What is the next big marketing scam after bottled water?

Have anyone heard or experience any marketing scam? What are their techniques? Are these marketing "tricks" acceptable? (eg. Google "Inextron" or "Aowa" cases)

• In Asia, refund of any purchase is typically not allowed in any store. Especially in Indonesia, this rule has been "taken as an opportunity" for some stores to create a marketing scam, to make the potential buyer as if they have won a grand prize from a lottery that they have drawn in that store. This "free" prize that is claimed to be worth for $1000-1500, is not actually free. Customers have to buy a second product (min. purchase of $800), with "misleading" information that this purchase can be exchanged with lower-price products in 1-2 months, as a requirement from the Social Minister. The "confusion" created by comments, praises, personal questions by 5-7 salesman to this 1 potential customer, with an addition to "swiping" of customer credit cards without their approval but at the end they sign it. Moreover, the products that they finally got for $800 (claimed to be worth for $3000), are actually for better brands are only worth $500 the max. They have mark up the prices to mislead the customers. However, in the "transaction forms" that the customers had to sign, there is a statement that "any goods purchased cannot be exchanged and refunded", and "I as the buyer made this transaction without any force from anyone, and I made this purchase consciously", that make the customers are "weak" in terms of law. Especially that the customers pay $$$ for goods that actually they got, but the WAY they sell the products are not right.

• Answer:

  one true story of this kind-of marketing scam: http://arystamarketingscam.blogspot.com/ http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/07/31/09/appliance-shop-closed-over-alleged-marketing-scam (In Phillipines) http://www.livinginindonesiaforum.org/showthread.php/15008-Aowa-scam-outside-of-Lotte-Mart http://ibumuda05.multiply.com/journal/item/48/AOWA_CHEATING_SCAM..BEWARE (in Indonesia)