TechCapon

I'm not really in a good frame of mind right now but out of respect for all the wonderful nairalanders who voted and supported me with encouraging words, I owe them a duty to explain everything that has happened in the past few days with regards to the so called "empowerment" done by Infinix. I can't afford to keep anyone in the dark considering the avalanche of emails and DMs I have received from them and the fact that over 70% of my votes came from this forum.

It is quite annoying and depressing that a brand like Infinix which I thought was a reputable company would reduce itself to this level. I know that with the arrival of top brands like Xiaomi and Oppo into the Nigerian smartphone market, companies like Infinix will naturally feel threatened and resort to applying tricks in order to market their products. My advice to them is to rather focus on improving the quality of their devices and people will buy rather than churning up fake promos all to gain attention and maybe sales.

I never wanted to take part in this Infinix challenge but a friend from nairaland asked me to. I told him this is Nigeria and things are never straightforward but he told me to try my luck which I did and to my utmost surprise, I was nominated for the final stage.

It all started 2 weeks ago, we were ten nominees who were to take part in the final stage. My confidence in the whole process was down from the beginning but I decide to continue just to see if it's going to be transparent. They announced that they only accept "Retweets" on Twitter, "Shares" for Facebook and "Likes" on Instagram. This is where the problem really is. We all know Instagram is the easiest place to cheat and gain "Likes" that are not real.

How the process was rigged and riddled with flaws.

When the whole thing started, I sustained a huge campaign across all platforms including nairaland where I had a large multitude of supporters. I was leading on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram followed closely by one other Ebuka. The rest were far behind. It was supposed to last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week and result announced on Saturday.

Cheating started happening on Instagram

All of a sudden, I notice a sharp spike in Instagram likes of some contestants while their Facebook “shares” and Twitter “Retweets” REMAINED STAGNANT . Obviously Instagram is the easiest place to cheat and they exploited it. There are lots of websites or tools you can paste your Instagram links into and it will start generating AUTOMATED FAKE LIKES.

As soon as we noticed it, I raised alarm and we contacted Infinix through the appropriate channels and they vowed to do something about it. They said they would disqualify anyone who cheats.


However, on Saturday it was obvious I would be among the winner and while waiting for announcement, there was nothing from Infinix till late night of Saturday. Instead of the result, they announced that they will be introducing another 5 contestants to join the competition and everything has been extended by another one week. This shows that they already have their own preferred candidates who they want to announce through the backdoor.

Immediately I knew they were up to no good and decided to watch how everything will play out. Again I started noticing a huge SPIKE in Instagram “LIKES” from the new contestants but because the company has said they will not tolerate cheating I was calm a bit. I thought they will be honest and do something about it because these guys doesn’t have up to 100 votes on Twitter or Facebook.

How can you say you’re popular online, you have over 3K likes on Instagram, you can’t replicate the same feat on Facebook and Twitter ? I saw someone with over 2K “likes” and only 6 comments. When I went through the profile, in addition to real "Likes" most of the likes came from white people with virtually no followers or profile. Most of them used DOGS and CATS as profile pictures.

I laughed, although I was tempted to do the same but I thought Infinix is a reputable company and will not allow their image be tainted in that manner. How wrong I was! To cut long story short, they announced the winners yesterday and your guess is as good as mine. Both winners emerged from Instagram with very little votes on Facebook and Twitter. Also both winners came from the new set of 5 people who joined this week. None of us from the original 10 emerged.

Is Infinix aware of the cheating?
The answer is YES and they allowed it because it was their game plan all along. They only said they will disqualify just to discourage others from cheating as well in order to rig it in their favour.

My problem now is, why put people through sleepless nights, make them spend money and through unnecessary stress if you know that you will not be sincere from the beginning. Why give people false hope and false impression that you are actually trying to empower Nigerians when you know it was a sham all along? Why play with the minds and emotions of people just to score a cheap point?

There’s no way I as a person can mobilize over 3,000 real people to vote me on Instagram and I can’t mobilize at least 2,000 of those people to do the same on Twitter and Facebook. How can you mobilize 3,000 real people on Instagram and only get 100 votes on Twitter and Facebook?

Notwithstanding, I am still happy I never tried to cheat by using bots but I will warn others who will attempt to contest any Infinix promo in future to keep their mind open and know what to expect. Thanks for your time and for the votes. I appreciate it.

I got a total of 774 retweet, 885 likes on Instagram. One of the winners oyc official could only muster 35 retweets and 75 shares on Facebook. Cheated massively on Instagram with over 2K likes and Infinix welcomed it.

Lalasticlala
mynd44
dominique

Who send you work?

MJBOLT:

even online voting process is rigged,naija and corruption be like rice and beans.

