Free Pringles– Illegitimate Facebook Offer
Last night, I laid in bed and tossed and turned for much of the night… not because my husband was snoring loudly as usual, not because my 3 year old daughter was squeezed in between the both of us (yes, I hate to admit it, but she seems to find her way into our bed way too often), and not because I ate an entire bag of M&M’s minutes before I headed to bed (yes, I am a chocolate addict).
I could not sleep because I was thinking about the free Pringles Extreme Facebook offer that I posted on Hip2Save 2 days ago. The offer was live on Hip2Save for a few hours until I became aware of the fact that it could potentially be an illegitimate/spam offer. In the last couple days, I have received many emails from readers concerned about how their privacy may have been affected by this spam offer. First, let me say that I am not Facebook savvy, however, I have attempted to do some research to provide you with information to help protect yourself on Facebook. Second, please keep in mind that at this time, I have not been able to fully confirm that this was a “fake freebie;” however, I am making the assumption that it is indeed an illegitimate offer.
Here’s what you need to do to protect yourself specifically from this Pringles Extreme Application…
* Log into your Facebook Account
* Click on Account (top right corner)
* Click on Application Settings
* Scroll down the list and find “Pringles Extreme”; click on the “x” to permanently remove it from the application page; be sure to hit the “remove” button and the “okay” button. Pringles Extreme will no longer have access to your data and will be removed from your profile and bookmarks.
Please be assured that I work VERY hard to ensure that all the samples and freebies posted on Hip2Save are from legitimate companies. I receive hundreds of emails for new sample offers and freebies on a weekly basis and only end up posting a small percentage of them. Unfortunately, I am human and was caught up in the excitement surrounding this offer… with Facebook offers, especially, there is always a sort of urgency to hurry and post the offer before it has expired as freebies are usually limited to a small number of people.
From here on out, I pledge not to get caught up in those “Hurry up and post em’ before they are gone” offers; instead I will take that extra little bit of time to verify the legitimacy of the offer, although, I can’t guarantee that I will always be right. I also urge all of you to spend those extra few seconds reviewing an offer to be sure that you are comfortable sharing your personal information. And finally, don’t let this Pringles episode ruin your whole outlook on freebies/samples… there are many legitimate companies out there who provide great opportunities to try their products at no cost.
Do you have any other suggestions/tips/concerns? Let us know in the comment section below.
Love the site but thankfully you will slow down now. Too many if and whats with deals that a little research and time would resolve.
Oh boy…this was also posted on like hundreds of others savings blogs.
Dont feel bad!
p.s. Julie…I dont care for ur comment.
I agree with you Stevie. Do your own research if you are upset with all of the ‘what if’ deals.
ummm..Julie, if you are so concerned about these deals, and how a little time and research could clear these problems up, why don’t you spend YOUR time doing it? Oh but no, you sit back, wait for someone else to do it for you, then make smart comments if something isn’t accurate? Sounds shady to me.
I appreciate seeing some of these deals that may expire quickly, and I can judge for myself the legitimacy and relative risk of the offers; Collin doesn’t need to do that for anyone. In any case, this website is obviously a huge amount of work and I’d hate to see the good that it brings to so many people, including me, hampered because she’s taking all of her time researching every single thing and not finding other deals.
My name is Andrea too and I agree with the other Andrea’s comment. I saw this deal posted all over the internet. I did not attempt it because it just felt weird…but honestly, with the technology nowadays, it is so hard to verify what is legitimate and what is not. Colleen, do not feel bad about this. You go with what info you have and if it turns out to be not legitimate, it isn’t your fault.
What a jerk Julie. It is NOT her job to make sure YOU are safe. That is YOUR job. Collin simply provides us with information adn then YOU need to make the decision whether to do something with it! SHEESH….
Yeah Julie, why would you say something like that ???? Everyone else has written kind, grateful comments. Who are you to judge?
I have saved tons of money by reading this blog. Please do not slow down, time is always short with good deals. Thanks again for all you do!!!
Sorry, Julie…you missed the boat on this one. What were you thinking?
