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KMart suspends sweeps because of cheating

KMart suspends sweeps because of cheating

Old Aug 21, 2010, 8:07 am
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Florida
Posts: 2,872
KMart suspends sweeps because of cheating

This is an eye-opener. While the KMart sweeps wasn't directly travel related, the problem of cheating on sweepstakes is becoming more widespread, and may be one of the reasons we're having such a tough time winning the ones we want - the travel related sweeps.

http://contests.about.com/b/2010/08/...weepstakes.htm
Kmart Suspends Entry in its "Win $20 Every 10 Minutes" Sweepstakes


After entering Kmart's Enter for a Chance to Win $20 Every 10 Minutes Instant Win Sweepstakes recently, I received the following message:

We've become aware that third parties have been attempting to unfairly participate in the Kmart online Win a $20 Gift Card Every 10 Minutes Instant Win Promotion. In order to insure a fair playing field for our customers, we have elected to suspend this game.

What does this mean? Apparently, people were selling a type of computer program called a bot which enabled them to submit hundreds of entries instead of the one per day entry allowed by the rules, and to win more often than the one time allowed by the rules. You can read more about it on sites like The Cheating Network. This explains why there weren't many wins reported on sweepstakes sites, even though there were tons of prizes to be won.

Circumventing the sweepstakes rules through any method, including bots, is terrible for everyone. It turns sweepstakes into a headache for the sponsor, which discourages them from offering more prizes, and it cheats honest entrants out of prizes. It's also one of the reasons why CAPTCHAS are getting harder.

There's no word on the site as to whether this is a temporary suspension while they make their sweepstakes more secure, or if they have shut down the game for good. The sweepstakes was scheduled to run until September 6, 2010.
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