Who is Affected by Sweepstakes Scams?
There are a lot of sweepstakes scams out there, and they get a lot of people every day. Some of them are very convincing, and it can be hard to tell if they are legit. Be sure to have the knowledge & protect yourself. Here are a few tips to help you spot a scam.
Know How to Identify a Scammer
Most sweepstakes scammers will claim to be someone they are not. An ideal example of this would be sweepstakes scams that are often found in Facebook comment to win giveaways. A legitimate company will hold a giveaway on their official Facebook page. During the course of the giveaway someone with a fake Facebook profile similar to the sponsor's will reply to one of the contestants, telling them they won the prize and to contact them.
The scammer is hoping that you don't take the time to notice that the company name is not spelled correctly. An example of this would be Sweepstakes Vantage instead of Sweepstakes Advantage. Just a subtle thing like this will lure many unsuspecting contestants especially if they are excited about potentially winning a free prize.
You can also identify scammers quickly in email scams. You may get notified in email that you won a prize from a well known company. Even the email has the companies logo in it. To spot the scam look at the from email address. Is the email coming from the company domain? Many times the scammers will make a very convincing email but send from a gmail, yahoo or other email free email address & not the company's email. An example of a fake company email would be SweepsVantage@gmail.com instead of info@sweepsadvantage.com.
Don't Give Up Your Credit Card
I am going to use an actual case of a sweepstakes scam that I was personally involved in. I was notified online in a Instagram direct message that I won a movie collection. I was excited because my family loves movies. The scam artist posing as a real company told me that they needed my credit card to create a the movie account so that I would have access to the movie collection but that I would never be charged.
I repeated over and over asking if I would be charged and they answered over and over No. They assured me that it was the only way to create the account so that I would have access to the free movies. Within minutes of the account being created and them taking my credit card info I had a charge on my credit card. They actually signed me up for a online movie subscription with a monthly fee and it had nothing to do with a free sweepstakes prize.
The Sweepstakes Scams Repellant
Sweepstakes should be 100% free. You will notice on Sweepstakes Advantage that we list 100% free to enter sweepstakes only. Every sweepstakes we list has some way to enter for free. Never should you pay a fee to enter or pay a fee to claim a free prize. The only exception to this would be the charity type sweepstakes for vehicles or other prizes. But even those types of promotions list a free method of entry in their rules.
The sweepstakes scam repellant is to never give any sponsor or someone claiming to be a sponsor your credit card. This will protect you from losing any money. The same applies for Paypal, Venmo etc. Do not send any money in any form to claim a prize.
Some scammers are also very brazen and ask you to meet them at a parking lot to exchange their “fee” for the prize. This type of sweepstakes scam also has the possibility of being dangerous. You should report any sweepstakes scams to your local authorities.
If you are scammed on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or some other social media platform report the scammer. On Facebook you can do this with the “Report Comment” option. You can also report fake company profiles. Reporting these scammers will help make the internet and sweepstakes safer for everyone.
