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Deal Addict
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Nov 24, 2005
2775 posts
1634 upvotes
SW Ontario
Tracydeanne wrote: I wish some of the sponsors would pursue this crowd.
me too, because if they turn a blind eye to this cheating, where else are they turning a blind eye inside their company?
Deal Addict
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Oct 26, 2012
3524 posts
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Halifax
For people who are contacting sponsors, has anyone had a response from any of the Bell Media partners? I haven't. Ie Marilyn, CTV, Much, Bravo etc.
Sr. Member
Oct 28, 2013
520 posts
452 upvotes
Not Toronto
Do they ever use automated voice messages to contact winners? My husband received a call about winning an air canada vacation but he hung up because it was an automated call and he assumed it was spam! Gah!
Deal Addict
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Oct 26, 2012
3524 posts
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Halifax
I personally would be doubtful a win would come by an automated call, especially a big win like a trip. Prob just a sales call, but if you're worried, can you call the number back? Just don't give any credit card info, no matter how much they push. :)
Member
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Jan 19, 2011
366 posts
703 upvotes
Got that same call queentasha. If they can't award a prize with a person it's a scam. Definitely a scam.

They mass spam that until someone takes the bait.
Sr. Member
Oct 28, 2013
520 posts
452 upvotes
Not Toronto
OK phew! I was worried that he might have missed his first ever contest win! Thanks!
Member
Nov 9, 2013
240 posts
1487 upvotes
Edmonton, AB
JaredD1981 wrote: Stéphan Dussault and Stéphane Alarie, Le Journal de Montreal

Furious to learn that a programmer and his accomplices manipulated prints to win, contests fans have started a movement to encourage organizers to tighten their rules and to be tougher on cheaters.

A survey by the Journal revealed on Saturday that a crack Repentigny computing had set up an ingenious system that flooded to the contest entries with infinite amount of bogus emails.

The carousel has allowed Méthot Christian group to win dozens of prizes including a car, a snowmobile and several trips. The Journal has traced for more than $ 200,000 in winnings.

"I hope your stories will encourage companies to protect themselves against competition from fraudsters. Otherwise, it profits me nothing to invest half an hour of my time each day to fill the ballots, "says René Vincent.

"It's been two years that I have not won anything except movie tickets. There I understand this is because of him, "said shocked citizens of Gatineau.

Mr Vincent said he contacted a dozen companies to express his disappointment, which Lassonde Oasis for assistance last month, when we did get 40 smart watches. Six members of the group have Méthot won.

Oasis replied that they will investigate the matter: "Changes will be made to our next contests in order to minimize the possibility that such a situation happening again."

The Queen Contest angry

Carolyn Wilman, Canadian author and marketing expert, expected such a move for some time. She has also translated and published the story of Queen Contest Journal on his blog to share it with its readers in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Carolyn Wilman, also known by the nickname "Queen Contest" contest invites fans to ask companies that organize to ensure compliance with regulations.
Photo Courtesy
Carolyn Wilman, also known by the nickname "Queen Contest" contest invites fans to ask companies that organize to ensure compliance with regulations.

"This story has gone around the world, says the lady who invites fans to express their discontent contest. I was furious noting that, but not so surprised. There is always someone trying to take advantage of the system. But there, it's gone too far. "

"A reader of my blog has contacted 50 companies in the country; three have already told him they would address this problem ", she enthuses.

More demanding

Ms. Wilman, who advises as participants in the competitions that companies that organize, believes that sponsors need to be more discerning when it comes to design rules and registration forms.
Mark Villanueva understand better now why he wins less often.
Photo Archives
Mark Villanueva understand better now why he wins less often.

"I'm always surprised to see how many companies that do not do their homework. If we can prove that someone has cheated, we should be able to withdraw the money, "she insists.

"I know dozens of Canadians in the rest of the country that have been disgusted. They decided to stop participating. This is not good advertising for companies that, "for his part stressed Mark Villanueva. This contest forum moderator Red Flag Deals spends five hours a day and find the contest to fill a hundred coupons.

Villanueva believes earn between $ 15,000 and $ 50,000 per year in prize contest: "Like what it is possible to win by playing within the rules. But you have to put the time. "
Couche-Tard will review its methods of registration

Victim as more companies Méthot Christian network, Alimentation Couche-Tard was quick to react and intends to quickly review its competition entry methods.

With its automated system, the programmer has literally monopolized the draw organized by a snowmobile chain and Rockstar in January. A contest registry analysis shows that Méthot and his accomplices have completed over 90% of registration forms, despite regulations limiting participation.

No wonder then that it is one of the clan members, Annie St-Amant, who has won.

