Spam from a lottery:
"Did you find a gold card? Enter your win code at <URL> and play in <lottery>, and immediately see which of the prizes you are guaranteed to receive, at least a JBL speaker worth 45 EUR. You pay 15.50 EUR per draw, and there are 15 draws per year. You can cancel at any moment."
I wonder what the grift here is, exactly? I can't imagine them giving away 45 EUR worth of stuff if you can cancel at any time (ie. after a single payment of 15.50 EUR), so what's the catch that makes it profitable for them?
@joepie91 either a loss leader or they paid next to nothing for the speakers
@gsuberland That would make sense if they were off-brand speakers, but them being brand-name makes me wonder how much of a discount they were really able to negotiate, because AFAIK the big brands rarely do significant bulk discounts like that (as freebies cut into their sales)
@gsuberland ... and if it's a loss leader, then where does the profit come from? As according to them, you're not stuck with anything, and it's not like a lottery provides a useful product or service that keeps you there 🙃
@gsuberland Sure, but this is an established lottery that has been around for many years, and that sends out nationwide spam multiple times a year. How many possible marks can there be left that they haven't baited yet?!
@joepie91 always new people with financial struggles to hook
@gsuberland ... also, come to think of it, I'm not sure 'whales' are even a thing here because I don't think you *can* even spend large amounts of money on this lottery?
@joepie91 multiple entries and other upsells?
@gsuberland Hm. I am having trouble finding exact numbers but I *think* those things are pretty restricted for lotteries here...
@joepie91 can you always choose to get exactly that speaker, or can you sometimes get a prize that’s “worth more!” except they paid less for it?
@jonah If the paper spam isn't outright lying, all of the other prizes are either a) cash prizes, b) very large giftcards for normal stores (no way they negotiated *that* kind of discount), or c) high-value electronics.
I couldn't identify any of them as being a way for them to save a buck, which is part of what confused me about this grift.
(Like yeah, giftcards are often how this is done, but we're talking a 1000 EUR giftcard for an online department store here so that's not it)
@joepie91 sounds like free money then 😜
@jonah That's exactly why I'm suspicious :p
(Yes I know that they are banking on some percentage of people never cancelling, but that strategy generally only works if cancelling is either a hassle or requires a waiting period. To my knowledge the former is banned here, and the latter, well, they *say* "any time"...)