I think this comment a little uncalled for
It is not Collins place to do all of the leg work — do a little of your own
I agree with everyone else, your comment was completely uncalled for. Collin puts in a lot of time to help us, I know when I am signing up for stuff that it may indeed not be a legitimate offer, but it is on me whether or not I do sign up, not Collins responsibility.
Thanks Collin, we appriciate your hard work, help and dedication!
Julie, you should take those extra few minutes yourself!!
I agree, we all take our own risks. I will take those chances myself. Your comment is very rude Julie and you sure don’t speak on behalf of the rest of us Julie’s. Thank you Collin for all you do and keep up the good work.
I agree that this comment is shady. Maybe she/he owns another blog and is jealous of the success of this blog. Just saying.:)
Julie, You sound like an ungrateful, spoiled brat. If you don’t like what Collin does, don’t come to the site. Even major news organizations get things wrong sometimes. Maybe YOU should have taken a little time to research before you signed up for these offers. After all, nobody is forcing you to sign up for FREE stuff, you’re welcome to go to the store and pay full price. This site is full of SUGGESTIONS on how you can save. Do your own research, lighten up and enjoy the majority of the great offers that are listed here.
Huh? If she slows down they’ll be gone. You should do your half of the job and not wait for others to hand it all to you on a platter. You don’t have to sign up for anything.
Sorry to be on the other side of this, but I do not think that Julie’s comments were meant to be rude (some others were, please reread). When I started couponing, Hunt 4 Freebies was the site that I went to daily. Regularly, I was getting warnings from my virus protection program that there were problems with the links provided by Hunt 4 Freebies. Also, did not get lots of items that I had signed up to receive. When I switched to this site, I stopped having those problems on a regular basis… so I am happy that Collin does check out these deals. Sometimes things slip through, no problem. Thanks for letting me know how to delete pringles off my facebook list.
Not sure if Julie was trying to be rude, but maybe she just isn’t interested in doing her own research regarding validity of deals. I suppose there is nothing wrong with her wanting to rely 100% on someone else to do all the legwork involved in finding, validating, and posting deals but I would rather see these deals that might expire soon! Please keep posting this stuff Collin! Most (almost all) of the offers you post are legitimate and you have saved my family SO much money!
Please don’t lose sleep over the “Julie’s” that comment on here!
Take the time and research it yourself if you are so worried. If Hip2save slows down and researches every single deal to the fullest, nothing would get posted 🙂
Everyone needs to do their own due diligence. The excuse that “well so and so told me…” doesn’t work with my kids and it doesn’t work here either. Collin – don’t slow down too much!!! 🙂
You guys are being a little Harsh on Julie. Although I do not agree with her comment it is her opinon and she shared it in a good way. Are you guys really name calling??? If your child disagrees with someone at school do you tell her to make her point by calling the other child “jerk”. Lightened up Have some M&M’s . Have a great day.
P.S. If anyone feels like they want to call me a jerk go ahead words are like rubber and you are like glue they bounce off me and stick to you.
JL nicely said. Seriously, I don’t agree with Julie’s comment either however name calling is not very mature and is not what this site is about.
Relax everyone. Why do we have so much emotion involved? We are all trying to get good deals.
I agree with Julie. If you are going to post something, at least see if it is legit first!
I agree!
You put so much work into this site; you shouldn’t lose sleep over something like this. People who read your blog don’t have to blindly follow every deal you post. We are taking our privacy into our own hands when we click anywhere on the internet, for someone to place blame on you or tell you to “slow down” is ridiculous. Keep up the good work.
Agree with stever!
Keep up the good work, Colin!
You do an amazing job finding these deals and it’s greatly appreciated. My suggestion for the facebook deals is to go to the actual web site of the company and then go to facebook from there. I never log on to anything from my email cause it’s too risky.
..oh, and step away from the m&m’s girl.
What’s that supposed to mean? Like she needs you to tell her to step away from anyything.
she was kidding I am sure 🙂
This wasn’t meant to be mean, it was in answer to the first paragraph in the post.
