It’s the oldest scam in the book, but people still fall for it — which proves my point that people are stupid.
Did I offend you by saying you are stupid? I am so not sorry. I said people are stupid — including me.
Just the other day I heard about a competition where you could win fifty thousand whatever. All you had to do is to buy a certain product and SMS your name and the product’s serial number or some shit to a number at five whatever per SMS and your name will stand a chance to win fifty thousand whatever currency your country uses.
Do the math: If only ten thousand people buy the product and SMS the information, there is a tidy profit of forty thousand whatever left. Yes, the company has to rent a phone line and an SMS service, but we haven’t even look at sales profit from the product that ten thousand people bought.
And did you ever hear of someone who actually won such a competition? I have not.
Try calling the company and they will hide behind all kinds of laws lies and excuses not to disclose the name of the winner. It makes sense for them not to disclose the name, because that person could become a target for money-hungry family members, the government (ours is very good at money-grabbing) or anybody who feels they can get money from the winner.
But this leads me to another question: Do people actually win these kinds of competitions or is it just a clever marketing strategy to sell a product? If you can’t find out who the winners are, how are you supposed to know if someone actually won the competition?
This strategy is, without a doubt, successful. Just listen to the radio or read the newspaper. You will see lots of competitions like this with either money or holidays to be won. Feel free to enter, it’s your choice. Just remember what I said about stupid people…