Text messages are totally a scam because of the markup factor... but Swoopo also has the lottery factor. That is the vast majority of people get NOTHING for their $10, $100, $1000. I don't understand why people are trying to defend it on a technicality. Yes, technically it may be legal, however it's ripping stupid people off left and right.
The thing is they don't. I think most people at HN have been introduced to Swoopo based on articles analyzing just how much of a ripoff it is by running some numbers.
To the first-time visitor it is not clear at all that they are basically playing a lottery with a very low payout. Calling it an auction is misleading because in an auction you only pay if you place the winning bid. This is more like a raffle, but it's not labeled as such.