I know we’re all about sticking up for Collin, but I think that was a joke! 😉
oh my! I was kidding. would someone really order someone away from candy? kidding again
OMGosh! Are we all a little testy this morning?? LOL I’m sure that was a joke…and time out in the corner for poor Julie up there. I’m sure she gets the point. Though she has a right to say something, too. I LOVE COLLIN…but if I didn’t I wouldn’t mention it. lol 🙂 I HOPE EVERYBODY HAS A GREAT DAY!
The point is…if you don’t like Collin… Don’t go on HER blog and tell HER. Just quit visiting the site. THATS THE WHOLE point. We don’t appreciate ppl givin Collin crap because she does a TON for all of us. If thats something ppl cant appreciate, then move on! Don’t get on HER site and be negative!
It is very responsible of you to help your readers correct this problem. Kudos. I don’t participate in any facebook coupons because I noticed that it is sent to all of my facebook friends. I have heard that people set up a separate anonymous facebook page just for coupons. I wonder if that works.
It does – I keep one with no friends, but my only regret is I used my real email address.
I didn’t even have a facebook account until I needed it to get coupons. I have no friends on there and no pictures. I filled out the least amount of info that I could. I never put my correct birthday on anything I fill out. That is too much info. At most, they should just ask your age or if you are 18 or older in case you need to be 18 for certain things. I also do not put my correct phone number. If I don’t end up getting a deal because of it-so what! You have to protect your own privacy. I just read an article yesterday about social wesites that said that you should never give your birthday or birth place, say that you are going on vacation, home address, mom’s maiden name, church you were married in, favorite song, etc. These are answers to questions that could give away your passwords to your online accounts.
I have a facebook account set up just for this. It works great so far.
i also have a fb for this… not my real info at all… and for those who are worried about phone numbers on freebies.. get a google voice acc.. its free and they dont bother you at all:)
I do the same thing. I have a “bogus” facebook page. It’s not really bogus, but I am friends with NO ONE on it and I only use it for the coupon deals.There is no information for any of the applications to pull.
It works like a charm and I highly recommend it!
Yes, when I started couponing I set up a new email account just for my couponing and opened a facebook account with that email and a fake name. I have no friends. On facebook, that is! LOL 🙂
It sure does work. I don’t believe in fb personally, but I have an email and fb account just for freebie offers. My brother calls it my fakebook, lol.
love that, fakebook. That’s what i’m calling it from now on 😉
Thanks Collin for keeping us informed and a big THANKS for all the $$$$ saving tips!!
Thanks for “protecting” us Collin! You go out of your way and your blog readers do appreciate it. You’re doing a great job, thanks!
I agree, Collin, you are awesome!
We all take risk when we do some of these deals, we are grown. Which is why I only use a spam email and seperate facebook to accept these offers. I also dont utilize my full real name or put my phone number on anything. 🙂
The reality is this: what you sent to a fake company was your name, address, telephone number. That is public information, most likely discovered on an internet search. As long as you remove access to your FB profile you are fine. Facebook should be treated as potentially public anyway. I know of someone who got in trouble at work because a ‘friend’ took a screen shot of some of her comments and sent it to their boss.
Thanks for being upfront, Collin. I love your blog and will continue to recommend it to others.
Yeah, but the reality is – that information that was sent is most likely being collected to sell to people who want to buy current information on people to send them spam in their mailboxes, email boxes, and also telephone calls. COmpanies pay about $1.00 per one persons complete information – think how much this guy is making off all of us who filled out the form!
Well then he will be calling my dead dog at a disconnected # lol. I am one who uses a fake acct and I would never use my real # for a free can of pringles lol. The only thing they can do is send spam to my cluster box or an email that is set up for this . This one is the not the first and wont be the last .
Yeah, I rarely give my real number and if I do my phone number is on the do not call list – so they can sell it to whomever they want, once the companies get it they will realize they cant call me. But, still that guy who did this gets paid and that is what erks me.
Also, my email has a spam blocker too and my mailbox gets junk in it anyways. That guy could care less about those things, he is just getting enough info off us to make himself a nice pocket of cash off our info we placed.
The whole FB thing carries a risk no matter what. Most people probably have much more riskier things installed and don’t know it. You should only have publically known info on your FB anyway… companies can get your email or address from various places including the phone book or a simple internet search. Its really not a big deal that you signed up for one fishy deal… unless you are giving out bank info or CC#’s!!