Infinix just rubbished their image. They know the loop holes but refused to do anything about it

Integrity pays


Well done

Sorry Bro dats NAIJA for u

TechCapon sorry about the experince, it can be really annoying and painful factoring in time wasted and amount of money and resources spent. God got your back, he will see you through to better competitions and you will excel. Never give up.A big shout out to all those kind Nairalanders who took time out to vote for you. They shall remain blessed for life.

hmmm i know it hurts but my experience in this life is seek to understand the process first before taking this rush of blood to the head process you have just embarked on.


Anyway nothing concern me sha

Every mallam with him kettle.

Oga you no win simple and short /

Stop playing the victim here. Like the person above said you re simply annoyed but should calm down and understand why first.
I can imagine how you will look if you later found out you truly didn't win.

Oga you no win simple and short /

Stop playing the victim here. Like the person above said you re simply annoyed but should calm down and understand why first.
I can imagine how you will look if you later found out you truly didn't win..

Funny how people can be when things dont favor them.

This is not peculiar to infinix, it is normal thing in Nigeria since agencies that is supposed to monitor and investigate promo, lotto and other similar things are very useless, corrupt and powerless.

Have u ever seen neutral person or your next neighbor win something in Nigeria? From MTN aeroplane promo to common Cowbell or Cocacola bottle cover promo, they are all same, intension is to lure people and scam the consumer. Gone are the days of 7up Deawoo racer promo that your next door neighbor or somebody in your community could win or the days of Glo picanto that your uncle's colleague in the office will win one, now a days it is just scam. Don't be surprised that Nigeria lottery council has a slot among the winners.

seunfly:
Ok

hehe abi o

From page ooo

I witnessed this first hand with Keystone MSME competition done few months ago. I campaigned for a sis, exactly what you said was what played out but Keystone was wise enough to spot the cheats.

dumo1:
TechCapon sorry about the experince, it can be really annoying and painful factoring in time wasted and amount of money and resources spent. God got your back, he will see you through to better competitions and you will excel. Never give up.A big shout out to all those kind Nairalanders who took time out to vote for you. They shall remain blessed for life.

God bless you for this

faithfull18:
I witnessed this first hand with Keystone MSME competition done few months ago. I campaigned for a sis, exactly what you said was what played out but Keystone was wise enough to spot the cheats.

this can be another angle to it, people might have been desperate and cheated which was not noticed. Just saying sha

dumo1:
TechCapon sorry about the experince, it can be really annoying and painful factoring in time wasted and amount of money and resources spent. God got your back, he will see you through to better competitions and you will excel. Never give up.A big shout out to all those kind Nairalanders who took time out to vote for you. They shall remain blessed for life.

thanks my brother.

Mafialeader:
God bless you for this

thanks my guy

Personally i observed all contestants cheated, someone here is pained others cheated more than him.

faithfull18:
I witnessed this first hand with Keystone MSME competition done few months ago. I campaigned for a sis, exactly what you said was what played out but Keystone was wise enough to spot the cheats.

in this case Infinix spotted the cheats but they welcomed it for whatever reason. If I had cheated, I'm sure they would have disqualified me. Nigeria can never get better with those kind of people.

CaptainStephen:
hmmm i know it hurts but my experience in this life is seek to understand the process first before taking this rush of blood to the head process you have just embarked on.


Anyway nothing concern me sha

Every mallam with him kettle.

if you knew what I went through in the past two weeks you wouldn't be saying this.

TechCapon:
if you knew what I went through in the past two weeks you wouldn't be saying this.

well I dont know sha, all the best.

Mafialeader:
this can be another angle to it, people might have been desperate and cheated which was not noticed. Just saying sha

we informed Infinix long before the results were announced that heavy cheating was going on Instagram. They knew about it no doubt

Lol, Infinix and Tecno behaving like Glo...
Instead of using your resources to improve quality of your product they spend it on useless celebrity endorsement and media hype...
Lol there marketers here on Nl is having a hard time promoting them...
Nigerians have gotten wiser!!

PhenomenalMorgan:
Lol, Infinix and Tecno behaving like Glo...
Instead of using your resources to improve quality of your product they spend it on useless celebrity endorsement and media hype...
Lol there marketers here on Nl is having a hard time promoting them...
Nigerians have gotten wiser!!

Are you done ?

Ok

PhenomenalMorgan:
Lol, Infinix and Tecno behaving like Glo...
Instead of using your resources to improve quality of your product they spend it on useless celebrity endorsement and media hype...
Lol there marketers here on Nl is having a hard time promoting them...
Nigerians have gotten wiser!!

I thought the organisers were credible

TechCapon:
I thought the organisers were credible

they are as crappy as their phones!