Mind Quiz: Real Quiz or Scam?
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Last Sunday, a Facebook friend sent this instant message to me:
"George, I know this is random but I wanted you to try something real quick... try this quiz and tell me what you get. i can't get over like a 105, its sad http://theiqinquiry.info/invite/tnzz"
I followed the link and arrived at this page:
Click on the image for a larger version.
For a brief moment, the quiz appealed to me as. The page had that blue color scheme familiar to the Facebook.com site. And, I thought about if I could beat my friend's IQ score. Then, I noticed this copy at the upper right portion of the page:
"Mobile content subscription sent to your cell from $9.99 to $19.99 per month."
What subscription? At that point, I had read enough. This IQ quiz was not for me. It seemed like a phishing website to trick consumers into revealing enough personal information to start an online subscription. I don't want any more charges added to my monthly cellular bill. This stuff made me wonder if it was a real "I.Q." quiz.
I immediately switched browser windows to write a return instant message to my friend, but she was already offline -- no longer on Facebook instant messaging. Gone that fast? She wasn't interested in my score? I wanted to tell her to check her cellular phone bill, as there may be some surprisingly new charges on it.
A real friend would probably have stayed online. Her rapid departure caused me to wonder if my friend's Facebook account had been hacked. A lot of scams and fake quizzes circulate on Facebook and other social networking websites. The Detroit Examiner newspaper ran a story on the Facebook I.Q. quizzes. The Facecrooks page monitors scams on Facebook. I highly recommend it so you don't get mugged on Facebook.
After some searching online, I found this post at Yahoo Answers:
"I did the 10 minute mind quiz thinking it was a normal quiz, like on facebook. Then i gave them my # and a pin code and I do not know what it did. I think it charges $10 to my phone a month. If it does how do I stop it? Please help!!!!"
The answer: call your cellular provider and tell them the charge is fraudulent.
Mind Quiz will cheat your money. Never give it a chance. Wireless Carrier might get a share of the dirty money.
Posted by: Made | Tuesday, February 01, 2011 at 11:51 PM