Does anyone know what they were gonna do with the info anyway? Spam us? Market to us?
Hey thanks to Collin I have the extra change to go buy a can of Pringles if I want to!! If this is the worst senario I come across then I am OK! For all of you gals upset with Collin, the only thing left for her to do is come print, clip and shop for us! Oh wait she has! I love this site, saved almost 100.00 on my last 225.00 Wal Mart bill. And I would NOT have without Collin…because I DO NOT have the time to scope out all of the deals. I appreciate her dedication and hope she makes a butt load of money doing this!! Just saying. 🙂
I agree completely! Collin is AMAZING!!!!! I too have knocked 50% off my monthly grocery bill because of her. Cheers!
Collin,girl keep on posting I will not hold it against you….everyone makes mistakes…you acually make them fewer than me….lol you won’t believe how many times an offer was spam that I signed up for (not from you site) One time is no biggie heck two times neither. I don’t feel it is YOUR JOB to find that info out…while I appreicate it…it’s not your job. I think you have handled the problem the best way you know how…by letting everyone know,then helping fix it. Girl don’t lose sleep over this. We/most of us appreicate this and hope you don’t change a thing. Girl grab you another bag of m&ms and sit in front of your computer and post til you can’t post anymore. And if it happens to be a not-so-good offer then it is oh well. NEXT! I could go on rambling but I will leave room for others to comment and let you know that you are doing a fantastic job. THANKS
Collin, Thank you for all the hard work that you put to hip2save, people should not be e-mailing you. People shoul know better that each sample and freebie that you post should be AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!! You are great, and don’t let people that are not worried to give all their info away for a free sample, but very worried about something soooo public like facebook make you feel bad. People should open a only for freebies facebook acount and end of problem.
colin i got confirmation that it is not legit. Check the facebook pringles extreme page. They finally answered me and said no its not legit thru them
The only Pringles Facebook page I see this being discussed on is the UK Pringles Extreme page. Of course the wouldn’t know anything about it. The thing I’d like to know is this: If it’s fake, why is the page hosted here: https://popart.pringles.com/pringles-facebook which is clearly on Pringles.com
thanks collin for letting us known. it’s not your fault. you weren’t the only blog who posted the deals. you work so hard and dedicated your time to post deals.
Thanks for the update. Please don’t lose anymore sleep over this. You are doing an amazing job!
Does anyone know what’s been happening to people who signed up?
Thanks for the heads up Collin. I removed them. Your doing a great job on here! And I must say I also indulged in about 4 snack sized Kit-Kats before bed last night that I got for nearly nothing at CVS. THANX!
Collin- You are amazing and I appreciate EVERYTHING you do. We all make mistakes (I don’t consider this one to be a mistake) and I think it was very honorable of you to apologize. I saw many coupons blogs that had the same offer. So don’t worry. You are awesome!
I read somewhere that there was a printable coupon that was illegitamate but that the one that was being mailed was a good coupon. I dont remember where I read that but if I find it again, I will post back.
Collin, Thanks for all you do for us!!!
Maybe we should pool together and buy you a new bag of M&M’s to show our gratitude for your hard work. only…………….
……..let me suggest you eat only 1/2 bag next time……………ha ha.
I’ve got a coupon I’ll throw in for a BAG FOR COLLIN DAY!! 🙂 Love you Collin….you have to be cracking up at all of us. Maybe “I” need to get a life. not. lol
Thanks darling Collin! Oh well, better luck next time! Thankfully, I habitually remove every application immediately after signing up for whatever! You’re so diligent, letting us know-not your fault-like a precious comment stated-we can research ourselves and choose what deals to persue! I think we all appreciate all the amazing savings you send our way!
God bless you, sweetie! Press on!
Thanks for the update. Anybody who still uses their REAL facebook page to sign up for freebies kinda brings it on themselves – I have two “extra” accounts with a minimum of information, my cats’ names, and NO friends, so I don’t spam anybody out there.
Btw, I got my Mrs Fields cookies and my Sears shoe order yesterday – AWESOME! Thanks so much for all you do!
