Marketing scam<\/p>\n
Several days ago, I received a message that someone from PT
\nVakansi Megah Jakarta had repeatedly tried to get in touch with
\nme to inform me that I was the lucky winner of a US$2,000
\nvacation voucher to be spent in Bali or Europe.<\/p>\n
I finally had the opportunity to talk on the phone with a Mr.
\nSamsi on Oct. 26. He confirmed the news of my lucky voucher,
\nstressing that there would be no second raffle and that they had
\nto hand over the award to me.<\/p>\n
For these reasons, the aforesaid company requested the
\npresence of myself and my husband at the award presentation
\nceremony on Sunday, Oct. 27, 1996. Unfortunately, we could not
\nattend the occasion.<\/p>\n
Two days later, I received a call from a Mr. Joni, also with
\nPT Vakansi Megah Jakarta, who hoped that we would attend the next
\nevent, which fell on Wednesday evening, Oct. 30, 1996 at the
\ncompany's office in Lebak Bulus. Mr. Joni said that the evening
\nprogram was made up of a video presentation, dinner and award
\npresentations. If we failed to turn up at this event, he said,
\nthey would be forced to cancel my award.<\/p>\n
We were only half convinced about the holiday voucher, which
\nwas the reason that I contacted them again for further
\nconfirmation. I got the same reassuring reply. Not entirely
\nconvinced that the invitation was on the level, we decided to
\nattend the evening event.<\/p>\n
We were met by Mr. Nelson, who immediately gave a lengthy
\nexplanation about the purpose of the evening function. We asked
\nhim about our voucher, but Mr. Nelson only smiled at us and
\noffered us a cup of hot tea. After the discussion, our
\npremonitions came true. PT Vakansi Megah wanted us to become a
\nmember of a holiday club.<\/p>\n
Because the function had extended beyond its original schedule
\nof 90 minutes and it was already past 10 p.m., we decided to go
\nhome. Mr. Nelson employed all his might to make us stay, pleading
\nwith us to meet his manager later. We were then introduced to
\nanother staff member to negotiate member fees, which happens to
\nrun in the millions.<\/p>\n
To cut things short and be able to leave quickly, we told them
\nthat we had no plans to become members of the club. We were then
\ngiven an envelope, whose cover read: \"A special prize for you\".
\nNeither Mr. Nelson nor his manager had mentioned the holiday
\nvoucher as promised. When we arrived home, we opened the envelope
\nonly to find -- to our disappointment -- information about club
\nmembership.<\/p>\n
With this experience, I would like to warn other readers about
\ninvitation scams hinting at winning vacation prizes or the like.<\/p>\n
Name and address<\/p>\n
known to the editor<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/marketing-scam-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }