Member Avatar for viperman224

I read an article from the watch dog section of Maximum PC magazine and several reviews online about freeipods.com. I went to the site and to me it looks like a scam. What does everyone else think about it?

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Dani AI

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— and raised useful first-hand points. Below is a practical, evergreen checklist to evaluate offers like freeipods.com plus concrete steps to protect yourself if you already signed up.

  • Check domain and history. Look up the registrant and age at ICANN WHOIS and inspect past snapshots on the Wayback Machine. New domains or rapidly changing content are warning signs.
  • Read the fine print. Find the site’s Terms/Privacy pages and note any mandatory purchases, trial periods, recurring charges, or referral requirements before the device is promised.
  • Verify the operator. Search for a company name, physical address, and customer-service phone number. Heavy reliance on anonymous registrants or PO boxes reduces accountability.
  • Look for independent reports. Search the BBB and government complaint sites for patterns of problems. Repeated consumer complaints are significant evidence of risk.
  • Prefer protected payment. If a card is required, use a credit card or a virtual card with dispute protection; avoid wiring money or preloading untraceable payment methods.
  • Do the math. Add up all required purchases, shipping, taxes, and the realistic effort to meet referral thresholds — compare that to the list price for the device.

If already enrolled: review recent bank and card statements, cancel any trial memberships, place filters on email, change reused passwords, and report problems to authorities via the FTC complaint portal at reportfraud.ftc.gov. For programs that depend on recruiting others or complex compensation, see the FTC guidance for more detail: .

Safer alternatives include buying refurbished or watching reputable deal sites and major retailers during sales.

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Member Avatar for Dani

It works. It also gets you and your friends lots of junk mail and makes you sign up for lots of crap and mailing lists. But, good golly miss molly, you do get that free iPod!

Member Avatar for viperman224

Thanks Dani, Thats good to know. I'll have to try it.

Member Avatar for jwenting

It's a pyramid scheme.
Those indeed can work, but the odds are huge against you.

You sign up for a ton of spam and have to buy expensive stuff. Then you have to get a ton of people to do the same to get the free iPod. Those people then have to sign up even more people... Pretty soon the whole thing collapses.
It's a scam. For the money you could save by not buying the overpriced products you have to buy to even be allowed to participate you could have bought several iPods and you'd not have made enemies of your friends and opened your mailbox to a ton of spam.

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