Beware of fake scam promos on Facebook, stay safe
New World is warning its customers of an online scam competition being promoted on Facebook by a fake New World Facebook account.
The fake competition promo on Facebook is offering to ‘giveaway’ a “$3,000 New World Gift Card’ and another scam campaign (now removed) encouraged people to comment on its posts for a chance for “150 lucky fans” to win a “year of free groceries” to “celebrate our anniversary.”
In a scam alert notification on their official website today, the Foodstuff-owned, New World has issued an alert asking customers to be wary of becoming a target of online scams in the form of display ads, pop-up ads and emails.
“There is currently a scam competition being promoted on Facebook by a fake New World Facebook account. It’s very similar to a competition that we are running, but it is being run on a “New World Supermarket” page which is a fake New World page.
“This is not a New World Competition and has not been post by New World. This is not our official account,” warns New World.
The fake promotion on Facebook appeared to be from New World supermarket as it used the same branding colours which misled people to believe its genuine. However, the page did not have the Blue Verification Badge of a tick that confirms the authenticity of a page.
The fake promotion reportedly received over 34,000 comments and shared 20,000 times before it was taken down following a complaint by Foodstuff to Facebook.
It is still not known if anyone has actually been duped of money, or had their personal information compromised by this scam.
In December last year also, a scam email was sent to people reminding them to claim their “$2,000 New World voucher” prize, and in another promo scam last year, a Facebook page under the name ‘New World Dunedin’ ran a ‘promo’ to award “prizes up to $1500 to weekly winners”.
In an alert, New World cautions its customers, “We are aware of fake texts and emails being sent to customers notifying them that they have been chosen as a winner of a promotion. This has not been sent by New World …and we recommend that you do not click any links or provide any of your personal details to them.”
At times, people are told to call a 0900 phone number to claim a prize and are then charged a significant amount for the phone call, and the supermarket recommends not to call this number.
Last year, Retail NZ also warned consumers not to get sucked in by scam surveys offering great prizes in return for a small postage fee.
“Customers need to be very careful about who they provide information to, and it’s never a good idea to give your credit card details to any website, unless you are actually buying something from a reputable and recognised retailer,” Greg Harford, Retail NZ’s General Manager Public Affairs cautioned in Jan last year.
“If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” he added.
In 2018, $33 million dollars in scam losses was reported, and this figure is up by $10.1 million dollars compared to 2017, according to Netsafe.
Netsafe advice is to “Keep your personal information secure and be sure to think carefully before entering your details online, or giving them to someone. Protect information that can be used to access your accounts, build a fake online presence or impersonate you.”
– from NewsViews
