We have all seen the ads: “Take our short survey and receive a $50 gift card!” Offers like this claim to be gathering customer feedback for legitimate businesses; however, many really may be promoting spammy products or be after your personal information. With the holidays upon us, scammers know that more people will be spending time online and looking for deals.
Promotion of other products or information for identity theft
This scam works when you receive an email or text message inviting you to complete a customer satisfaction survey. The message says all you need to do is answer a few questions, and you will receive a gift card. The survey seems normal. After you complete the survey, the site says you are now entitled to your prize. Unfortunately, the $50 gift card is “out of stock,” so you are instructed to choose one of several dubious products.
In another version of this scam, the customer survey asks for personal information, such as address and credit card number. In this scam, con artists are really after information that can be used for identity theft.
How to spot a scam email
First of all: do not to click on links that come in unsolicited emails. Better Business Bureaus (BBB) provides a few tips of how to recognize the costumer survey scam:
- The email claims to have information about you, but you never signed up for it
- The scammers push you to act immediately
- Watch for typos, strange phrasing and bad grammar
- Hover over URLs to reveal their true destination
BBB is also warning American citizens for scammers using the political polling for the scam.
Read more about the costumer survey scam at The Telegraph.
