First off, we did NOT purchase any of these. The auction usually advertises information on how you can purchase an Xbox, or for that matter, any hardware at a ridiculously low price. When you become the "sucker" and lay down $25 or more for the info, you'll find out you've been had.

The information you'll receive is usually for a "pyramid scheme." These schemes, deemed illegal in the United States and numerous other countries, are what you must enter into to "pay" for the Xbox. You'll pay $25, or whatever the cost, and be placed into the lowest level of a pyramid, and in many cases, you'll need to have at least 25 other people join up to be able to get the product for "free."

What does this mean? Let's take, for instance, the scam on "electronicsmatrix.com." For the Xbox entry, you have to pay $22.00. You then need to have 23 direct referrals, or people that you refer and they sign up with your special referrer code. If each individual puts down $22.00 as well, the company would have earned $22.00 x 24 people, or $528 dollars. Now, they only need to send you 1 Xbox console, which can be purchased in stores for $160. This leaves the company with $368 in profit.

So, let's follow this thing through completely. Using the 23 people you referred as well, if each of your referrers was to refer 23 people, 529 people would now have joined. And 529 people, at $22 a pop would come to $11,638. Subtract the cost of 23 Xbox consoles, and the company has made $7958.

There is NO guarantee that you will get your Xbox, unless you can refer 23 other people into the system. And, as with everything in life, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Pyramid's can only get so large before they encompass the entire population of the globe.