The number’s up for an ‘unlawful’ iPod lottery which promised mobile phone customers a free iPod music player and other gifts if they purchased a certain amount of CDs and ringtones.

According to reports from Mac World news, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) closed down a scheme operated by Mobiles4all.

The OFT explains: “Participants who bought the product were added to a waiting list for their chosen ‘free gift’, and told that it would be sent to them after they reached the top of the list.

“However, for each free gift to be dispatched, a set number of new recruits had to join the scheme (usually around 30, although the number varied according to the value of the ‘free gift’ that was chosen).

The industry regulator called such schemes “unlawful” and Mac World warned that “the grim reality of such scheme is one in which the number of people waiting for their free gadget would always ‘far exceed’ the number of gifts sent out”.

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