Only once. I read a lot, and sometimes post reviews of books on Amazon. Not those “book report” reviews, but quick blurbs a few sentences long at most. Several months ago, I got an email from Amazon about their Vine program. The email said I could choose two books a month at no cost. Even the shipping would be free! The only thing I had to do was write honest reviews for the books. As long as 75% of the books I’d ordered had been reviewed, I could pick two more books with the next newsletter.
I’ve always found Amazon pretty trust-worthy, so I gave it a try. Lo and behold, it was all true. Each month I get two completely free books in the mail. They are almost always advance reader copies, and most of them are enjoyable to read. I take a few minutes to write a review on Amazon, and that’s it. Sometimes I’ll get a second newsletter allowing me to pick an extra two books from whatever they still have in stock. There are few things I love more than books, and free books are just the most wonderful thing ever.
Other than that, every other “too good to be true” thing really did turn out to be, well, too good to be true.