Is this multi-millionaire rooster for real?

Since Cluuk.com launched a few days ago, tongues have been wagging about its veracity. The premise of the site is that it gives away free cash hand-outs from a pot of £50 million, left to a rooster by an eccentric English financier. Users are invited to click on a button marked ‘click to win!' for the opportunity to claim £2, £5, £10, £20, £50 or £100 payments - up to £1,000, it says, may be won by an individual in certain time periods, which will be flagged up on Cluuk's social media. Money is transferred to winners via Pay Pal and any unclaimed prizes are donated to Chickenshed, a British charity theatre group. But is this all too good to be true?

ONLINE DISCUSSIONS

Loquax, the UK's competition portal was suspicious, so checked out the limited company incorporation documents at Companies House. It found out only that Cluuk is owned by two people, Hamzad Jawad Ali and E-Invesco, a development and investment company, who are registered at the address on the Cluuk website. Elsewhere online, chat forums have been discussing the millionaire rooster. On Digital Spy, one visitor claims to have won £2, but hasn't posted yet as to whether this has been received in his Pay Pal account. Meanwhile, on Money Saving Expert, one member has given a virus warning regarding the site. On Twitter, there is some discussion: one user has won £2, but this won't be credited to his account for 60 days; another complains of sore fingers after clicking a lot, but not winning anything...

BACKGROUND

If this is a scam, there are a lot of people who are going to look very silly and it's worth bearing in mind that Cluuk has a reputable PR company (Golden Goose PR) behind it; has featured prominently on Ian Collin's show on Talksport; and yesterday handed out fivers, tenners, £20 notes and £50 notes on Oxford Street to raise publicity. If Cluuk isn't for real, this is a con of epic proportions; if it is genuine, the owners of the site need to make everything much more transparent. Is the site making money and how? If so, is this being put back into the pot to be given away? Is the eccentric financier story for real? Who was he? Read the terms & conditions carefully and, as Loquax says, approach with caution.

18 December 09