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At the end of last week, seven whole days before the traditional retail Armageddon that we call Black Friday, we blocked the first high volume Black Friday email spam.
As you can see, it was offering unbelievably cheap prices on a variety of goods. The only problem is, these are closing prices from an auction service where there is a sixty cent fee charged every time you bid and the bidding can only increment by a penny each time. The fees are charged even if you don't win the auction! So, if the auction site sells an iPad for $76.39, but they have collected sixty cents for every penny of that price, they actually receive $4,660 for the iPad!
Suddenly those prices don't look like such a great deal.
On top of that, the commercially available software for running these penny auction sites includes the option of automated shill bidding, so that if the auction has not raised enough money, a bot will keep the bidding open. If the auction operator turns that feature on, there is no way they can lose money on an auction. As a bonus, if the bot wins the bidding they still collect fees from everyone else, and don't even have to ship a product.
We'll probably see more Black Friday spam this week, and will post here if any other interesting scams turns up.
Personally I try to avoid the whole Black Friday shopping experience. I'd rather panic buy presents on the Internet the week before Christmas. (Thank goodness for second day shipping.) Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
As you can see, it was offering unbelievably cheap prices on a variety of goods. The only problem is, these are closing prices from an auction service where there is a sixty cent fee charged every time you bid and the bidding can only increment by a penny each time. The fees are charged even if you don't win the auction! So, if the auction site sells an iPad for $76.39, but they have collected sixty cents for every penny of that price, they actually receive $4,660 for the iPad!
Suddenly those prices don't look like such a great deal.
On top of that, the commercially available software for running these penny auction sites includes the option of automated shill bidding, so that if the auction has not raised enough money, a bot will keep the bidding open. If the auction operator turns that feature on, there is no way they can lose money on an auction. As a bonus, if the bot wins the bidding they still collect fees from everyone else, and don't even have to ship a product.
We'll probably see more Black Friday spam this week, and will post here if any other interesting scams turns up.
Personally I try to avoid the whole Black Friday shopping experience. I'd rather panic buy presents on the Internet the week before Christmas. (Thank goodness for second day shipping.) Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!