The sweepstakes scam is one of the biggest challenges of running a legitimate promotional marketing company. It can sometimes be hard for us to get people to enter a promotion, award prizes, or even send email notifications to winners because people are unsure if the promotion is on the level.
Here are some quick tips to be able to spot a sweepstakes scam from a real one.
- Are they asking for money?
A legal sweepstakes in the United States can’t require a purchase to enter; there must be a no purchase method of entry. However, a contest, which is skill-based, CAN legally ask for an entry fee to participate. Once the promotion is completed, however, only a scam will ask for you to pay to receive a prize. Beware of any company asking you to wire money or for your credit card information in order for a prize to be awarded.
- Are there official rules?
If there are no official rules for the sweepstakes that provides start and end dates of the promotion, the prizes available, who is eligible to enter, how to enter, who the sponsor and administrators are, and how to contact them, then odds are it’s a scam. Look for rules when entering to make sure all of those things are fully disclosed.
- Is the winner notification coming from an unknown entity?
If you receive a call or email from another country or an unknown company saying you won, do some homework. If you have been notified as a potential winner, look in the rules to see if the sponsor or administrator is supposed to contact winners. If the person notifying you is not from the company it should be, ask for the name of the company contacting you and where they are located. Contact the actual sponsor or administrator to verify that the person contacting you is real. (See more about what Marden-Kane and other promotion administrators may ask for to actually award a prize.)
- Is the email or sender legitimate?
Look at the social handle or email address of the sender of any email notification you get. If the email is not for the sponsor or administrator of the sweepstakes, or if it doesn’t clearly list out steps to contact the sponsor or administrator, then consider it a fake. A notification from a Hotmail or Gmail address is a big tip-off that it’s phony.
- Do you remember entering?
If you don’t remember entering, be skeptical. Ask for a copy of the official rules to see if there was some sort of automatic entry parameter that you could be eligible for (such as being a rewards club member for the brand running the sweepstakes). If you establish that you were eligible proceed with caution.
- Is everything spelled correctly?
This is a big tip-off. There are scammers that create Facebook pages or web sites that look like brand pages for big brands like JetBlue or BMW but are just a bit off, like “Jet Blue Air Vacations” or “BMW Cars” or similar. They promise big prizes for sharing content or providing your personal information, and then will resell your data without awarding any prizes. Don’t fall for it!
If you ever question the legitimacy of a promotion that lists Marden-Kane as an administrator, contact us.
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