Competition Scams

With competition scams, you’re likely to receive an email or a message over social media saying you’ve won a big prize or a lot of money in a lottery, sweepstake, or something similar. The prize could be a laptop, smartphone, a big sum of money or even a lavish tropical holiday. But to claim the prize they’ll ask you to pay a fee. They’ll make this fee sound reasonable by putting it forward as courier charges, bank fee, government taxes, or some other sort of insurance costs. 

These scams most often have a close deadline to create a sense of urgency, ‘Act now or lose out’ kind of statements are what you’ll often see on these ads. They try to get their victims in a surge of excitement hoping they’ll quickly follow through on the instructions without giving it much thought. Others might even ask you to keep your prize confidential until you receive it, in an attempt to keep you from disclosing it to others who might reveal the scam. Some of these scammers quite often mimic names of legitimate overseas lotteries so in case you do Google them, you’ll come across an authentic website that will make them seem real. 

The best way to avoid these scams is to firstly always be wary of anyone asking for your personal details or money upfront. Secondly, if you don’t recall entering a competition, don’t fall for the false advertisement no matter how attractive it may seem. Finally, if the prize sounds too good to be true, it most likely is. 

For more information on Competition Scams you can follow this link.