• Moira_Mayhem@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    5 months ago

    Also on a side note:

    A friend of mine’s dad legit did win a million dollars in one of those popups. It was really early in the advertising days and I guess they were trying something.

    Anyway he paid off all his kids’ houses and bought a nice fishing truck.

    I doubt it will ever happen again but I was personal witness for it happening at least once.

    That said, even after watching that I have never, and will never willingly click any popup.

    • SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      5 months ago

      I worked very, very briefly as CTO for one of the biggest companies in that space. I’m talking like about a month or two. The scam was getting users to register and click through affiliate links which could be monetized to offset the costs of the free iPod.

      Shortly after I left, the company was literally sued out of existence for false marketing around their prizes. I was just happy the checks cleared. I ended up making about $30k for a total of a few hours of work, and dodged a massive karmic hit.