Driving down highway 71 the other day, and flipping through some radio stations, I was shocked to here a sudden announcement come blasting out of my speakers. "Get a free Xbox 360..." it boasts. "Visit Xboxfreezone.com, follow the steps as directed, and a FREE Xbox 360 will be shipped to you... Absolutely free!" I wanted to slam on the brakes immediately and find the nearest computer right then. But I decided to remain calm and wait until I got home.

Upon entering my house I threw my stuff down on the kitchen table and ran to the computer. "No, I would not like to update my virus scanner right now!" I yelled at the inanimate object in front of me. I typed in the address I had heard on the radio just hours before. I was then greeted by a professional and legitimate looking website. Nothing too suspicious to be seen... yet. There was even a friendly little man in the corner (presumably the voice from the radio add) telling me that I was just moments away from receiving my new Xbox.

First I had to register. Nothing too difficult there. Just give them my name, email address, shipping info etc. Then it began... "Please visit our sponsors and subscribe to their services..." or something along those lines. Well this was the first warning bell, but I should also point out that "Xboxfreezone" turns out be exactly like all those other "get an Xbox free" advertisement sites. It doesn't really have any original content of its own and simply links to other websites.

There's page after page of sponsors and I personally started to forget why exactly I was completing some of these offers. Eventually I gave up and decided that it just wasn't worth it. But before I called it quits for good, I had to take a look at the fine print. Here's what I saw...

"Accounts and credit are subject to changes for returns, cancellations, and other events. We can make these changes to accounts at Our sole discretion. If You disagree with the changes made, Your sole option is to cancel Your account."

Well that did it. I was done. I decided that I would just give in eventually and buy my own Xbox 360 when the time was right (and the price came down). If you want to give this offer a try, then by all means- go for it. My opinion though? Forget about these scams. There might be a lucky few that do eventually receive an Xbox 360... after spending over 200 dollars completing some sponsor offers, dealing with the junk 'e' and snail mail that follows and withstanding the annoying telemarketers who now have their information. But then one must inevitably beg the question... was this Xbox really free?