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You get an email saying you’ve won a free gift card. You might think it’s possible, given that every shop now asks for your email address and enters you into prize drawings. But it’s actually a scam. Here’s how I check whether I’ve really have won a gift card from a well-known brand.
1I Make Sure the Email Address Is Genuine
Many people don’t check the sender’s email address when they receive a message. Or if they do, they don’t know whether it’s genuine or not, so they presume it’s real. And cybercriminals are clever: they’ll try to hide fake addresses. They might read something like “amzon” or “walmrt”, both of which look real—at least at a glance.
So when I’m not sure whether a message is real or not, this is the first point I check. While it can be hard to spot, it’s a good starting point. When unsure if something is a legitimate email address, I check the official site’s contact page or simply Google it. Sites like Reddit, for example, are good places to find a list of genuine email addresses, and further ask peers whether a message is trustworthy.
If I’m still not sure, I carry on looking for signs it’s genuine—or more likely, fake.
2I Check for Obvious Signs of Phishing Scams
Is the message personalized? If you’ve genuinely won a gift card, the company in question should at least know your name. But if it’s a phishing scam, it will almost certainly be more generic.
I look out forother signs of phishing, especially via email. Pixellated images, including logos, are a red flag since official companies will have high-definition versions of this media on file. Scammers have improved in this regard, however, so you need to also question the language used.
Are there typos? Does it read awkwardly?Cybercriminals also use AI to write scam copyfor them, so bear that in mind. You can often discern if something wasn’t written by a real human. Real companies have teams of proofreaders and will almost never write in poor English.
3I Never Submit Personal Info to Untrustworthy Sources
I’m overly cautious about my personal information. If I don’t think a company absolutely needs private details, I won’t hand them over. That applies to supposed competitions, as well as genuine giveaways—unless the payoff is substantial.
A sender saying I’ve won a gift card should have some of my personal information already; otherwise, they wouldn’t have my contact details. If I don’t trust the sender, I don’t submit any private details. It’s not enough that a company is genuine; I need to trust they won’t do something with my data I wouldn’t approve.
If a message asks for more, I question why. Why does a business also need my phone number? What can they do with my date of birth or financial information?
4Look on Social Media: Do I Know Any Other Winners?
Scammers can also contact you about free gift cards on social media. But how often have you heard of someone honestly winning a gift card for a real business? I can’t think of a single person I know. That’s why I’m so skeptical about any such giveaways.
So do I know any similar winners? Probably not. The chances are, then, that this is fraudulent.
Some scams involve friends on social media tagging you in posts to try winning a gift, or supposedly sending you a post to enter into similar schemes. This could be done in earnest, with your contact believing it’s a real thing, or it could be thatcybercriminals hijacked their profiles. Either way, these exist purely to spread the scams more widely.
In the latter case, you should contact your friend via another method to check whether their accounts have been compromised, or know they might be spreading a scam.
5I Ask Myself if Something Is Too Good to Be True
This is really the key to all scams. If something sounds too good to be true, it is.
Is it likely that I’ve won a free gift card? No. It’s simply too good a reward to be real—especially if I’ve not entered a prize drawing anyway.
Even then, I factor in what a company wants in return for entry into a competition. That price is often too high for me. I don’t want to hand over all my personal details just for a chance of winning something. I value my privacy and security, and so should you. As the adage goes, if you’re not paying for something, you’re the product. And you become the product desired by scammers.
Trust your instinct. If something doesn’t feel right, then it probably isn’t.
