The better example is the scam people had going for a while where you could buy $1 commemorative coins (e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacagawea_dollar ) from the US Treasury for $1.00, with free shipping (the mint made many more of them than the demand, and wanted to get rid of them). Some people bought $100k worth of coins on an Amex card and kept the miles (only problem with that is depositing a zillion coins with local banks). That's now been shut down if I'm not mistaken.