Contest scams — not just in email

Last week’s tip was about the Visit London contest emails currently being sent by scammers. This is another case where scammers have adopted a legitimate contest and used it as a lure to bring you to their website, not the official one.

Contest scams – 3 tips to avoid an email scam

The rules are simple for avoiding email scams and you probably already know them.

1) If you didn’t go looking for it, don’t trust it.

2) If you don’t know who sent it, don’t trust it.

3) If you think you can trust it, verify before you click. By verify, I don’t mean read the email. You can’t trust anything in the email. I mean go to a real, known website and verify the content. This step might take some extra time, but could save you hundreds of dollars and countless hours of frustration.

Contest scams – avoiding those not coming via email

• If you have to buy something or send money, it’s a scam. Under the law, contests are free and winners selected by chance.
• If you receive a check and are asked to deposit it, it’s a scam. My dad fell for this one years ago. He deposited a check for few dollars and spent months getting the problem resolved.
• Bulk mail notices are a dead giveaway. If you receive a contest notification that was sent via bulk mail, it means the notice was sent to hundreds or thousands of people.
• Attending a sales presentation to win a trip or vacation may sound like a good idea, but you’re in for a high-pressure attempt to sell you something.
• Phone calls you’re not expecting are a blatant attempt to garner your personal information. Your best bet is to hang up immediately. And, unless you really want those telemarketing calls, I’d also suggest getting your number listed on the Do Not Call Registry.
• For more tips on avoiding contest scams, visit the Federal Trade Commission’s page, Prize Scams.