Beware of the Oprah E-mail Scam

by Tim Stevens on April 16, 2007 at 03:12 PM

If you've been the recipient of an e-mail that claims to give you a free trip to 'The Oprah Winfrey Show,' don't click so fast. You might be looking at a scam. Admittedly it's a legal one and something that won't necessarily result in you losing your nest egg or all your personal info, but a scam nonetheless.

The e-mail claims that if you complete a simple survey you'll be the recipient of a $1,200 package including airfare, hotel, and tickets to Oprah's show (promising, in big type, that you'll "be a part of the show!"). But click on through and you'll find that the survey is actually a whopping 50 pages long. Only after you complete the opus are you told that in order to be eligible for the travel package, you need to also pay for one or more magazine subscriptions and agree to a host of other marketing promotions. So there's really nothing free about it. And despite Oprah's picture being featured prominently in the deal, this deal has nothing to do with Ms. Winfrey (who, for the record, gives away tickets to her show for free). In fact, Oprah's company, Harpo Productions, has asked the company responsible for this "deal" to remove all pictures and references to Oprah Winfrey.

We found the same "deal" for 'The Ellen Show' as well, along with of course a whole raft of similar sounding promotions for free things ranging from iPods to Xbox 360s. It should go without saying at this point that some old adages apply, even in modern times: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

From New York Post

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Tags: Email scams, EmailScams, Oprah, Scam

Comments

JeannieMay 26th 2007 1:34PM

Neutral

As far as Opra Winfrey goes, I haven't gotten that scam (yet) but I just have to say that I used to love her show until she jumped on the liberalism band wagon. She should have stuck with her regular intinerary instead of getting political. She lost me when she had Al Gore on with his weather map and pointer stick. Also a little money towards the poor in America would have been a nicer investment. Just my opinion.

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LVMOct 16th 2007 12:05PM

Neutral

Response to Denise:
It was considerate of you to gather information on the 'Oprah' scam, and send it on to Harpo productions. However, simply because some staffer there did not bother to acknowledge your effort, and is obviously not adept at customer relations or service, does not seem a reason to categorically dismiss Oprah, her organization, or other wealthy people as greedy and uncaring. Some are, some aren't. I'm often astounded at how easy we can all find it to level criticism at various "celebrities" even though we have never walked a mile in their shoes, don't know them personally, and must rely on the media's characterizations of them to form an opinion. How much of that can we KNOW to be true? Most of all, does any of that truly matter in our own lives? I've always wondered why folks get so wrapped up in the lives of the so-called famous, but then I also wonder why anyone would pay Howard Stern millions upon millions of dollars to spread vulgarity, cruelty, and hatred over the airwaves in the guise of humor. Kind of puts Oprah's efforts and earnings (whether you support her or not) in perspective.

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Eleanor PetersNov 6th 2007 7:06AM

Neutral

I get the scams from Nigeria. I delete them. I get a lot of them through the mail. I tear them up without penng them. Why do these peopele think we are so stuipid ? The pay off is the one where this person died and had no relative, so left a lot to me. How would he even know me ? When my phone rings and I know it is a telemarketer all I do is hang up. No talking to them. Why do they not get a good job and make some money nstead of hang up phone calls. It really is an invasion of your privacy and the phone co should not allow it. But guess money is money to them too. Just beware. These are all scams.

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