ePHOTOzine's advent comp - watch out for possibly misleading 'Winner' announcements

Jenna_Appleseed

Posted this in the advent comp thread but probably needs to be a separate thread. 

"Watch out for dubious winning announcements on the site
Comp is potentially dodgy now most the orig staff has left under the new owners 

The page for day 1 Dec first for me now shows the below banner making it look like I've already won the competition. I asked on the forum thread announcing the comp if this was a glitch as they don't usually end this early + you can't see the t&cs of the comps you've already entered.

The site owner replied "The MPB advert is just a teaser promo to incentivise entries. The prize draws close midnight BST on 31st Dec with the draw taking place and winners notified mid-Jan."

I replied that this was massively misleading making it look as if I'd won when I hadn't and posted the banner image, and they've deleted my latest posts & closed/suspended my account right when I was in the middle of genuinely interacting with the site & sharing info to help people.
(there're still sending me reply notifications mind & having my profile available for others to view, even though I can't log in)

Banner to watch out for that apparently doesn't actually mean you've won 😣"

AprilLady

Oh that's not good! I hadn't realised they had new owners. Thanks for the heads up!

KJ1986

I've had no contact with them and entered the first couple of days on the advent with no issues, but when trying to login this morning I get a message that my account has been closed/suspended and to contact them.

I have no idea why this would be.