George Santayana was a really smart philosopher. He is best known for his quote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
If you want to learn a little something from the past so as not to repeat other people’s mistakes then you can read Aryeh’s blog from when the first iPad released, or I can tell you what is going to happen in this post.
The release of the iPad 2 was recently announced. As is the case with any big news event, be it Charlie Sheen believing he created the universe or a devastating natural disaster, a story as big as the release of the new iPad 2 is going to attract the attention of scammers. You will be seeing all kinds of offers for free iPads. Almost all of these offers will be bogus. If a company that you know to be legitimate has a drawing for an iPad 2, that is one thing, but the countless “offers” that tell you that you will get a free iPad if you fill out a survey are bogus. You will not get a free iPad. Certainly there will be some contests where one in a few million people wins an iPad 2, but nobody is going to give you an iPad for filling out a survey and nobody on Craigslist or other web sites has iPad 2’s with prices too good to be true.
The offers for discounted iPad 2’s are also going to be bogus. Apple products are seldom deeply discounted, and nobody is going to be selling them for significantly less than what Apple says the sales price is.
The iPad 2 goes on sale on March 11, 2011. Don’t repeat other people’s mistakes. The “surveys” that offer a free iPad 2 are not going to give you anything, but they will add you to spam lists and potentially collect enough information from you to perpetrate identity theft.
iPad 2 scams are coming to a web site near you soon. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you! If you have doubts... listen to your instincts, they are right, the offer is bogus. Or you can always contact us, and a CTAC (Cyber Threat Analysis Center) researcher will investigate.
Randy Abrams
Director of Technical Education
Cyber Threat Analysis Center
ESET North America
