Boost, am I getting free hand sanitiser or not?

In light of the COVID-19 outbreak and the Malaysian Prime Minister’s order for restricted movement in Malaysia, we’ve seen a huge surge in demand for certain products: anti-bacterial wipes, hand sanitiser, and toilet roll (of all things). Which is why when a certain email from Boost popped into my phone last night, I was intrigued.

After all, the email had CONGRATULATIONS (in caps!) plastered over it, along with the image of a 250ml bottle of hand sanitiser. Looking through the email, I discovered that I had apparently won a voucher code to redeem a free bottle of sanitiser at the Caring pharmacy eStore—so far, so good. But then, I noticed another email from Boost, sent within two hours of the first.

In a nutshell, Boost sent out the second email to inform me (and other disappointed souls) that the first email was mistakenly sent out. The original email, Boost explained, was only meant to be sent to winners; how it ended up in my humble inbox, I’ll never know.

Still, it was a rather strange occurrence. The timing of the email, coupled with the nature of the product that i had “won”, seems a little coincidental. Boost promptly sent an email soon after, apologising for the mistake.

“Please accept our sincere apology. We mistakenly sent an email that was intended for for the winners of this campaign to you. We are truly sorry, and did not mean to upset you.”

Okay.

I reached out to a few networks to see if others were victims of the same mistake, and the number of people who also received both emails from Boost was certainly not insignificant.

At this juncture however, I want to make it clear that I do not agree with some of the comments that allege that this is a phishing scam. There isn’t actually anything to fill in, and none of my personal details were compromised. Instead, it looks like it could have been an honest mistake.

Still, I won’t deny that I’m very disappointed. I’m down to my last bottle of hand sanitiser, and it would have been nice to receive an extra for free—definitely a better alternative to lining up for hours at the supermarket.

Have any of you received something similar from Boost? What do you think? Let me know in the comments.