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Forums > Home› Support› C-Store, ZEN, and Promotions

What I learned about Zen scams

justplainjimjustplainjim Member Posts: 3 Arc User
edited September 2012 in C-Store, ZEN, and Promotions
I know I shouldn't have fallen for this. I knew that I was handing out my e-mail address and giving them the right to spam me to oblivion, but I had a fake e-mail account made just for spam. Seems scammers have gotten smarter since the last time I did this.

Long story short, I tried out the "Free Zen" offers from Peanut Labs and found one offer that was uncompletable, one that installed a virus on my PC, and two that made $10 charges (each) to my cell phone.

I don't recall the name of the viral offer, but it told me to download and install a "screen saver" that they linked to. It definitely wasn't a screen saver. Yes, this was stupid on my part. Thankfully, it was easy to remove with a couple antivirus programs. No zen rewarded.

The two $10 charges come from "Low1Wins" (SendMe Inc) and "Bid and Win" (Push Mobile). Both were offers that asked for a valid cell number for confirmation. Again, I feel stupid for falling for it, but I don't recall reading anything about charges to my cell phone on those offers. I unsubscribed from their rapid-fire spam texts immidiately, and they did give me about 85 Zen total, but for the $20 in fees, it wasn't worth it.


TL;DR: The Free Zen offers are mostly complete BS. While I know I'm to blame for giving out my information, I really wish Perfect World wasn't associating themselves with these scammers and advertising it on every forum page.

Still TL;DR: Avoid Peanut Labs.
Post edited by justplainjim on

Comments

  • rohirrimrohirrim Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    I use a spam e-mail address, mobile number that has a paycard that is empty so that they can't take money from me and a virtual machine to not infect my main system when ever I have some fun and "play" with the scam offers or phishing mails that I receive every now and then.
    12th-Feet
    Fleet Admiral Enterprise-D
  • darkjeffdarkjeff Member Posts: 2,590 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    I only do the surveys and watching videos. Haven't had a problem yet, but surveys don't always complete. I've received over 1.3k Zen thus far.
  • doughboy2doughboy2 Member Posts: 15 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    darkjeff wrote: »
    I only do the surveys and watching videos. Haven't had a problem yet, but surveys don't always complete. I've received over 1.3k Zen thus far.

    I agree 100%. Stay with the surveys and videos. I did try the insurance quote. It seems every insurance company in the nation is provided your contact information. You get good zen but is a pain for couple of weeks since some companies call rather than email. surveys take some and hit ratio is probably only 20%. Free Zen is free Zen.
  • justplainjimjustplainjim Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    Any time I've tried filling out the survey, I get to question 20 and they tell me I'm not elligible. And up until recently, I've only had one video offer available to me at a time. So, I could watch a few videos, but that's maybe 50 cents worth of Zen? How often do the video offers cycle?
  • teleon22teleon22 Member Posts: 424
    edited September 2012
    justplainjim wrote: »
    I really wish Perfect World wasn't associating themselves with these scammers and advertising it on every forum page.

    Still TL;DR: Avoid Peanut Labs.


    Why wouldn't PW be aassociating themselves with these scammers? Hello... "Lock Boxes"!!

    And if Lock Boxes were not enough to convince you. Go ahead and Spend $5.00 US Currency on a re-trait token and tell me that $5.00 is a microtransaction.

    PW are greedy, greedy, greedy and the fact that they are involved with scams is not even a surprise to me. Not a bit. But don't mind me, I just have a bad attitude toward companies that offer product for unreasonable prices.

    I wish they went back to the C-Store and got rid of the dilitium exchange for zen/c-point. Lowered all prices and gave subscribers a discount on zen/C-store items. They could even keep the lol lock boxes in the game to generate some more money.

    rant over.
  • robeasomrobeasom Member Posts: 1,911 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    As soon as I saw the Free Zen banner I was like what a scam I have never clicked on it and never will rather spend my time grinding dilithium and take it from there
    NO TO ARC
    Vice Admiral Volmack ISS Thundermole
    Brigadier General Jokag IKS Gorkan
    Centurion Kares RRW Tomalak
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • darkjeffdarkjeff Member Posts: 2,590 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    justplainjim wrote: »
    Any time I've tried filling out the survey, I get to question 20 and they tell me I'm not elligible. And up until recently, I've only had one video offer available to me at a time. So, I could watch a few videos, but that's maybe 50 cents worth of Zen? How often do the video offers cycle?

    The surveys are very hit or miss. I've had a 3-question, single page survey give me the normal 61 Zen. I've started to notice the patterns for when I get disqualified though, and I just wish they'd do that filtering earlier in the surveys.

    I tend not to get video offers consistently, I recall only 3 or 4 products of videos that I've seen. Amusingly, they don't always clear after watching. The same Nestea video showed up daily three days in a row, and I had literally a dozen Galaxy S3 commercials pop up on the same day, all awarding me Zen properly.

    It's mainly the Offers that are bad (other than videos, and reportedly Netflix), the Surveys and videos tend to be ok. I wouldn't do Mobile either.
  • mrsupertrekguymrsupertrekguy Member Posts: 30 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    The way that I think about zen scams is that its basically like a "get $50 for free" thing. In other words its like an offer too good to be true. For example, if you do the surveys, you email address will most likely be "sold" to companies that want to make money off you. So while you make "free" zen, your email will be filled with spam and every internet advertiser will know your email.
  • jknamejkname Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    This may seem like a radical concept, but have you people considered, I dunno, lying? It only reduces your success rates by about 10%, but guarantees you will never, ever, be spammed, billed, or otherwise harassed.

    The key you have to understand is that these people aren't any kind of legitimate business. These people are crooks and scammers and their free Zen is bait to get you to bite. It's okay to lie to them.
  • uskodetrauskodetra Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    I plainly refuse to do any sort of "Free Zen" offers.. The sites I had scanned have some form of spyware, adware, or other malware. Not to mention all of the problems above. Scammers, cheats, liars. Even if They offered 100k free zen for one offer, I will never do them. I much prefer to grind out D and buy Zen, or just buy a $10 Zen card, alot safer that way.
    Want an item, but can't afford the EC price? Join TheTradingChannel, and see if You can wheel and deal! TheTradingChannel, for all Your trading needs http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=479391
  • jknamejkname Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    The spyware/adware/malware ones actually are most likely to pay out, though.

    Remember, you don't have to install this TRIBBLE on your actual computer. That's what VMware is for. Install their malware, get paid, and then QUIT WITHOUT SAVING. Malware gone!
This discussion has been closed.