Have I just been SCAMMED?! (Everyone should read this!)

ashy_mashy

I recieved this email on my university email address two days ago:

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Dear Student,

Are you interested in working part-time during the summer?
Our organization offers competitive remuneration for participating in simple on-line surveys and forum discussion groups. What we offer is work from the comfort of your own computer, determine your working time, express your opinion freely about different kinds of products and services, and be paid well.

To start, you just need to have the willingness to share your honest opinion and have a computer with Internet Access.
If you are interested, please reply to this email soon as places are limited.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
David Hill



Important: If you do not like to receive additional mail from us, please reply to this mail with REMOVE in the subject field."

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To me it looked like a genuine email since I recieve many emails from my department for Summer Jobs and competitions. So I replied to the email saying I am interested and here it what I got replied almost instantly:

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Hi,
Thank you very much for your interest.
For more information please go to our website:
http://www.Student-Opinion.org If you have any additional questions please fill in the form on our website or email info@Student-Opinion.org

I look forward to doing business with you.

Best regards,
David Hill
http://www.Student-Opinion.org

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So I went ahead and signed up and along the way there was a fee of $36 to pay to pay for "all taxes involved" . So I paid it and then they told me to download a program which is just a quick form filler available free here http://www.roboform.com/ .

After signing up and paying the free I logged in on their website http://www.Student-Opinion.org , that's when I realised I had been scammed. All they had was a database of OTHER websites which offered money for filling surveys!

Any one ever used http://www.Student-Opinion.org?? Have I just been SCAMMED?

Lorian

ashy_mashy wrote:

After signing up and paying the free I logged in on their website http://www.Student-Opinion.org , that's when I realised I had been scammed. All they had was a database of OTHER websites which offered money for filling surveys!

Any one ever used http://www.Student-Opinion.org?? Have I just been SCAMMED?

I think you already know the answer.

channy

indeed you have

talksalot81

If you paid by credit card, inform them immediately of the fraudulent transaction. I strongly doubt it could be argued that you got what you paid for, hence the credit card company should side with you.

kai666

Didn't ring a few alarm bells having to pay a fee (in dollars)?

ashy_mashy

Well I thought seeing as it's on my uni email, it's genuine like all the other emails.

I paid via paypal and have reported the fraud to paypal saying I did not pay for it.

ianian99

ashy_mashy wrote:

Well I thought seeing as it's on my uni email, it's genuine like all the other emails.

I paid via paypal and have reported the fraud to paypal saying I did not pay for it.

Its you thats commiting the fraud by telling paypal you didn't pay for it!!

kai666

ashy_mashy wrote:

Well I thought seeing as it's on my uni email, it's genuine like all the other emails.

why would an email going to a Uni address be any less dodgy than a non Uni address? Just as easy to spam surely

Colxfile

Indeed, my university email address appears online (Being part of the university's student newspaper) and I've lost count of the number of Nigerian officials trying to give me money to get them out of a legal wrangle. I don't need their money: I just have to claim all my winnings from the lotteries I keep "winning" (Without entering, of course) and I'm set up for life!

Even then, there are still companies offering me part-time work and share tips on obscure companies to keep me rich during my early retirement.

If only.

ashy_mashy

kai666 wrote:

why would an email going to a Uni address be any less dodgy than a non Uni address? Just as easy to spam surely

Because I never recieve spam in my uni email and also if you read the email, it said, "if interested please reply to this email". It did not include the link to their site in the original email which made it look as though it wasn't trying to trick you.

flossy_splodge

A learning experience in life's rich pattern I feel! Perhaps a bit more caution/scepticism/cynicism next time?:o