InfoMarkets Referral Program is a SCAM!!!

[Fat Guy]

After referring at my estimation, over 60 people to their Web site, and excited that I would receive a Palm V, I received this:

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Dear Contestant:

As stated earlier, in order to prevent fraudulent activity on the part of the referrer, in an attempt to gain access to contest prizes, all referent information has been checked prior to prize delivery, to confirm authenticity of referent registration information. After an extensive
review, Infomarkets has completed its prize verification process and has determined that your referral entries are fraudulent constituting your disqualification from the "Bring in the Brains" Refer a Friend Contest.

The contest rules clearly state the following:

"Entry into this contest constitutes the entrant's compliance with the foregoing official rules and the Infomarkets terms of service. Members using multiple identities will be disqualified. Entries generated by a
script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified. Entries that are incomplete, illegible or corrupted are void and will not be accepted. Failure to comply with these rules and the terms of service of the Sponsor may result in disqualification from this promotion. Sponsor reserves the
right to permanently disqualify from any of its promotions any person it believes has violated these rules."

As a result of your fraudulent activity, you have been disqualified from our contest and are not eligible for the prizes mentioned.
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I have already drafted a detailed response to this email, but the fact of the matter is, if the purpose of the referral program was to bait people to refer others, and then disqualify them for a bogus reason, without even an explanation as to what "fraudulent activity" they are talking about then the chances are, and email won't make them pay out!

Quite frankly, I am angry, and I feel I have the right to be.

Has this happened to anyone else, or is this just an isolated incident?


[This message has been edited by Fat Guy (edited 08-11-2000).]