Vietnam - Mobile operator earns huge sum with dubious game

More than half million subscribers of VinaPhone have participated in a quiz game during the company's latest promotional campaign by sending five millions SMS messages without clear knowledge of how they will win the game.

This has enabled the telecom service provider to earn a hefty sum of more than 40 billion dong (US$1.92 million) in just five weeks.

The promotional programme, titled "SMS Millionaire," is introduced as a quiz show, in which subscribers will receive SMS messages, each containing a simple question about common knowledge and two possible answers from VinaPhone.

Subscribers are invited to send an SMS with their answer to VinaPhone, with each message costing them 8,000.

With each correct answer, subscribers will receive another SMS, saying they have earned 10 points and are highly encouraged to continue the game with another simple question.

The process will go on, with the inviting words becoming more and more encouraging and appealing as subscribers answer more questions.

The final prize for the quiz game is 30 million dong, and after each correct answer, subscribers will receive messages such as "You have the chance to win 30 million dong in the next few hours, please answer the next question..."; "Awesome answer! The prize will be surely in your hand tonight!"; "Incredible! 30 million dong is just an inch ahead you."

Lured by such appealing words, many subscribers have repeatedly sent SMS to answer the questions, believing that the more points they earn, the greater the chance they have of grabbing the prize.

However, this is in fact a false belief, with VinaPhone providing unclear information on how to win the game.

Top scorer is not winner

One subscriber in Tien Giang said he had been playing the quiz for a week, earning as many as 865,990 points, but there is no sign of an ending point for the game.

In fact, it is not those who earn the highest scores who will bring home the whopping prize, but those who are chosen by the God of Luck, with VinaPhone choosing the winner of the week by lottery drawing.

A VinaPhone spokesperson admitted to Tuoi Tre that there is no maximum score in the game and subscribers can send as many SMS as their mobile phone accounts can afford.

Under this rule, the "SMS Millionaire" programme has attracted 646,983 participants, who have sent 5.02 million messages worth VND40.2 billion, which will earn VinaPhone a huge profit since the total prize for the programme is only 2.7 billion dong.

Nguyen Hoang Hai, sales manager of VinaPhone's Service Centre, admitted that VinaPhone had sent SMS messages to subscribers to invite them to join the game.

Hai said VinaPhone would initially send three messages to subscribers. If they refused to join, the system would stop sending invitation messages.

But for those who accepted the invitation, Hai said, VinaPhone would send SMS containing questions, hinting that subscribers would have a greater chance to win if they could accumulate more points.

But, since the winner will be chosen by lottery drawing, an accumulation of a large number of points seems to be meaningless.

Some subscribers who have joined the game complain that VinaPhone's SMS messages persuading them to continue answering the questions look just like those enticing them to gamble to win 30 million dong.

Commenting on this, a representative of VinaPhone said the promotional programme is aimed at providing common knowledge to subscribers.

However, VinaPhone registered with the Trade Promotion Agency to launch the programme as a "lottery drawing game," with no clauses regarding the quiz show as "providing common knowledge," as VinaPhone claimed.

Tuoi Tre

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