"We obviously were not aware of this scheme and we are sorry to hear that several of our competitions were won by a group who found the way to beat the system," said Melissa Lessard, spokesperson Alimentation Couche-Tard in Quebec.

Equal opportunity for all

"In light of what we have learned, we will quickly revise the registration methods so that this situation does not happen again. It is important for us that each participant in our competitions has an equal chance to win the prizes, "she added.

Snowmobiling won by Annie St-Amant was for sale on Kijiji site Méthot Christian and his father last week.

Moreover, new information obtained from the public have identified two other clan members. Stéphane Ferland and Patrick Dubé thus add to the list of 10 people unveiled last weekend. With a total of $ 45,000 in prizes, they carry the group gains estimated at over $ 200,000.
Stéphane Ferland won several prizes including a trip for two business class in Qatar.
Photo Courtesy
Stéphane Ferland won several prizes including a trip for two business class in Qatar.

Ex-brother-in

Mr. Ferland has won nearly $ 19,000 in prizes including a trip for two business class in Qatar, a one-year subscription to a gym and a hostel getaway. In the latter case, six other members of the group had also won the same prize in the same competition.

As for Mr. Dubé, the former brother-Christian Méthot, he deserved for some $ 26,000 in prizes. The lot, there is a set of appliances, a $ 10,000 gift certificate for trips to spas, a VIP weekend in New York and a trip for four to Cuba.

It was not possible to get in contact with these two.
I was looking at the winners of the Shell BMW giveaway http://www.shell.us/motorist/shell-fuel ... takes.html and there is a Sophie Dube from Brossard, QC listed as a winner wonder if there is any relation :|
Deal Addict
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Oct 26, 2012
3524 posts
15859 upvotes
Halifax
I think anyone with similar last names are suspect at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if the "ring" is huge. But you had to make a purchase with the Shell win a car contest, I don't think it's probably related in this case.
Sr. Member
User avatar
Aug 22, 2012
565 posts
843 upvotes
GTA
queentasha wrote: Do they ever use automated voice messages to contact winners? My husband received a call about winning an air canada vacation but he hung up because it was an automated call and he assumed it was spam! Gah!
got this voicemail today too. wonder if its related to something we all entered that got us on some awful trash phone call list.
Contesting can be a healthy coping mechanism I have fallen in love with this forum
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Sr. Member
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Dec 23, 2010
684 posts
1838 upvotes
Richmond Hill
Tracydeanne wrote: For people who are contacting sponsors, has anyone had a response from any of the Bell Media partners? I haven't. Ie Marilyn, CTV, Much, Bravo etc.
I wouldn't hold my breath. That's a group that really doesn't care, they figure they got their publicity from the promotion, so they don't care that people were defrauded.
Deal Addict
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Oct 26, 2012
3524 posts
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Halifax
wayne61 wrote: I wouldn't hold my breath. That's a group that really doesn't care, they figure they got their publicity from the promotion, so they don't care that people were defrauded.
Actually, Bell Media recently removed thousands of contest entries from one of their contests, and made a note on their site about it. I can't remember the exact wording, but it was basically that it was discovered some entries were fraudulent so they were removed. Not all sponsors are delinquent in how they manage their contests.

It seems Bell Media is looking, I just wondered if any of us contesters had had a response to our concerns.
Deal Guru
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Dec 17, 2001
11723 posts
4919 upvotes
St-Fabien de Panet, …
It's bad enough not being able to enter many contests because I live in Quebec, then I hear about morons like that cheating just to win prizes and sell them for profit. It really ticks me off royally.
Sr. Member
Apr 3, 2010
581 posts
845 upvotes
One of the reasons cheaters succeed, is because it is very difficult to tell who has cheated. That's the only cheating strategy that could work. When companies try to detect them and remove their entries, they could easily end up removing a whole bunch of legitimate entries as well.

I remember a Volvo Facebook contest a while back, where the prize was some Aeroplan miles. I'd been entering it steadily, when I got an e-mail saying all my entries were being removed, because they didn't think I actually even existed. It took some going back and forth to prove to them that they were mistaken, and then they reinstated my entries. I use Facebook only to enter contests, and they took that to mean that I was cheating. That is a ridiculous, and totally illogical criterion to use, but that's what they did.

