$50.00 Kubota Survey

jeffmc134 · Oct 4, 2005

I received a email from Kubota Credit about completing a survey. 3 questions and they offered to send me $50.00. I emailed Kubota Credit to ask if it was legitimate and they are unsure at this time. They are checking to see if it came from there corporate offices. Anyone else received this email or is it a scam?

Skidmark25 · Oct 4, 2005

Nope,

i didn't get one

N80 · Oct 4, 2005

Bought my tractor in August and haven't gotten anything like this. But, I don't think I gave thm my email address.

Just look at the survey, if it asks for any account info, passwords, credit card numbers or SS# then it is probably a scam.

But, Kubota needs to know that somehow private info has been leaked or sold, because how else would anyone know you'd financed through them?

jeffmc134 · Oct 4, 2005

here is the email 

(Embedded image moved to file: pic19895.jpg)
KUBOTA CREDIT CORPORATION, U.S.A.
3401 Del Amo Blvd
Torrance, CA 90503

Dear Kubota Customers,

Thank you for your purchase and for financing with Kubota Credit
Corporation, U.S.A.
Kubota appreciates your purchase and we sincerely hope that you are
enjoying your
products.

Kubota is a customer value oriented company and we are looking for
improvements to
our sponsored Insurance Program. Please take a few minutes of your time to
complete
the enclosed survey. Upon our receipt of your completed e-mail response, we
will
send a $50 check to you at the address we have on file. Please note, if you
have
moved, please send back your new address for our records.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. We really appreciate it.

Sincerely,

(Embedded image moved to file: pic05447.jpg)

Masato
Yoshikawa

President, Kubota Credit Corporation, U.S.A.

Survey Instruction

The survey is included in attached excel file.
To start survey, please save the attachment on to your PC, and open the
file.
You'll then be presented with 3 questions, and area for comment, and an
address verification section.
Please mark "X" in the box next to each question if it is true.
Once you've completed the questions and provided any comments, please
provide your address to ensure
you receive the $50 Reward for completing the survey to us.
After you complete your survey, please save the file and send it to
kic@kubota.com by October 21, 2005,
to qualify for your $50 Reward.

(See attached file: InsuranceSurvey1.xls)

N80 · Oct 4, 2005

Call me a skeptic but that sounds bogus. I would not open the Excel file. I would not reply to the email address. Having to download and open a file and then email it back sounds very suspicious. The risk of this carrying a virus is high. At the very least Kubota would have either done this through the snail mail or it would have been done at a web site where you were not required to open or email anything.

I'm not an expert but this has scam written all over it. If it is legit, Kubota should know better than to handle it this way.

jeffmc134 · Oct 4, 2005

I am not so much concerned about the virus because I believe my computer is protected and I have experience getting rid of viruses. My biggest concern is how this information (My financial information and insurance information) became avaliable for scams. Was Kubotas customer database compromised? Because I automatically deduct my Kubota payment from my account.

KirkMcD · Oct 4, 2005

( . My biggest concern is how this information (My financial information and insurance information) became avaliable for scams. )

It should show up on a credit report, plus there would also be a UCC filing with the state.

cart99 · Oct 4, 2005

BOGUS BOGUS BOGUS. There is NO WAY any company with half a clue would collect survey information by sending out an Excel spreadsheet.

jlbota · Oct 4, 2005

I recieved the same email just the other day and thought it seemed really fishy. I was going to call Kubota Credit myself but hadn't gotten around to doing so.
Anything I have ever recieved from Kubota has had my name attached.
This one seemed very generic and vague. I also noticed there was no contact information if you had any questions which seemed really unlike Kubota or any big corporations ways.

I do believe this one to be bogus and I would also like to know how they got my email address or any other info for that matter. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

MessickFarmEqu · Oct 4, 2005

( BOGUS BOGUS BOGUS. There is NO WAY any company with half a clue would collect survey information by sending out an Excel spreadsheet. )

As lame as it is, they do this kinda stuff.

I would not doubt its legit, like someone else said - as long as they are not asking for credit cards, SS# or sensitive information I am sure its probably fine.

Pks · Oct 4, 2005

The Excel spreadsheet part clinches it for me.

Whether it's bogus or not, this is NOT a proper method for gathering information. Oh and...only three questions? Sheesh, I would have expected a couple of dozen.

Any chance you opened the file and can tell us what three questions are listed?

JoeR · Oct 4, 2005

I thought Kubota Credit was located in Georgia. At least, that is where my payments went, and I know I called them before too. Strange!

Joe

MotorSeven · Oct 4, 2005

Sounds like a scam, there are alot out there. Last year after a 3 week vacation i returned home and had an em from "ebay" that said, "Due to a recent lack of activity on your account, please log in to update or your account may suspended". Without thinking i clicked on the link in the email which logged me onto ebay. About a week later my account was frozen due to fradulent activity. After a half an hour on the phone ebay told me that someone used my password to set up a fradulent sale of a Suzuki motorcycle(they caught it in time). I know...my fault....lesson learned /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif.
Yours sounds like the same thing, there is alot of info on your computer that can be accessed if they can get inside.

RD

VA_Joe · Oct 4, 2005

If it sounds too good to be true ...

jeffmc134 · Oct 5, 2005

I went to the Kubota web site and filled in the Contact Us page to make sure the right Kubota people answered my question. Here are the responses I got from Kubota.

Dear Mr. McDonald,

At this point in time we are not sure of the origin of the message. We are
checking with the Directors of the Corporation, but it may take a day or
two because all are at the National Dealer Meeting. As soon as we get some
information we will be passing it along.

Thank you,

Kubota Credit Corporation, U.S.A.

Dear Mr. McDonald,

We have confirmed with the President that this email was sent by our
Corporation. If you have further questions or are unable to open the
attachment please advise us.

Thank you,

Kubota Credit Corporation, U.S.A.

jeffmc134 · Oct 5, 2005

I guess it is legitimate. Easiest $50.00 ever. Seems to easy.

N80 · Oct 5, 2005

Thanks for doing the leg work on this one and congrats on the $50.

I'm still shocked that Kubota would send out something like this that really has red flags all over it in terms of security and fraud.

In any case, what were the questions?

jeffmc134 · Oct 5, 2005

See attachment

cart99 · Oct 5, 2005

( BOGUS BOGUS BOGUS. There is NO WAY any company with half a clue would collect survey information by sending out an Excel spreadsheet. )

It appears I was 100% wrong!! Wow, that's just stunning though. I could write a couple paragraphs about what a bad way this is to do surveys, but it's not really relevant.

Congrats. on the easy money!!!

KirkMcD · Oct 5, 2005

( ( BOGUS BOGUS BOGUS. There is NO WAY any company with half a clue would collect survey information by sending out an Excel spreadsheet. )
)

"Half a clue" that's the key. Way too many clueless people use computer's.
I fixed a friend's pc once. It had over 500 spyware programs on it. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I erased the hard drive and reinstalled windows. A few weeks later she came back to me and said it wasn't working again. Hmmm, I wonder why. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif She wants to buy a laptop, so that it doesn't happen anymore. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif I don't understand why she thinks that would help.