Many people are finding a tempting offer appearing in their email or as a text message.  In the communication you are told that you will receive a $50 gift card from a major company if you merely complete a short survey.  The survey looks official and the page has the official logo of a familiar company, however often what the scammers are seeking is personal information that can be used to make you a victim of identity theft.

TIPS

As I always say, “trust me, you can’t trust anyone.”  Merely because the text message or email appears to be official and carries a company’s logo does not make the communication legitimate.  It is very easy to copy a logo on to a text message or email and make the communication look official and legitimate when, in fact, it is a counterfeit and a scam.  No legitimate survey will ever ask for banking information, passwords, Social Security numbers, credit card information or banking information.  The only reason for asking for that information is to make you a victim of identity theft.  Finally, no company is going to be in a position to give everyone who completes a customer satisfaction survey a $50 gift card.  A legitimate company may enter you into a drawing to win such a card by completing a survey, but no company is giving away $50 gift cards to everyone.