A lot of people get extra generous around the holidays — even brands like to get in on the fun by hosting or participating in giveaways. There’s a problem though: scammers like to get in on the fun too. Since social media is such a popular place to host giveaways, it’s also where you’ll find lots of scammers.
Scammers can really take the fun out of giveaways by eroding your trust in the giveaway host and even in the social media platform you’re on. If you’ve fallen prey to a scam or know someone who has, you may have felt skeptical about the legitimacy of other giveaways.
These scams aren’t fair to anyone, so we’re here with three easy tips to stay safe when participating in giveaways — whether they’re run by an influencer or by a brand. Check them out!
Check the date the giveaway winner will be announced.
A popular method of scamming people is to send entrants a message saying they’ve won the giveaway and having them click a link in the message. If you get a message saying you won, but there’s still time before the giveaway ends, it’s probably a scam.
Take it to the next level by checking the language of the message. Does it use the same kind of language or posting style as the giveaway host? If the way the message is written is inconsistent with the style of the person or brand hosting the giveaway, it might be coming from a scammer.
Always double-check the name of the account messaging that you won.
If the spelling doesn’t match up, there’s extra punctuation, or the name is not the same as the giveaway host in some way — it’s probably a scam.
This is a very easy way to make sure the account messaging you is legit. Scammers usually create a fake account with a name similar to a reputable instagrammer and hope that whoever they’re messaging won’t see the differences. For example, the scammer that pretended to be BORA Tool during Clamp-mas 2020 created an account called @boratool.official and stole 15-20 of our photos to look like they were actually us. We’ve also seen scam accounts that just added an extra letter in the name of the account they were trying to imitate because it’s not as obvious as adding an entire extra word to the name.
Make sure they’re not asking for your credit card info.
If you are being asked for your credit card information, it is absolutely a scam. It’s called a giveaway for a reason — product is being given away. Genuine giveaways do not cost the entrants or winners any money or financial information. Under no circumstances should you give them your info.
If you receive a message asking for any financial information, you should immediately report the account as fraudulent to the social media platform you’re on. Don’t forget to let the giveaway host know about the scam so they can spread the word.
Hopefully these tips help you or your friends stay safe during future giveaways! Do you have any other tips for staying safe when you participate in giveaways? Let us know in the comments!
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