That’s pretty smart. I am always worried so whenever they require an application link, I forgo the deal but I never thought about this before…hmmm, you may be onto something here.
And thanks Collin for all that you do! I love deals but don’t always have the time to seek them out =)
Your cats’ names, that’s a good idea.
Don’t feel bad or lose sleep girl. You rock! By the way if eating M & M’s, and letting your kids sleep with you are your worst vices you have it made.
BTW my two boys both slept in our bed until they were both about 8 ( I know, I know, but I loved to snuggle them)
Collin, I think it is sad that you’re losing sleep over this. It is NOT your fault. You do an awesome job with this site and so many people are grateful to you. In the end, it is our choice whether to give a company our personal information.
Collin,
The big bag or one little bag? If so, geesh, you are really hard on yorself! Julie, I think I speak for all of us, when I say, GET A LIFE!
This one was posted on tons of other websites too, so don’t feel bad!!
I posted a question about it on pringles facebook page. that the offer links to – https://www.facebook.com/Pringles lets see what they say
Here is the appliation page:
https://www.facebook.com/Pringles#!/apps/application.php?id=138224196221745
About the Developer
.Karthikeyan Gnanamurthy
Seems like a fake one to me now looking at it.
i received the pringle offer in an email from fb, but i didn’t do it, because id on’t do most freebies like that…don’t feel bad, it’s not your fault
How awesome are you!!!! Seriously, you did not have to update us on this, or give instructions to remove ourselves from it, but you did b/c you care about all of us, people you have never met! YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One more note: Months ago, I purposely set up a “second” FB account just for things like this – not because they may be fraudulent offers, but because I find it annoying to keep reading offers my friends have signed up for in my news feed – it gets redundant. Because this was the account I signed up for the Free Pringles on, I have no worries at all. Maybe an idea for some of you out there….
Wow, come on now, Julie did post an extremely rude comment, and I agree Colin is awesome, but, letsl let this go ,and all move on, no need to keep insulting Julie , im sure she got the point.
Collin, You are an amazing woman. I have saved $1000’s of dollars over the past year thanks to you. It is up to us as adults to make the choice to sign up for free stuff. For the particular freebie, I started to type the email with all my info and it just didn’t feel right so I deleted my email. Listen to the still small voice and you can never go wrong.
Collin, I also want to give you a big THANK YOU for all your hard work. I check your page everyday and you’re amazing for helping us.
Thanks for the reminder to go in and clean up my facebook account. I didn’t do the Pringles one but there were others that were old promotions and it’s always good to check and see what you’ve allowed and what you’d like to delete. You can change the search box also to “authorized” and delete those because they all might not show up right away.
I like several others have a FB account that I strictly use for the coupon offers…with no personal info and if anything went wrong I would just delete it and make a new one.I suggest others do the same.Colin does her best and puts it out there for us to choose what to take or not.She is only human same as us.It’s up to us to decide what to take or not.I am so thankful to Colin for all she does.She is a very busy woman and yet she still manages time to post this blog.Keep up the good work Colin and PLEASE don’t lose any sleep….WE LOVE YOU !!!!!!!
Collin,you do an AMAZING JOB finding great deals for all your readers,and it’s greatly appreciated.Don’t lose sleep over this,it’s not your fault.
I have a personal facebook with all my personal friends AND a “public” facebook with none of my personal information or personal friends so that I can specifically do coupons. I’m usually very cautious about clicking on links from my emails but I always confide in your links and go directly to the sites. But, I agree that this should be my responsibility. Thank you for posting this and making me more aware.
oh yea…1 more thing…..here’s a ” 🙂 ” pass it on
Thank you so much for telling us that the offer was not legit! 🙂 I love your page and you do great work. It helps us keep ourselves “safe” too if we know we have signed up for spam. I LOVE how you told everyone how to remove Pringles from their facebook pages. Details like this are what make your page the BEST!!! 🙂 Thanks for doing all the awesome research that you do!
