How to tell a genuine win vs a scam

Kerri_may

Hi everyone,

I’m really new to this and haven’t won anything yet. But I’m just anticipating that i might be lucky enough to win one day.

When you have a genuine win how do you know?

That may sound stupid but I’m just imagining that if i won say £1000 on one of these competitions and they rang or emailed to tell me and asked for my bank details to transfer the money, I would probably think it was a scam.

So how do you tell a genuine win from a fraud? I don’t want to frighten off or turn down any genuine wins!

Thanks for any tips!

[Deleted User]

Don't ever give your bank details out. I'd expect a cheque.

sleepyjones

If it's an email about a win, generally it will be from a person ie if you entered a Microsoft competition the email will "generally" come from something like Susan.Fzzbucks@microsoft.com (not a real person / email address, just for example purposes). It's not always the case, some are automaed like the Click to Wins which will come from questions@winsomething.co.uk ... but just check the email address it comes from looks legit.

When you get an email they'll usually have a link in it somewhere, if you hover over any links in the email (without clicking) it will tell you at the bottom left of your screen where the link is actually taking you, so always check that the link looks legit before clicking (it might look legit in the text, ie forum@moneysavingsexpert.com but that's just the text, the actual link might go somewhere else) (see image below) ... you can also highlight the whole text of the email and paste it into a Word document, then when you mouse over the link the actual url the link is going to will appear.

If they're using a link shortening process, so if the link looks like http://!!!!!!/ then you can copy the address and put it into a site like : http://checkshorturl.com/ and it will tell you what the real URL is.

Never give out bank details. Never arrange to meet someone (unless it's a store collection prize).

You kinda get the hang of it after a while, you'll soon get to know which emails are legit and which are clearly spam, but if you have any questions just come back on here and stick a post up, someone will be able to help if you're unsure.

Here's a wee image (from Google) showing how the hover over a link works, the link looks ok (red box) but when you mouse over it, the actual location the link will take you to is completely different (red arrow) :

emily131

The Sun ask for your bank details and that's a legit comp.

dayglo44

Ive dealt with a few PR companies now that when winning they ask for your bank details. Just remember to check the source of the email and run some checks from there. I once nearly missed an £800 cash win because i told them where they could go and it was logit from a London PR company once i checked the number and source of email. Luckily they understood when i contacted them back.

mjm3346

Some of the radio ones are also paid direct into a bank account.

elsien

People can't defraud you just with your bank paying in details - not so long ago before cheques became almost obsolete, every one you gave a cheque to had said details. They can't use them to get money from your account so it's a bit of a non issue.

sleepyjones

Technically, people can "steal" from your account if they know your account number, dob and address ... which generally isn't that hard to find on facebook and the likes, ask Jeremy Clarkson : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7174760.stm

To iterate, When I say bank details I really mean card number and that sort of thing

Tubbss

I have won several cash prizes, most notably £2000 which was paid straight into by bank using sort code and account number.

sleepyjones

Well, It's kinda obvious if you win a cash prize you're gonna have to give them your bank details, they don't just magic it into your account.

What I meant is not giving out your bank details to random spam emails, be sure you know who your sending your details to and have confirmed everything is legit.

Ganador

I haven't won any large cash prizes that would require a bank transfer, but I live in hope and have a savings account with £1 in it that isn't linked to any of my other accounts. I'll still be careful who I give the details to but my way of thinking is there's nothing in that account to steal!