What's the scam?

[sirwired]

Just got a piece of Bulk-Rate mail today promising me a six-month supply of Tide for "participation in our local advertising campaign". The fine print says I will be "asked to view a new product & complete a short questionnaire".

It was the sort of Bulk Mail that I think you have to send out to an entire zip code at once, as it didn't even have my address on it, much less my name.

I'm sure it's a scam, as it's unlikely that anyone is truly handing out $40 or so of detergent to anybody capable of dialing a phone number. I've participated in marketing surveys before, there's no way that they are giving out ~$40 in product to thousands of people for a short survey.

Any idea as to what they are selling? I really don't want to call the number and sentence myself to telemarketing purgatory in perpetuity. I'm guessing it's a home improvement scam of some sort, as you "must be a homeowner" to participate...

The company name "N u - T e c Consumer Product Dept." (remove spaces) doesn't show up anywhere plausible local. (Without the "Consumer Product Dept." bit, it's apparently a pretty common company name... a roofer in Indianapolis, a bunch of different makers of various sorts of industrial equipment, a window company in Canada, a maker of pellet stoves, etc.)

[Kittish]

I'd lay odds that the scam is that if anyone calls it's "Sorry, you don't qualify for the survey" and the senders now have a verified phone number to sell.

[wolfie]

Any chance of finding a working payphone? If so, call from it - if it turns out to be a scam to collect verified numbers, you won't be getting the calls.

[raudf]

I'll toss in a "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is." I've done surveys that netted me free stuff, usually diapers or wipes. Of course, I've found those through my preferred points system and checked them via Google. Bonus for me, because I'd get to try new diapers/wipes and I'd get at least points for a short survey on said products.

This, being a random bulk mail? Just chuck it and move on.

[icmedia]

I've done a few surveys like that...one of them was from more than 5 years ago, and I still get free subscriptions to Mens Health, Cosmo, and a random Deep Sea Fishing magazine (no idea why THAT one, but I'm not paying for it so no big deal).

Another company sent me a check for $25. Legit, cashed it and no issues...just $25 for a 3 question survey over the phone.

[Kittish]

Any chance of finding a working payphone? If so, call from it - if it turns out to be a scam to collect verified numbers, you won't be getting the calls.

This could work. Granted, the odds of finding an actual payphone are really low, but maybe you could find some other phone to use besides yours to check it out.

[EvilEmpryss]

This could work. Granted, the odds of finding an actual payphone are really low, but maybe you could find some other phone to use besides yours to check it out.

This will be my new tactic for unguarded cellphones at work.

[WishfulSpirit]

Use Google Voice via your email. THere's no call back option on those if you haven't signed up for such service.

[Dizazter]

It could be legit. I got in on a similar deal a few years ago with cigarettes. About once a month they sent me a box with 4 packs of cigarettes (2 shorts, 2- 100s) that were in black and white generic packages. All I had to do was smoke them and send back a short survey card. It went on for about a year. The last couple of months, the ones we got were in branded packaging , the same you see in stores. I think they were changing up the formulas on some of them and looking for input before they went national with them.

[Ben_Who]

It's a dodge around the Do Not Call list. Give 'em your name, address, AND PHONE NUMBER, answer a short survey, they send you a case of Pepsi or whatever - and they can technically claim that they do business with you, and can sell your number to telemarketers.

[UncleImpy]

When I still lived in Dallas, there was a consumer marketing company north of me that you could go volunteer for and they'd pay you $25-50 flat out for spending an hour taste-testing products and answering questions (How would you rate the sweetness of this honey bun, etc). So they DO exist.