Celebrity Baby Shower Gift

I received this email this morning:

My name is Bill Palmer, founder of Applebee’s. In an attempt to get our name out to more people in the rural communities where we are not currently located, we are offering a! $50 gift certificate to anyone who forwards this email to 9 of their friends. Just send this email to them and you will receive an email back with a confirmation number to claim your gift certificate.

Sincerely,
Bill Palmer
Founder of Applebee’s
Visit us at: http://www.applebees.com/

I wondered immediately how Applebee’s could possibly know I’ve forwarded the email to nine people. So I looked it up. Here’s what Snopes had to say:

The above-quoted jape is just one of the many versions of a long-running Internet hoax that has been circulating in one form or another since 1997. The names of the companies involved and the supposed rewards to be had periodically change, but the basic come-on remains the same: fool gullible netizens into endlessly forwarding junk messages to their friends and acquaintances with phony promises of cash and free merchandise.

The text is a direct rip of an earlier version of this hoax involving Cracker Barrel.

There you have. No free lunch this time.

There are some great deals this Christmas on restaurant gift cards. In some cases you can get a $100 card for $80, or buy a $20 card and get an extra $5. Here are just a few of the deals. More are on www.eatdrinkdeals.com
Applebees - buy $50 gift card get $10 bonus card.
Also, Costco has 12 restaurant gift cards, most with 80% discounts on a $100 gift card.
Maggianos - buy $100 gift card get $20 discount gift card
McCormick and Schmick - buy $100 gift card and get a $25 gift certificate.
Melting Pot - at many locations, buy $100 gift card get $100 in bonus cards.
O’Charleys - buy $20 gift card get $5 gift card
Outback Steakhouse - buy $100 gift card get $20 bonus card
PF Chang - buy $50 gift card get $10 bonus card.