back to article WHY would survey-slingers give YOU a free $1,500 Google Glass?

Credulous punters' desire to get their hands on Google's new Project Glass head-mounted display is already being used against them by cyberscammers. The Chocolate Factory's augmented reality glasses may be still at the prototype stage, but cybercrooks have latched onto the recent release of a demo video with their own cyber- …

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  1. TwistUrCapBack
    Unhappy

    bah

    that £498 phone bill iv just paid was in vein then ??

    Iv been waiting for the postman every morning

    Couldnt wait to get filled in in mcdonalds ...

    1. Frumious Bandersnatch

      Re: bah

      that £498 phone bill iv just paid was in vein then ??

      Only if you injected it. With the "iv" you talked about, no doubt. I've heard of people going to desperate lengths to get high (Zappa smoking a high school diploma being one), but you've officially taken the biscuit.

  2. Evil Auditor Silver badge

    "...users should be cautious about implausibly generous offers"

    Yes, we all know. But all the successful 419ers, voodoo priests with wondrous banknote multiplication, CEOs promising increasing market value, etc. make warning appear futile.

  3. Thomas 4
    Pint

    A novel idea

    I feel that Google Glass has terrific potential. You could feed your glasses prescription into them and have a bluetooth based sensor that sends your current blood/alcohol ratio to them too. Then your Google Glass recalibrates itself so that no matter how drunk you are, your vision is not impaired. That way, the cute boy or girl you hook up with at the end of a session remains cute when you wake up next to them the following morning.

    1. frank ly

      Re: A novel idea

      If you're wearing Google Glass, nobody will hook up with you - unless, maybe, they're wearing Google Glass.

      1. TeeCee Gold badge
        Coat

        Re: A novel idea

        Oh come on! You have to consider the unfair advantages that augmented reality could confer in such situations.

        E.g. Foxy chick at bar. As you approach, Google glass does a bit of photo matching, resolves FB details and such, revealing that she's a sex addict with a fetish for Jewish cowboys:

        "Howdy ma'am. The name's Bucky Goldstein, can I buy y'all a drink?"

        Deer in the headlights......

        1. Irongut

          Re: A novel idea

          Any girl that would be receptive to your advances while wearing Google Glass is either not cute or will turn out to be a bunny boiler.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: A novel idea

        I'd avoid wearing Google Glass, you might end up with an over-excited Eadon talking to you.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: A novel idea (Upvoted!)

          Just had to upvote an Eadon skewerer.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Anyone stupid enough to fall for "[{FREE}] Google Project Glass [[FREE GOOGLE GLASSES]" should be permanently barred from using the net.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      re: Anyone stupid enough to fall for this kind of thing should be permanently barred from using the net.

      You know, you've just given me an idea for a scam: the "internet driving license inspector" would get the mark to do a test on their computer knowledge and then let themselves be "bribed" into filing a "pass" report when they inevitably fail. Savvy internet users would be filtered out by being able to pass the test, so you'd have fewer smart-asses wasting your time.

      Not that I'm condoning this kind of thing, of course, but being able to think like a scammer probably affords some protection from them.

      Anon, just in case anyone thinks I'm serious.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Groan

    If, like me, you've spent the last decade+ trying to teach users fundamental scam / chain letter concepts (not even inherently IT related), you'll know this will ensnare a fair few.

    You tell them it's a scam, and how these scams work. They're smiling, nodding away - but you can read their minds through their glazed-over eyes... 'yeah yeah, but WHAT IF THIS TIME IT'S REAL'. Give up, you'll never win.

    'Free shit' will always be dangerous opiate, capable of levering out any semblance of critical thinking in all but the most discriminate. It's the ultimate con because the outlay and investment is nothing - slathering greed is hardcoded into a frightening percentage of people.

    In this case, I'd wager a bet that most of the average support user support base will never have heard of Google Glass, let alone know if they would want it.

    1. asdf

      Re: Groan

      >slathering greed is hardcoded into a frightening percentage of people.

      Sadly not news to anyone old enough to go through the 80's junk bond era, the millennial dot com days or even 2007-2008.

    2. TeeCee Gold badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Groan

      You're right, there's no telling 'em. Not so long ago a recently-divorced friend of my wife's was following the Internet dating sites.

      Wife's friend: "I've found this great bloke! He's a sergeant in the US army!"

      Me: "It's a scam."

      WF: "No we chat regularly and get on really well."

      Me: "It's a scam."

      WF: "He's in Iraq at the moment."

      Me: FFS! It's a ruddy scam and one that's as old as the sodding hills to boot. You watch, he'll be asking for money for a ticket to come and see you soon and when that happens, ask yourself how likely it is that US military personnel are a) skint and b) forced to make their own travel arrangements?".

      WF: "You really are a bloody cynic aren't you? I'll show you........"

      Several weeks later:

      Wife's friend, now in tears: "It was a scaaaaammmmmm.....I can't believe I felllllll for iiiiitttttttt....."

      I didn't even try to make my saving throw vs lack of sympathy, the negative factors were just way too high.

  6. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Shrug: the offer's as good as the survey results

    Surveys are notoriously unreliable. People either try to guess the "right" answers, respond according to what they think the surveyor wants, don't understand the questions or have a "none of the above" reply.

    So if people are getting suckered in to filling out surveys with implausibly generous bait being offered, then it appears that both sides of the understanding (what the punter says and what rewards they are offered) are equally bogus. At last the world of customer surveys are found an equilibrium point!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No such thing as a free lunch

    Leave these fools to Darwin.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm not convinced that I'd want them even if it were free. Funnelling ALL my personal information to Google is just not the future of my computing...can't speak for the rest of humanity. A HUD would definitely be useful; but I'm going to wait until it's thoroughly rooted and user-controllable.

    1. JassMan

      Have a read of http://creativegood.com/blog/the-google-glass-feature-no-one-is-talking-about/ and you'll be even less convinced of their benefits. Not just for yourself but all your friends.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    SO you need them rooted; de-Googled AND with anti-camera lasers built in like that Russian billionaire has on his yacht.

  10. Haku
    Big Brother

    2004 film The Final Cut

    Bit of a thought provoking one where Robin Williams plays a 'cutter', someone who takes people's recorded history (through memory implants that are implanted at birth) when they die and makes a video memorial for their loved ones from the dead person's perspective.

    Worth checking out I'd say - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364343/

  11. Splatcat

    Offer

    I've produced a great ebook on how to avoid this exact type of scam and many others. This ebook will not only save you money but will full reseller rights it will make you £1,000 in passive income.

    Please email for details, don't forget to include your full credit card details and a copy of your front door key.

    1. Lyle Dietz
      Devil

      Re: Offer

      Finally, a way to educate the clueless, and make money at the same time! I'll be sending my details through to you immediately!

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