Competition Scams - Please Post Them Here

PinkFairyDust2

I can't believe some of these scams it is awful what people are doing. Its a good read this thread as shows me what to look out for so thank you.

vanpopple

I feel i need to make everyone aware that there are suddenly an influx
of newbies who have never posted yet are suddenly trying to post comps???
I have picked up 3 viruses from what could only be a comp that has been posted by a newbie (the 2 posts im thinking of have now been deleted)
Its great to see newbies and trying to help, but there may be some 'other' motives going on so - please everyone be very careful and make sure your antivirus and firewalls are on.
My advice would be STICK to the VERY REGULAR posters only 'until' any new posters comp posts have been confirmed.

Also http://www.pointshop.co.uk DO NOT SIGN UP WHATEVER YOU DO, like said above within days £45 will vanish from your bank and 99% of the time it will be too late to cancel.

vanpopple

(TAKEN FROM CONSUMER GROUP)
My daughter received a cold call from a representitive of this company, formerly called Sapphire Studios and Studio 64, on 27 January 2012. The rep. offered my daughter a "free" photoshoot complete with make over and hair styling with professionals and a professional photographer at their studios in London. All she needed to do was make a "small" deposit to secure the shoot. No mention of the amount was made and she was told the deposit was refundable. I know this as i was in the room during that part of the conversation and she had her phone on speaker phone.

Unknown to my daughter my wife had already put plans in place for my daughter to have a photoshoot for her 21st. birthday with a family friend who is a full time photographer. When my wife informed my daughter of this, she decided to cancel the shoot and get a refund. Before she could ring them, they rang her on 1st February 2012 to arrange a session date. it was at this time she informed them she was cancelling and the reason why. The rep told her that it wasnt a problem and a refund could be arranged. On 2nd February someone else called her to inform her that she would only get her refund if she attended the session or "sold" her "ticket" to a friend, failure to do either would result in her losing her deposit for something that hadnt even had a day booked.

On the 3rd February I rang the company on the numbers my daughter had saved on her phone, after an hr. of trying I eventually got through to one of their "Diary Admin Assistants" named Joseph Celcius Verbagenga. His attitude was one of to get her refund she does it our way or not at all. He either couldnt or wouldnt see how the company policy was for all intensive purposes holding my daughters money to ransom. I told him that unless the refund was made i would be seeking legal advice and reporting them to consumeraffairs, trading standards and BBC watchdog, which i have done at the time of writing. His response was that of couldnt care less. If she wanted her money she either did a session, sold her ticket or forget getting her money back. He then informed me that one of the "customer relations" people would ring me to speak to me.

One hour later i received a phone from a number with a dialling code i didnt recognise. I now know this number to be based in the Phillipines from doing a websearch for the country code. the woman i spoke to was rude and extremely arrogant with a "do your worst" attitude. She was even worse than the "diary admin assistant", and refused to even see reason, was unreasonable and accused both my daughter and i of being liars.

these people need to be avoided by any and all young females as it seems that they tend to select them, tempt them in then rip them off. i have seen on various sites that they use badgering and haranging techniques on people into buying photos, the cheapest of which is £49 and sold to you on a cd which would cost no more than £0.99 from your local pc retail outlet

After a bit of googling it seems that the aforementioned falls under the The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, I've emailed them informing them of this, but so far no joy in a refund.

jaibaby

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Uk-Magazines/448359698515560 A fake facebook page "giving away" an iPad3. No company registration number on the website, the page is very new and very bad English.

vanpopple

YET MORE FACEBOOK FAKE WEBISTES APPEARING-

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Giveaways/323755937701495

http://www.facebook.com/ipadfree.iphonefree?sk=wall

http://www.facebook.com/welovedota2
^(was orginally ok site but has been hijacked like many more)

Below are the photos that are currently being used by the scammers on all the fake facebook websites competitions, if you see these on any page report them and DO NOT ENTER as im guessing they will try to use your info unlawfully....

THESE PHOTOS ARE WHAT YOU NEED TO LOOK FOR---

http://i49.tinypic.com/2ed8313.jpg

Juts manged to upload them to tinypic but ive put the four pics together for ease of upload..


And looks like myself and 'jaibaby' we're on the exact wavelength, thank you for spotting and posting aswell..

vanpopple

jaibaby wrote: »

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Uk-Magazines/448359698515560 A fake facebook page "giving away" an iPad3. No company registration number on the website, the page is very new and very bad English.

And heres the owners own web info page -

http://www.mtalal.net/

Well spotted jaibaby - as you can see he's very good in programming and php, so for him it would be easy to hack into anybodys computer!

jaibaby

I have a list of others that may have been mentioned:

https://www.facebook.com/FUT12
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fifa-Ultimate-Team-Happy-Hour/219927918102989
https://www.facebook.com/gta5.grandtheftauto5
https://www.facebook.com/manchester.united.fans.page

The Fifa ones I've reported to FIFA via their website. 150,000+ likes the GTA5 one has and it's so blatantly fake I did write on the official RockStar Games page but no reply.

vanpopple

I had an email to join The NCA (National Compers Alliance)
Looks very suspect similar to ukprize etc..
and on reading it :-
Your Exclusive Offer: one-off joining
fee to receive everything for life


£299.00
£300!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To enter me in a few comps whoaaaaa I fell off my chair...
Its supposed to be a hobby seems like some people just try to cash
in on compers dreams.

Soosieboo

vanpopple wrote: »

I had an email to join The NCA (National Compers Alliance)
Looks very suspect similar to ukprize etc..
and on reading it :-
Your Exclusive Offer: one-off joining
fee to receive everything for life


£299.00
£300!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To enter me in a few comps whoaaaaa I fell off my chair...
Its supposed to be a hobby seems like some people just try to cash
in on compers dreams.

It's from the company that Sandy Hallett works for and you had the email as you're probably subscribed to her Comp Club emails.

As far as I'm concerned MSE is the only comp site you need! :j

vanpopple

Ah yes thanks 'soosie' think i did subscribe when i first began comping,
I will unsubscribe - Id never pay to win anything?
Especially £300!!!!
- For that id want a cast iron guarantee of winning major prizes, (or i could think rather than pay £300 to try and win an ipad or whatever with the £300 i save by entering myself i could buy an ipad) I suppose its classed as auto entry and now if i enter a comp that doesnt state if auto entry is acceptable i always send them a message - as companies do not get any extra business from auto entry compers because they never have to visit the sites..
Mind you i bet some people still fall for cons like these.
**Just unsubscribed