Applebee's Gift Certificate Hoax
Summary:Email promises free Applebee's gift certificates for those who forward the message to a specified number of people (
Full commentary below.)
Status:False
Example:(Submitted via email, January 2005):
Subject: Applebee's - don't delete
My name is Bill Palmer, founder of Applebee's. In an attempt to get our
name out to more people in the rural communities where we are not currently located, we are offering a $50 gift certificate to anyone who forwards this email to 9 of their friends. Just send this
email to them and you will receive an email back with a confirmation number to claim your gift certificate.
! !
Sincerely
Bill Palmer
Founder of Applebee's Visit us at: www.applebees.com
Hey guys,
DON'T DELETE THIS EMAIL
It really works, I tried it and got my Gift certificate confirmation number in 3 minutes.
Commentary:
An email hoax that promises free gift certificates from Applebee's restaurants has been circulating around the Internet for several years. The message claims that by sending the email to 9 of your friends, you will receive a confirmation number that allows you to claim a $50 gift certificate. The implication is that the company will be able to ascertain via some kind of email tracking program when you have sent the message to 9 other people.
Like other hoaxes that claim a forwarded email is being tracked in some way, this is pure nonsense. Legitimate organizations do not and would not track particular email forwards across Cyberspace.
If you visit, the
Applebee's Website, you will generally receive the following message in a pop-up window:
A fraudulent email chain message promising Applebee'sŪ gift certificates for forwarding the message is currently making its way around the Internet. The message promises a gift certificate and a confirmation number after forwarding the message to a specific number of email addresses. Applebee'sŪ International, Inc. does not sponsor or endorse this activity and is unable to fulfill these requests.
This hoax email should be relegated to the deleted items folder where it belongs.
Write-up by Brett M.Christensen
