Have you received emails offering you free GNC products if you take a short survey? If you have, take note. This GNC Rewards email is a scam. The email looks something like this.
GNC Reward points Click here to view.
Could you use $50 worth of GNC products?
Just answer a few questions and you get your $50 GNC gift card! Start here.
Unsub click here or send mail to: Neptune Ads, 115 E 23rd St, New York, NY, US 10010
GNC Rewards email – real or fake?
Once upon a time I had a GNC Gold card. I dropped it years ago as my use of GNC’s products dropped off. As I was researching this piece, I discovered the old “Gold Card” program has been replaced. Now, it’s called GNC Rewards. And the scammers know all about it.
When I saw several GNC Rewards emails in my spam folder, I got curious. I checked the company website and discovered they had changed the program name, but nothing else that helped to determine if the emails I was receiving were legitimate or not. As a result, I called GNC’s customer service. To their credit, they answered my call at 5:30 PM on a Friday. On the downside, their customer service rep didn’t know about the emails. She did, however, tell me only emails from gnc.com or gncrewards.com were legitimate. Personally, I’d suggest someone in the company take note, there are scammers who are using the company’s rewards program as a lure.
Avoid the GNC Rewards email scam
The solution to avoid becoming a victim on this scam is simple. Don’t click the links in the emails, not even the unsubscribe link at the bottom. As is the case with these scams, the unsubscribe link doesn’t remove you from the mailing list, it confirms your address is current and valid. Mark the email as junk. Trash it. Hope your spam filter catches the next one so you don’t have to repeat the cycle.
They are doing something similar with several companies. Target, Walreens, Amazon, Walmart, Penneys & a couple others And you don’t need to bother with unsubbing because they just change addresses and origin, domain names. When a new batch [they usually come in groups of five, along with brain enhancing pill offers, hurricane power shower cleaners, ex navy seal sniper with info you need to know type stuff. Get them for last 3 months. So once each month I forward one to: unwanted email complaints “email complaints”
And always check your from addresses by opening another browser and ask “what is and the email address” and it will tell you if it is real or a scam. Most legitimate addresses will have .org; ,com forget the other (can’t find my notes and it’s been awhile) Recently I got an email with a friends name as the sender but the address was not the usual one so I figured it was a fake & stared to delete, then wondered if she was emailing me from someone elses house. So I picked up the phone and called her. She said it wasn’t her so I suggested her daughter who is web, computer savvy check for a compromise. Another time It said in the sender line her name and in the subject line my name. She Never addresses me by my full name. So I just deleted it and let her knew to exercise greater caution. Legitimate emails will be addressed to the person. Never ‘recipient’ , ‘Dear Friend’, your email address name; ‘Valued customer’ like the one I got last month supposedly from Wells Fargo. Since I am not their customer why would they be addressing me. So I hit delete. These are some of the ways we can protect ourselves. Sorry if telling you what you already know. But some of your readers might not.
Thanks for all the great suggestions. Indeed, I’ve covered these before, but people consistently fall for these scams so the tips are always worth repeating. I love your list of email subjects! So true…