Hey it happens to the best of us.. You do wonderful work and help me save a ton 🙂 you rock.. don’t loose sleep over this one … for the haters … well if it makes you feel better to pick on someone that works so hard to keep us in the know and devotes so much of her precious time to this website well then you should be ashamed of yourself! apparently your parents never taught you how to act around other humans.. Thank you Collin for providing this lovely website and thank you for saving me some leg work on finding awesome deals 🙂
Okay, the funny thing is I didn’t ever remember doing this particular coupon. But when I checked my husband’s facebook account; there it was – lol! Removed it now. Can’t seem to find the coupon either though it must be laying around somewhere. No harm done Collin. Out of all the other stuff that has been so much fun collecting, I will not be bothered by this in the least little bit. 😀
Don’t lose any sleep over this Collin! It was nice of you to research and post how to remove the application because a lot of people don’t know how to do this. I have a totally separate facebook account just for freebies, giveaways, etc. This protects my personal information and my friends. That and my friends don’t all need to know that I “like” pringles extreme, or whatever the deal of the day is! Keep up the awesome work you do : )
Just wanted to use this as a chance to thank you for hosting this amazing site! I have saved so much money due to this amazing community of savvy shoppers. I hope you never lose sleep over something like this again. The only probelm I’ve had while using your site is getting sucked in and letting dinner burn!
I just read ALL of the posts put on this thread, and I only saw ONE that was remotely like what I’m about to type.
Yes, Collin is wonderful, funny, and very good at what she does. I appreciate that she turned a necessity into a fabulous way to help support her family. (Unlike a lot of talking heads these days, I am PRO-CAPITALISM…imagine that!)
However, I think she lost sleep for a completely different reason. There have been multiple comments posted on completely unrelated threads begging her to write a post like this. This scam wasn’t revealed this morning – she said in the post, above, that she became aware of it within a few hours, yet took 2 days to put it on the main page. In the meantime, some posts that had comments about this were removed from the site (not just the initial post).
I never took umbrage about her not being my protector from all things bad on the Internet (she wasn’t born early enough 😉 ); rather, I don’t understand why she waited so long. People were in panic in the posts, worried that information was exposed (and it all is, once you allow applications).
What was the reason to wait to just post a “I’m not sure about this, but JUST IN CASE, you might want to delete the application…” type message? I don’t program on FB, but my guess is the moment you allowed the application, your info was on its way – deleting the app now just allows them not to see anything new from this point forward. Therefore, not informing people is a fault, IMO.
I know I’ll get flamed, but as an educator my whole life, I have always found that information is power. Collin normally gets an A-triple-plus 😉 for providing us with valuable information in a very timely manner. In this instance, however, timeliness was important and that was my concern.
Your site is always the best! You share great deals, are honest and real!! Anyone not appreciating it, don’t come onto the site!
Thanks!!
Colin, I have gotten so many GREAT deals through you and your site, what do I care if that one little “fake” one I signed up for brings an axe murderer to my house?!
He’ll have to get through the dog, my husband, 2 teenage boys and my enormous stockpile of crap I have saved THOUSANDS on, just to axe me. LMAO!
I’m not worried and you shouldn’t be either. 😉
It’s not your fault or your responsibility to be worried about spam on Facebook it is the responsibility of the people who have chosen to give up their privacy by being on Facebook in the first place to police which offers they choose to accept. Facebook is full of scams and spams and unfortunately too many people don’t understand the privacy they have given away by participating on this site and let’s be clear – they will never be able to reclaim their privacy. This is their choice not your responsibility.
I clicked on your link but when it took me to Facebook I declined to participate. It was my choice. You are not responsible for the choices others make.
I only wish that you would point out in your post that it’s a Facebook offer so I won’t waste my time clicking.
Thanks for the head’s up on how we could get that application removed. More M&M power to ya! I was a savings blogger for about a year, worked my butt off and still couldn’t get half as much done as you can. You are awesome, to say the least. I could never compete! Keep up the the great work!
Collin from 1 Carolian to another..You do an aweson job Gal..so don’t loose sleep over this one..this was posted on many free sites on FB ..you weren’t the only one that fell for this freebie..don’t hesitate posting..The reason I come here 1st is you are most times in front of everyone else..we all love you it’s just as easy to click on a good one from you