Received this yesterday:

My name is SungYoun Pak, CEO of Crevate, a consumer-centered innovation consultancy located in Seoul, South Korea.

We are currently conducting a project with Samsung Electronics Design Research Team.

This project is to discover new opportunities to improve user’s music experience under the current dynamic change in music industry. With streaming services, the concept of ownership and the context of music experience is changing dramatically. We are contacting experts in the related fields located in the US, UK and Korea to gain perspectives on the future of music.

As a SONOS user, we thought you would be a perfect candidate to ask you a few questions on this topic. This will be done via e-mail, asking about your expertise and perspectives on how people would listen to music in the future (we are talking about 5 years ahead). Mainly it will be about how you think digital music would evolve, as well as how people’s trigger, search, listening, managing and social aspects of ‘music experience’ would change.

And it is important for us you are in London. We will talk about this by face-to-face interview.

Your answers will only be used for this project, but you will be identified in the material. If you agree to participate, we would like to acknowledge your contribution with $400.

Please let me know if you can spare your time for this via my company email below.
I will be looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

SungYoun Pak

Now I am a Sonos user, the email was from a crevate.com domain, and the whois and various searches on the people involved seem to back things up.

But I’m a novice at this detective stuff, so what’s the catch? When I questioned whether it would be questions answered via email or a face to face interview or both I got the following back:

Thank you for your kind answer and sorry for my unclear favor.

We need person who suits below condition.

– Living in London
– Music lead user
– Uses Sonos (www.sonos.com/shop) or Wireless dock speaker
OR
– Uses Apple Homeshare or Airplay
OR
– Uses sound dock or sound bar from high-end brands such as B&O

We will give $400 for the final confirmed interviewee.

And can you fill out the form below?

We need to know the following info of the interviewee:

Name:
Age:
Phone no.:
Email:
Occupation:
Where you live:
Who you live with:
Marital Status:

Mobile phone u are using:
Audio equipment :
Portable speaker (dock speaker):
Do you have Sonos:
Do you use Airplay:
Do you use Homeshare:

What music streaming services do you use:
Please list when you listen to music in a normal day:
Do you listen to music outside (parks, gardens, party) with portable speakers? if yes, than which model:

The way we do interview is face-to-face meeting. Are you available during May 15~17th (next Tuesday-Thursday) for 2 hour interview at your home or workplace to understand the context of music consumption behavior?

And also if you recommend a person who suits recruiting condition above we will reward $300 for the recommender.

Alarm bells ring for me given the amount of information they’re requesting, but how would you play it given the potential pocket money for a couple of hours?

Get in touch with Samsung?

Mobile phone u are using

Scam!

will ask for bank details before long, to “pay u”

“Hi, we’re conducting a survey of people who have a house full of Apple stuff & high end audio gear that we can nick sometime between 15 & 17 May while you’re out at a fake interview that’s not going to happen.”

http://twitter.com/#!/sypak

If you’re a twit then send her a tweet ?

“Hi, we’re conducting a survey of people who have a house full of Apple stuff & high end audio gear that we can nick sometime between 15 & 17 May while you’re out at a fake interview that’s not going to happen.”

😆 Conduct interview at home with Bombers?

Give them fake info, and then let them know you dont have a bank account, only cash will do.

Could be legit. They do do market research like this – I did one in 2000, can’t remember if they phoned me or emailed me though. Although for me it was all afternoon and I only made £50.

As Don said, might be an idea to see if Samsung can confirm it… although expect that will be more difficult than it sounds.

In the meantime, let’s see how they respond to me not having all the details they require…

Thanks all for the replies

They’ve go a Freakbook page.
http://www.facebook.com/SamsungUK
I think they’d be interested in knowing if/that someone is using their name in a scam too.

Have emailed Samsung, let’s see…

It’ll be a fake/stolen cheque scam – they will send you a cheque for more than the $400 promised, you bank it then send them the difference then in a few months time your bank will call to tell you the cheque was stolen/fake and you will loose your money (again!!).

Response from Samsung:

Thank you for your email.

WE do not have information on any such programme.

I would advise not to respond to this email.

If you require any further assistance, please contact Samsung again and we will be more than happy to help.

Kind regards,

Dave
Online Support Team
SAMSUNG Customer Support Centre

Doesn’t sound good for Seok Joon Woo and SungYoun Pak of Crevate… think I’ll leave it.

Thanks all for responses!