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Dodge
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23-11-2019, 03:09 PM
1

Warning!!! Nestle's breakfast cereal competition is data harvesting

A warning to all, Nestle's current Star-Wars breakfast cereal competition is a data harvesting scam, please do not fall for it by entering the competition.

Back story - I recently bought a box of Shreddies breakfast cereal and noticed the cereal maker, Nestle is running a star-wars competition, if you fill in a crossword puzzle and find the codeword you are in with a chance of winning a specially designed star-wars stormtrooper cereal bowl.

I like star-wars so I thought i'd give the competition a go, filled in the crossword, found the passcode, proceeded to Nestle's website to see if i had won and here is where the problem lies. When you go through the websites process of seeing if you are one of the limited winners (only 10,000 bowls being made) you get to a page where you have to fill in your personal details, full name, home address, post code and email address, then immediately below those entry boxes is green click box that says 'Click here to see if you've won'.

Requesting the personal details of competition entrants BEFORE they know if they have won is whats referred to in the industry as 'data harvesting'. Nestle should only need the details of the winners, 10,000 of them BUT being asked to provide your details before knowing if your a winner or loser is a data harvesting scam and it is something that is widespread throughout the industry.

There can only be 10,000 winners because that is how many limited edition star-wars bowls have been made but due to how popular star-wars is, the competition could have hundreds of thousands of entries which means, Nestle now have the personal data of hundreds of thousands of entrants where only 10,000 of them are actually needed, personal data they can now sell on to 3rd party companies.

Anyone remember back in the day those 'You have won' letters that were so frequent amongst your post. The purpose was to tempt you into thinking you had won a big prize or a lottery and that you had to send back the pre-printed form inside filled out with your personal information, you was requested to sign it and send it back. This was a scam with the intention to get 'live' information. Companies needed to know if the person at an address was 'active' and the way to know this was to see who would send back the forms. Those that sent them back were then tagged as 'active' which this information could be sold to advertisers because they would know the person at the address is 'active' and therefore look at what comes through their door.

What Nestle is doing on it's website with regards to the competition is very much the same. They want to get as many 'live' or 'active' accounts as possible because it is easier to sell these 'live' accounts to 3rd party companies.

The postal version of these data harvesting scams was eventually banned and law updated to make it illegal. This has not happened to the online version of it and companies like Nestle have been using this data harvesting method for years.

The law has not kept up with the digital age yet and thus the online version is not considered illegal, morally and ethically wrong but not illegal. So if you see this competition on the box of cereals, DO NOT ENTER the online competition.
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23-11-2019, 03:40 PM
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Re: Warning!!! Nestle's breakfast cereal competition is data harvesting

Well spotted Dodge, a warning to others.
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23-11-2019, 03:53 PM
3

Re: Warning!!! Nestle's breakfast cereal competition is data harvesting

Walkers crisps are doing something similar with their Christmas competition, though they only ask for your name and email address. Personally it doesn't bother me but others might not like it.
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23-11-2019, 05:26 PM
4

Re: Warning!!! Nestle's breakfast cereal competition is data harvesting

Thanks for that warning, Dodge.
There are a couple or so similar going on on FB. If I click on them & they ask for my details I immediately delete the ap or whatever it is. But mostly I don't both with them.
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23-11-2019, 06:08 PM
5

Re: Warning!!! Nestle's breakfast cereal competition is data harvesting

Hi

I know how the system works.

I have no Loyalty Cards and withdraw cash from only two machines.

I use contactless and debit card at my local Lidl and Morrison's.

Everything else is cash.

I have a Facebook account not in my name and only use it for buying and selling.

No friends at all.

Facebook, Tesco, Sainsburys etc know far more about you than the Government.

I only use Skype to talk with my son, nothing else.

No Twitter, Whatsapp etc.
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23-11-2019, 06:13 PM
6

Re: Warning!!! Nestle's breakfast cereal competition is data harvesting

You only need to visit one of those insurance comparison sites to have your details sold on to all sorts of people.
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23-11-2019, 06:25 PM
7

Re: Warning!!! Nestle's breakfast cereal competition is data harvesting

What let's these companies get away with it is a loophole in the data protection act which allows companies to pass on data to 'Trusted partners' or 'Approved Partners'. To you and me these are 3rd party companies that the main company has contracts with, meaning they are part of the overall 'group' but to the main company, these '3rd party companies' are indirect employees of the company due to the contract the main company have with them and even if classed as an 'indirect employee', a employee they still are and thus our personal data can be handed over to 'employees' of the company. Like i said in my main post, it is morally and ethically wrong but is legal.

Take Nestle, they are 'hosting' the competition (putting it on their products and on their website) but they are not the 'promoter' of the competition, that is a different company and data protection laws prevent this promoter from selling personal data handed to them to other companies BUT it does not prevent the hoster from doing so as the law allows them to pass on personal data to 'Trusted Partners'/'Approved Partners', hence the loophole.

It is a damn sneaky and deceptive practice that needs to be stopped.
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23-11-2019, 08:10 PM
8

Re: Warning!!! Nestle's breakfast cereal competition is data harvesting

Originally Posted by Ray Cathode ->
Walkers crisps are doing something similar with their Christmas competition, though they only ask for your name and email address. Personally it doesn't bother me but others might not like it.
I bought a mutli packet of walkers crisps today and they invited me to enter their comp. to see if I had won a prize .
Fat chance , bet it is one in a million ,just want your email to sell on to others,
 

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