In late August 2023, one of our readers sent an email to alert us of a scam that claimed Home Depot was holding a giveaway to offer "slightly damaged" Coleman camping tents for free, as long as customers paid a small shipping and handling charge.
The offer read as follows: "Score a Coleman Tent: Home Depot Gives Away Slightly Damaged Units with Minor Packaging Issues!"
This was nothing more than a hidden subscription scam: an amazing offer with recurring monthly fees buried in the terms and conditions.
The company names and logos for Home Depot and Coleman were being used without permission.
It's unclear where users were first finding the scam. However, we know that part of the scam occurred on bestpromodeals.site and later led to gomygreatwin.com.
Buried in the terms and conditions on gomygreatwin.com, it was revealed that no users had actually won anything, but rather this all supposedly involved some sort of "raffle entry" giveaway that came with big, hidden costs.
Here's the key part of the terms. We've bolded the most important parts:
Raffle entry cost $5.92 and includes 7 day access to our Meal Plan service. If not canceled within 7 days you will automatically get access for an additional month at the discounted rate of $148.95. This will repeat for an additional month unless you cancel the Meal Plan subscription by contacting our support team. Our customer support team is available 24/7 by phone and email. Upon entering you will also get access to our amazing shopping discount club where you get 100% off on any product (just pay shipping and handling) for just $119.00 for 10 days. If you do not cancel within 10 days you will get an additional month of access to the special shopping discount club for $155.00. All above mentioned charges are non refundable.
You understand that you will be enrolled in a monthly auto-subscription until you cancel. If you are not satisfied, you can contact our customer service department at +1 833-239-5979.
In another part of the terms, it said that users can enter for free if they email support@prizecs.com with the subject line, "Offer Entry."
We noted that bestpromodeals.site, gomygreatwin.com, and prizecs.com all appeared to lack homepages, which wasn't the most reassuring of finds.
Always remember that if an online offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.