Two years ago I was watching a scam unfold in real-time on Facebook so I immediately went live to outline what I was seeing.
And the scammers have not stopped. It is insidious on Facebook and Instagram. (I have not seen this type of scam on other social media platforms, but they could be there.) It seems the moment a company shares a social media contest, the scammers create a similar account and target the entrants. They either reply to the comment on the sponsor’s contest post, but because the sponsor has control over their page, scammers are now commenting on contest posts and entrant shares. On Instagram, they usually DM you with a similar message.
If you are new to contesting, you could easily be tricked into thinking you won. Here are some real-life examples of what to look for to decern if a winning notification is a scam.
The company name will be close to the sponsor’s but not quite the same.
They will ask you to go to their website so they can collect your information. I clicked on the link to get a screenshot but I didn’t go any further.
They would most likely ask me for my credit card information to ship the prize. The scammers are so sneaky they will ship you something worthless and the credit card company will not reverse the charges stating you ordered it.
The website isn’t even a proper site. It is a free page from Blogspot using the contest images and the company name is wrong again. You know what a real retailer’s website looks like. This isn’t it.
Then, if you check the Facebook page, it is not a Page. It’s a personal account. Companies are not allowed to have personal accounts. Then if you try to report it to Facebook, they say there is nothing wrong and won’t take it down.
This is why on so many contest posts you also see something similar to this:
One (1) winner will be selected at random and notified through DM via this account only. on March 21, 2022. Beware of fake accounts posing as us to get information.
The longer you enter giveaways, the better you get at quickly spotting a scam. In the meantime, a legitimate social media winning notification will:
- Be a direct message or comment from the sponsor, which you can easily verify.
- Only ask you for minimal contact information to either email you a release form or mailing address to ship you the prize. (If you gent an email from the sponsor, the signature will also be verifiable.)
If you are still unsure, before you do anything, post a screenshot to a contest group. More seasoned sweepers will tell you if you actually won, or it’s a scam. A scam is usually sent to many people in hopes of one out of hundreds will fall for it so most likely another sweeper would have received the same message.
Have you received a social media scam message?
Yes, I have received social media scam messages. One was just recently and it sounded legit but I was skeptical. I was told that I had won a large price and then I received a message that I had to send my credit card information to someone else That’s when I completely closed it down. They still kept sending me messages that I did not respond to. It pays to be alert .
As always, thanks Carolyn, for taking the time to keep us sweepers SAFE! Since Jan. 2022, I get a multitude of these fake scam account followers anytime I enter contests on IG (not so much FB for me) and I just immediately BLOCK them. The spelling or use of _ when one is not required is generally how I know a fake account pretty quickly. We all must stay diligent and be CAREFUL.
Great tips!
My #1 piece of advice for people when they ask me if the message they received is a scam is to check if you are following the account.
As probably 95% of contests ask you to follow as a condition of entry.
Thanks for sharing this info. Scammers make it hard for those of us who run legal give-aways.