A fool and their money...

or the desperate and their money
or the unobservant and ther money
are all soon parted.

I have this thing about clicking stupid ads that catch my eye, or reading spam just for the fun of it. Especially if they look extremely dodgy. This morning's trawl proved quite successful. There was a google-ad saying "Find your perfect lover, including their name!". Well... what could possibly go wrong with something like that?

I followed the link, and you get a very simple webpage asking for your name, mobile number and starsign. Easy enough. Then it's got the button to make it all happen, with a big red Yes and a giant tick of approval. You then click "yes" (in bigh letters) to receive "My score" in big letters and agree to terms and conditions (in rather little letters). So what is in these terms and conditions? Well... further down the page is a tiny link for these terms and conditions, which is the fun bit. Here's half of what you agree to:

"By signing up with or accessing any of PerfectLover.com.au services, you form a partnership with PerfectLover.com.au whereby you give permission to accept any type of promotional or otherwise content from PerfectLover.com.au and third parties affiliated with PerfectLover.com.au at any time. This includes material sent via SMS, E-Mail or any other means of communication utilized by MobilePhoneMaters.com and any of its affiliates. "

And

" Each love calculation costs $6.60. You are also charged a one time only horoscope club membership fee of $6.60. You will receive one free horoscope with every love calculation. You will then receive weekly horoscope charged at $6.60 each. All messages sentn to the service number will be replied with a charged message of $6.60. You must be the owner of the mobile device or have the permission of the owner. You must be 16 years of age or older. To unsubscribe, send the word STOP to the service number or call 1300 767 306."

Wow. Money for nothing! Would it be fun to put in fake numbers? Would they check them to make sure they are real? And.... what if someone else puts in *my* number? Well I entered some fake details and apparently they send you a pin, which you key in to a second screen which no longer displays any links to terms and conditions. Boy you could sure spam and annoy people quite easily with this.

Dodge-a-rama or what?