Survey Scams
The below content is meant to be informational and not used as financial advice.
Answer & Win!
September 26, 2023
Hmm… probably not. Have you been the victim of a survey scam that landed in your email? You’re definitely not alone.
Our Plastic Card Coordinator, Kelly, had this to say… “Ugh! Many, many of our members fall for these surveys! 'Fill out this Harbor Freight survey and pay the shipping fee of $7.95 and you will get a free tool kit or a drill.' These are NEVER from the said merchant. And they almost never get the ‘FREE’ item. And then they find they are enrolled in a subscription of some sort when other charges start hitting their accounts.”
Take a second and think about it.
Stop and think. Have you even done business recently (or ever) with the company the message is supposedly from? Aimee in our Call Center just received a survey email offer from ‘United Airlines’. She has never even flown on an airplane.
Is the offer ‘too good to be true’? Most likely it’s a scam. Do you even need or want the item or reward – or is it just ‘too good to pass up’?
Red flags.
Look for the usual ones we try to educate everyone about:
• Misspelled words, words that should be capitalized that are not (and vice versa), punctuation errors.
• Who is it from? JoeSmith2251445_customersurvey@gmail.com? I’m 99.9% sure he isn’t sending out surveys for Costco.
• A sense of urgency. “Act now!” “Don’t miss out!” “Only 10 left!”
Stop and think. Have you even done business recently (or ever) with the company the message is supposedly from? Aimee in our Call Center just received a survey email offer from ‘United Airlines’. She has never even flown on an airplane.
Is the offer ‘too good to be true’? Most likely it’s a scam. Do you even need or want the item or reward – or is it just ‘too good to pass up’?
Red flags.
Look for the usual ones we try to educate everyone about:
• Misspelled words, words that should be capitalized that are not (and vice versa), punctuation errors.
• Who is it from? JoeSmith2251445_customersurvey@gmail.com? I’m 99.9% sure he isn’t sending out surveys for Costco.
• A sense of urgency. “Act now!” “Don’t miss out!” “Only 10 left!”
Examples
Here’s that email that Aimee received with red flags pointed out.
Many businesses like Dick’s Sporting Goods and Harbor Freight are aware of scams related to them and have warnings on their websites like these.
Do you think the email is a scam? Do a quick search for ‘(company name) email scam’ – you may find it’s been reported.
And the Better Business Bureau has some great information, too.
Here’s that email that Aimee received with red flags pointed out.
Many businesses like Dick’s Sporting Goods and Harbor Freight are aware of scams related to them and have warnings on their websites like these.
Do you think the email is a scam? Do a quick search for ‘(company name) email scam’ – you may find it’s been reported.
And the Better Business Bureau has some great information, too.
Protect your personal information.
Once a fraudster has your bank account information, they have access to your money. Please stop and think before you take out that card and start typing numbers. But if you do fall for one of these survey emails, like so many do, please keep an eye on your transactions and report any suspicious activity to us.
Once a fraudster has your bank account information, they have access to your money. Please stop and think before you take out that card and start typing numbers. But if you do fall for one of these survey emails, like so many do, please keep an eye on your transactions and report any suspicious activity to us.
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