Did you come across a social media post that tells you to take a super quick 30 second survey and score a FREE Yeti Hopper? A woman on Facebook claims her who sister works at Sam’s Club told her that Sam’s Club and Yeti struck a deal to gift people a Yeti bag if they take a 30 seconds survey. Beware! it’s a fake giveaway.
Is Sam’s Club Yeti bag giveaway Legit?
No, the Yeti bag giveaway isn’t legit. It’s a fake giveaway posted by online scammers in a bid to get people’s credit card details. The link attached to the giveaway posts is not the legit Sam’s Club website. On the legit Sam’s Club website (samsclub.com) there’s no mention of the giveaway.
The giveaway posts are all posted on pages that are not the official Sam’s Club social media pages. One of the pages promoting the giveaway ‘Cynthia Carter’ has all the signs of a scam profile. It was recently created, has just a picture of a person, and has very few followers.
Comments from people who claimed to’ve received the Yeti bags are not real. Clicking on the profiles show the social media accounts are new.
How Does the Sam’s Club Yeti Cooler Bag Giveaway Scam Works?
The scam claims anyone would win a Yeti Hopper by filling a 30 seconds survey. Upon clicking the link, people are lured into a credit card fraud. Once the survey is completed, users are required to pay $5.96 shipping fee. Instead of $5, the scam automatically adds users to a paid monthly subscription scam and deduct a larger amount ($74 or $100).
Unknown to people, the tiny words on the Checkout page says they’ve accepted to be charged a certain amount for access to an online magazine. There’s no Yeti hopper to be claimed just a bunch of junk mails.
Also, there’s a likelihood that the website might have malware program running in the background. This might infest devices and compromise data, leading to ransomware, data breach, etc.
What to do if you got Scammed
If you’ve provided your credit card details on the scam website, here are what you should do;
- Contact your credit card issuer and narrate your experience
- Cancel the transaction and request for a refund if possible
- Destroy the credit card and get a new one (That way you wouldn’t get charged for the subscription again)
- Scan your devices with a malware checker tool. There’s a likelihood that there are malware, spyware, viruses or other malicious programs lurking on the scam giveaway websites. If found, the malware removal tool will them
- Update passwords and enable two factor authentication. Especially if a malicious program was found by the malware tool.
Tips on Spotting Fake Giveaways and Prizes
The first step you should take is finding out if the giveaway has been posted on the company’s social media accounts. If it hasn’t, the giveaway is likely a scam.
It’s a scam if You’re Asked To Pay an Upfront Fee. Legit giveaways don’t ask for any kind of fee, whether shipping or handling fee.
Scan the giveaway post for bad grammar, missing words, or spelling mistakes. Any company can make a minor mistake when typing out a win notification. However, multiple or glaring errors are a bad sign.
Are there reviews or posts about the giveaway online? It’s common for various news outlet to carry information about legit giveaways. By searching for reviews online you could also come across warning posts or complaints.
see latest alert – Flownwing Advent Calendar Scam