Treeloot.com A friend suggested I take a look at the "www.treeloot.com" site for my scam section. So I did. The key for games like this is to find where they've put the rules and disclaimers. I found the rules, and there are some things they don't tell you unless you read the rules and read pretty carefully. (1) You have to be 18 or older to win. (2) They can take two months to pay you. (3) If you win over $50, you have to prove your identity and get the document notarized! (4) It sounded like you needed to have cookies turned on to win any major prizes. (5) They say something about "double-coordinate" prizes -- this is apparently where you have to hit two spots perfectly to win -- i.e., these will be almost impossible. This is the way they can avoid giving up big prizes. So what is probably going on? The owner of the site lures people with "free money", and sells advertising space. They may also be collecting information to sell to other companies. Simple as that. Note the big headline: "We hide over $5,000 in our money tree daily! Click our tree to win!" They hide $5001 dollars in the tree, but almost certainly don't give very much away. A lot of the time kids will win, only to find they were actually ineligible. And when people do win, it isn't going to be very much money, and it won't be paid for a long time. This sort of thing is what I call a "pseudo-scam". It is legal, and it is not exactly a scam, but they sure aren't being very honest with you. If you want to play, feel free. But now you know that it really probably isn't worth your time. -- Jim Update, December 2001 Jason Blake found my site by searching on Google for "Treeloot.com". He says, "My dad and I and a couple friends have won about 4 grand total. You can really only win the $250, $100, or $1000 prizes pretty much, so go for those if they are available. If you have a fast connection, you can win in about 1000 clicks or less, if you click for the $250, $100, or $1000 prizes. "The down side is that they take like 6 months to get you the money... my girlfriend still hasn't gotten her $250, and I had to harass them about my $1250 winnings, but I finally got it.. bummer.." Basically what he said pretty much fits my judgement: It is a deceptive site that is probably not worth your trouble. You still have to be over 18, you can't reasonably expect to win the big prizes they push, and if you do win, they'll make you fight for the money and then they'll take a long time to pay. Meanwhile, they advertise and collect information about you so that you can be spammed and sold stuff. On the other hand, if you are willing to put up with the delay and hassle, this information shows that you can win some money there.