Scam Alert: Text Messages From 43554

Did you receive a text from short code 43554 telling you that you won a prize? Before you get too excited about the prize, you should know that there’s a catch. Or 13.

Although the text promises you a “free” gift such as an iPhone 4S, $100  Walmart gift card, iPad2, etc. They’ll send you to a website, such as mycard100.com, which will forward to another site such as onlinerewardsclub.com, which is where we discover that this is nothing more than a “rewards” club, rather than an actual gift or prize.

These “rewards” programs end up being nearly impossible to complete. Such terms require you to…

…acquire two sponsor action points from the Silver Offers Group, two offers from the Gold Offers Group, and nine offers from the Platinum Offers Group for a total of 13 sponsor offers; (d) and refer three friends to do the same…

That’s right – you must not only sign up for 13 “offers” but you must get three friends to do the same thing. Suddenly that “free” gift card becomes quite expensive. These so-called “rewards” programs are relentlessly spamming people with promises of “gifts” or “prizes” that simply won’t be awarded because completing the process is too expensive and difficult.

It’s a scam.

Here are some websites associated with this scam:

• CoolGift100.com
• mycard100.com
• ipad2asap.com
• textclubsavings.com

We’ve written about several other bait-and-switch “rewards” programs recently. For more info, read a few of these:

• The “Winner of the Day” Free Gift Scam
• The Free iPad Text Scam
• Target Scam Gift Card Text Message
• Target, Disney Hoaxes Making Rounds on Facebook Again
• Best Buy Gift Card Scam Text Message
• The iPhone5 Tester Scam on Facebook

Let us know if you’ve received a text from 43554 and what the text promised you.