places offering me 'gift cards' are a scam, right?

In My Humble Opinion
1

hope this is the right venue to post, if not please move it.

This year a friend new to the internetz, and I , have ordered many items online from Amazon, Walmart, Macys, and others. I keep getting e-mails saying “you have won a $50 gift card to ____” and when I go there it is a separate site doing a survey. At the end of the survey, I am told NOT that I’m getting a $50 gift card for my troubles, but I will be entered in a thing and will be eligible to WIN a gift card. I haven’t snapped up the bait, seeing this is a scam.

Will someone tell my gullible friend this is not a real thing, that it is if not a scam she will be sucked into a world of ‘you may be a winner’ sweepstakes for years to come? I am pooh-poohed as a Debby downer.

2

These items are not related. Most likely the survey sites have zero affiliation with the retailers.
But there is relationship that the more you click those links, the more e-mails you will get.

3

That’s what I think. I know if you answer some ‘sweepstakes’ letter you will, within a year, be flooded by a tractor trailer load of similar, including from overseas. And, of course, you are not going to ‘win’ anything.

4

Have you tried Snopes?

This is one of those ‘it is really, really sad that people need it explained’ items.

And: NO, the facebook come-ons ‘get $100 by forwarding this’ are also fake.

5

Snopes says nope.

and there’s a bunch others involving different stores.

6

I’ll gladly tell your friend that ANY email claiming or even suggesting she’ll get something valuable is a scam. You aren’t being a downer, you’re being realistic and trying to be a good and helpful friend. She can google on stuff like this and the Nigerian scam find the facts. If she won’t accept that she’s being naive and gullible and wants to believe them instead of you, then then she’s in for a world of hurt and deserves the shit that will be coming her way and making her internet experiences much more troublesome than they need to be. Also tell her I’ll share a multimillion dollar fortune with her if she’ll just send me $2000.00 to cover associated fees and taxes.