Costco, the U.S. warehouse-style big box store, offers consumers many ways to save money, and sometimes these deals can be found online. Recently, Costco warned customers to be on the lookout for 13 online scams that target consumers by offering them free products and coupons.
Costco, the U.S. warehouse-style big-box retailer, offers consumers many ways to save money, and sometimes these deals can be found online. Recently, Costco warned customers to be on the lookout for 13 online scams that target consumers by offering free products and coupons to customers.
Costco posted 13 screenshots on its website warning members to be aware of these online scams, which are being perpetrated by fake Costco scammers and include fake satisfaction surveys, Facebook posts, offers, text (with clickable links), emails, giveaways, job interviews, etc. Costco says these scams are now spreading across the Internet.
Fox News reported on April 21 that most of these scams offer freebies such as free products, gift cards and other so-called “exclusive offers” worth $50. Many of the scams also require customers to take a short survey in order to redeem such “prizes.
One of these scams claims a $130 freebie as part of the retailer’s “COVID stimulus program for all loyal Costco members. Another scam claimed that customers would be eligible for a free Samsung 4K HDTV if they took a quick survey.
Still another scam promised exclusive rewards totaling more than $500 if customers took a 30-second survey. Another scam used text with links to entice people to click on it in exchange for a 2 percent cash-back bonus.
Costco says on its website, “These offers are not from Costco Wholesale.”
Costco cautions members not to visit any web links associated with the scam or provide any personal information to the sender.
According to online security provider Norton, scam creators often use these methods to do things like credit card theft, capture login credentials and identity theft.
On the other hand, according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), online fraud, especially related to online shopping, has increased significantly since the virus pandemic began.
The organization said last October that “by 2020, a staggering 80.5 percent of consumers report suffering monetary losses due to online shopping fraud.”
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) encourages consumers who have suffered fraud to report it.
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