Every month, drawn by search-engine advertisements, millions of consumers touch down on one of dozens of so-called "reward" Web sites with names such as "OnlineRewardCenter.com" or "ExclusiveGiftCards.com." Those two sites, and 50 to 75 others at any given time, share a corporate parent -- World Avenue USA -- founded by an ambitious 26-year-old Boca Raton, Fla., entrepreneur, Niuniu Ji.
The Web surfers, in exchange for completing a survey, are promised a free (with an asterisk) laptop, iPod, Xbox, store gift card or even a hot tub. The "survey" runs for pages and pages -- gauging the consumer as a prospect for sales pitches for products ranging from Disney books to a college degree, GE Home Security System, Christian singles Web site memberships, diabetic supplies or Netflix movies.
They want you to sign up for something!
Consumers aren't finished with the free-gift process once they complete the survey. A "last step" page requires them to sign up for two promotional offers from a field of 30: Blockbuster Online, Discover Platinum, Video Professor and so on. The "last step" actually has two more. First is a page requiring them to accept two additional offers. Then, yet another page has a narrower selection of about 15 offers from which the consumer must take six. These include a Columbia House membership, 90-day trial on a Pitney Bowes postage meter, a male sexual enhancement supplement, a real estate course or a diet program.
Whether they abandon the process or complete it, consumers will get new promotional e-mail in their in-boxes, phone calls and bills for any offers they accept. If they go to the trouble of reading the fine print -- in one case it runs to 5,500 words -- they'll learn how many months will pass before they actually get the "free gift" that was originally promised
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