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This quizrace.com quiz game is spreading like a virus all over internet forums and sites like 4cahn, minecraft etc (just google for it) - because it requires you to invite 3 friends to continue beyond question 6.

I have to admit it's very appealing game - if you like puzzles and code cracking - but how safe it is? There is no T&C or anything similar so I don't think the price is real, but it increases over time and there are some adds later in the game. Can it be they are collecting email addresses? Can it be some harmful malware?

On the other hand it looks very professionally, the puzzles later on are really tough, made by programmes for programmers and it reminds me of similar quiz made by Google where the first place prize was a job offer.

The whole secrecy around it makes it even more appealing (to some).

What do you think? Have you heard of it?

PS: I am not providing a link to recruit others to pass the question 6, please avoid to do so in the discussion too.

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I have not heard about it, but I'll offer some basic thoughts:

Can it be they are collecting email addresses? Can it be some harmful malware?

Everyone, everywhere is trying to collect your email address on the internet. It's a basic fact of life. It lets companies who are collecting them for 'benign' purposes contact you and keep you involved... it lets malicious companies sell you out to spammers/etc.

It's an unfortunate fact of life that the internet is a scary and dangerous place. Even 'safe' areas can be infiltrated and your data can be stolen.

It's all about tradeoffs... is the fun of this game worth the risk of someone using your information for illicit/malicious purpose?

On the more specific end of things, though, I did a bit of a search on the site and came up with this:

http://www.mywot.com/en/forum/11726-quizrace

Which seems to be very negative about the website. At the very least, it is not a legitimate business organization.. and the worst they are actively doing malicious activities.

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After taking a look through that thread, I'd bet at least 10¢ that they'll be trying to log in to each of those email accounts with the provided passwords - or selling them off to spammers (if the site itself is not already). Interesting marketing ploy if you have a real site, though. – Wayne Werner Jun 23 '11 at 16:24
Wayne, can you formulate your note as an answer? I think it's worth giving it a vote up. – daniel.sedlacek Jun 27 '11 at 13:59

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