I'm against cheating as much as anyone else. But before you get too carried away on this track, just remember that without some good way to separate legitimate from illegitimate entries, the entries being removed might be your own.
Deal Addict
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Oct 26, 2012
3524 posts
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Halifax
bug wrote: It's bad enough not being able to enter many contests because I live in Quebec, then I hear about morons like that cheating just to win prizes and sell them for profit. It really ticks me off royally.
Very true, the Quebecers few opportunities to win, were cut down to pretty much no chance to win because of these people. That's tough to take.
Deal Addict
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Oct 26, 2012
3524 posts
15859 upvotes
Halifax
Hotdiggety wrote: One of the reasons cheaters succeed, is because it is very difficult to tell who has cheated. That's the only cheating strategy that could work. When companies try to detect them and remove their entries, they could easily end up removing a whole bunch of legitimate entries as well.

I remember a Volvo Facebook contest a while back, where the prize was some Aeroplan miles. I'd been entering it steadily, when I got an e-mail saying all my entries were being removed, because they didn't think I actually even existed. It took some going back and forth to prove to them that they were mistaken, and then they reinstated my entries. I use Facebook only to enter contests, and they took that to mean that I was cheating. That is a ridiculous, and totally illogical criterion to use, but that's what they did.

I'm against cheating as much as anyone else. But before you get too carried away on this track, just remember that without some good way to separate legitimate from illegitimate entries, the entries being removed might be your own.
I'm sorry that happened to you, but I'm not willing to give cheaters a "pass". And it sounds like in your case, the sponsor wasn't entirely sure you were cheating if they gave you a chance to explain yourself. The contest only Facebook accounts can be suspect, I see their thought process behind questioning it. You could have a unlimited number of Fb accounts set up to enter repeatedly under different accounts. I'm not saying you do, I just don't think the sponsor was wrong to at least question. They obviously were looking closely at all their entries, that's a good thing.

We can't have it both ways, annoyed when sponsors don't have controls, but also annoyed when they do.

Advocating for stronger controls, systems, and methods will help sponsors better distinguish legitimate vs fraudulent, not exclude legitimate entries.
Deal Addict
Nov 16, 2006
1559 posts
1672 upvotes
Toronto
Is anyone else having trouble entering this contest? https://www.weloveyoureyes.ca/ I was able to enter easily every day until yesterday, and then noticed that I had been logged out. When I tried to login again, and apparently had forgotten my password, I asked them to send me a reset and the form wouldn't "submit", so they clearly didn't receive my request to reset the password. I thought that perhaps it was just a glitch yesterday, but the same thing has happened again today.
Deal Addict
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Oct 26, 2012
3524 posts
15859 upvotes
Halifax
pickmepickme wrote: Is anyone else having trouble entering this contest? https://www.weloveyoureyes.ca/ I was able to enter easily every day until yesterday, and then noticed that I had been logged out. When I tried to login again, and apparently had forgotten my password, I asked them to send me a reset and the form wouldn't "submit", so they clearly didn't receive my request to reset the password. I thought that perhaps it was just a glitch yesterday, but the same thing has happened again today.
I haven't had any issues, maybe try a different browser?
Deal Addict
Nov 16, 2006
1559 posts
1672 upvotes
Toronto
Thanks for the suggestions, but I just tried IE and Chrome and had no luck there either (originally was using FF).
Deal Addict
Dec 1, 2006
2170 posts
671 upvotes
BC
Just went to enter [Once] 2015/12/01 - GoodGuys "Ford EcoBoost Mustang" [US/CA|18+]

Notice on website:
This contest is temporarily offline. There is a single user running a script (or actually entering manually!) to enter more than once WHICH THE SYSTEM DELETES ANYWAY that is causing massive slow down on the system. Once this person realizes more than one entry is USELESS we'll enable the entry form again.
Jr. Member
Nov 22, 2005
149 posts
271 upvotes
We are assuming the sponsors actually care, which is not always the case. A lot of people stopped doing voting contests when rampant cheating was going on yet sponsors kept trotting out voting contests, and I assume a lot will continue the same way of doing contests even after this. Besides CAPTCHAS have been bot solved for a long time, they are actually better than humans, as any forum admin is aware. The only reason this fellow got caught, and other cheaters, is they usually get greedy for the easy money. If he had kept his entries and wins more modest he could have carried on for more years, it seems this has been going on for years, and he and his gang is in Quebec, so some contests were off limits for him thank goodness, or he would have been all over them too. Other sponsors would just have disqualified him had they noticed the cheating, so no biggie, but he also made the mistake of doing this to a news organization who saw a story in it.

Rules must add that if cheating is involved then the cheating winner will be subject to civil and criminal prosecution. Shoplift a can of Rockstar go to jail, scam a snowmobile in a Rockstar contest get a shoulder shrug. What I would also like to find out is how many contests they also won from the ones that do not publish winners names, what is published is probably the tip of the iceberg. I am also wondering why the English Canada media is not picking up on this.

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