura TLX was what I had borrowed to display from nearby Acura dealers.

In other words, this "present campaign" is a fictitious thing, the actual purpose is to gather personal information by soliciting applicants with luxurious prizes and to gather information to invite resort hotel time-sharing service It was that truth that it was a campaign. When applying, fill out all the information such as "mobile phone number", "full name", "marital status", "age", "place you want to travel" "total income", "type of credit card you have" , "I will allow sales of Great Destinations Vacations and its affiliated companies to me, there is no complaints even if information is sold" agreement is requested and actually approved It is a terrible flow that it was structured.

In the case of Japan, this campaign is subject to the regulation of the prize marking law (scenic table method), so it is unlikely that it will be carried out as it is. However, on the other hand, there are cases where certain information is exchanged even in SNS, which can use almost all services free of charge, and services such as Google, and there are cases where more privacy is leaked than we think It seems to be said that you should put it in one corner of your head. Lee Cheng , an attorney of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said, "If you are not paying anything to get something, let's say you are selling data" carved into the heart is needed.