New high end Samsung phones for 68 baht, scam?

[Jingthing]

On my facebook today a contest where I can "win" a high end new Samsung for 68 baht.

On the ads are many real life testimonials of people saying I didn't believe it, I thought it was a scam but I got the phone!

The testimonials were pretty convincing, so I thought what the heck, I will play their game and see if I "win" the almost "free" phone.

Surprise! Surprise!

I did "win" a 68 baht phone.

But to even get that far I needed to give my name and address (uh oh).

The game is all in RUSH RUSH (you're on a timer) mode which is of course very red flaggy.

Then after I "won" I then had to pay the 68 baht by credit card.

That's where I hit a brick wall.

Reading lower there was some vague stuff about a repeating charge subsription (in Euros) thing you were signing up for, a "membership" of some kind.

Needless to say, that's as far as I went. 

68 baht for your thoughts?

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by Jingthing

[JensenZ]

My thoughts are you didn't need to go through all that effort to discover that a  high end Samsung phone worth over 30,000 baht could be bought (or won) for 68 baht. It screams "scam" as loud as anyone can scream. It must have been the boredom of staying at home during Songkran that clouded your (normally clear) judgement.

Edited April 18, 2023 by JensenZ

[it is what it is]

it screams; come on suckers, give me your personal details

[tgw]

JT, just the fact that you posted here to ask if this is legit or not is rather concerning

[Jingthing]

29 minutes ago, tgw said:

JT, just the fact that you posted here to ask if this is legit or not is rather concerning

I'm not really asking.

I do wonder what exactly they are doing.

Is it only about selling the recurring charge membership or deeper?

[Jingthing]

52 minutes ago, it is what it is said:

it screams; come on suckers, give me your personal details

At least it's not bitcoin.

[Jingthing]

To add there was a tie in to Amazon that was interesting.

 

One of the qualifying questions to begin to play the contest was have you ever bought anything from Amazon. 

 

There was an explanation given for why some almost free phones were available.

 

https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/mobile-devices/customer-warning-samsung-lottery-and-samsung-job-offer-scams/

[Jingthing]

For your consideration 

 

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091621191081

[ezzra]

Sure, when you have thousands/tens of thousands of people pay '68 baht' and somebody win the phone, the of this lottery gives you the real thing alright but end up making a bundle in the process.

[bignok]

Pretty naive to think they sell phones for 68 baht.

[1FinickyOne]

My always lucky father, won the publisher's clearing house sweepstake... it was proclaimed in big letters on the envelope. 

 

He sent them a check for $765 - though nobody knew why that amt and he denied writing it... that was when we knew the dementia had reached serious proportions. 

[bignok]

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I'm not really asking.

I do wonder what exactly they are doing.

Is it only about selling the recurring charge membership or deeper?

Scamming naive people. Lots of similar scams where you "win" something.

[Seth1a2a]

 Your problem is that you don't spend enough time on the internet to see this crap over and over in different forms.

The victim will always win or achieve eligibility .... The scam uses the same basic format of sending you down a proverbial rabbit hole of distraction as you get sheared for your money or personal information while also generating "clicks" to give the website more prominence on the web . Testimonials : Most TV ads will show a small disclaimer showing that the person is a paid actor or has received compensation for their testimonial or endorsement . The internet does not seem have or enforce this practice.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't want to start a new thread but here's a few reasons why the scams won't be going away any time soon.

 

 

Individual  scammers exposed.

Youtube has a host of videos showing how the intended victims  turn the tables on boiler room scammers.  A few of them when caught are candid about their opinions of their victims as being stupid and deserving of the deception with a high number pointing to Americans as being their favorite targets.

 

 

419 Fraud—Advance Fee Scam

Also known as the Nigerian letter scam, 419 fraud is one of the most common scams on the Internet—and one you've likely seen in your own inbox. The advance fee scheme takes its name after the section of the Nigerian criminal code that outlaws fraud. According to the FBI, 11,264 people reported falling victim to advance fee scams in 2022. Collectively, they lost $104 million, or roughly $9,232 each.17

 

[Jingthing]

These guys are persistent!

 

68 Baht phone "power buy" page

 

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091957445031

 

Real Power Buy page

 

https://m.facebook.com/Powerbuythailand

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Jingthing

[bignok]

30 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

These guys are persistent!

 

68 Baht phone "power buy" page

 

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091957445031

 

Real Power Buy page

 

https://m.facebook.com/Powerbuythailand

 

Nice scam. 68 baht is cheap. Might fool a few thousand people.

[Jingthing]

30 minutes ago, bignok said:

Nice scam. 68 baht is cheap. Might fool a few thousand people.

It's  being done in other countries too.

[bignok]

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

It's  being done in other countries too.

40 year old scams. Just different product. Conning 10,000 people out of a little is easier than conning 1 person out of a million.

 

 

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, bignok said:

40 year old scams. Just different product. Conning 10,000 people out of a little is easier than conning 1 person out of a million.

 

 

I don't think it's a little. 

[bignok]

Just now, Jingthing said:

I don't think it's a little. 

68 baht gets you in. After they may try to strip your card.

 

Never buy from an unknown company.

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, bignok said:

68 baht gets you in. After they may try to strip your card.

 

Never buy from an unknown company.

There's that of course but perhaps it's  more about the recurring membership contract.