Aldi urgently warns customers of nasty scams
Created: 2022-11-10, 2:44 p.m
By: Vivian Werg
Aldi warns of fraud: Criminals try to get sensitive data with false sweepstakes © Marcel Kusch / dpa
Criminals try to get data with bogus sweepstakes via e-mail, SMS or social media.
The discounter Aldi and the police are currently warning.
Kassel – Sweepstakes, prize draws or raffles are popular marketing tools.
Users are often enticed to participate via e-mail, SMS, WhatsApp or social media with attractive prizes.
But not all of them actually lead to profit.
Sometimes all the data entered, including payment information, gets into the hands of scammers.
There are just as many attempts at fraud as there are real sweepstakes.
Particularly popular: e-mails that promise great prizes.
All you have to do for it - enter your details on the linked website - and that can be dangerous.
Fake competition: Aldi warns of fraud
Especially before the Christmas holidays, fraud attempts via email and social media are increasing.
Current example, as reported by hna.de: An alleged Aldi sweepstakes.
The discounter and the police sound the alarm.
Especially with messages with content like "Congratulations dear user, you have won a Nokia 3.1 Plus", you should be particularly careful.
Fake news often speaks of a random selection process.
To win a prize, all you have to do is take a survey.
In addition, the supposed competition advertises a “100 percent profit”.
In an official statement on its website, Aldi distanced itself from this news.
The whole thing is a fake and the discounter is not related to it, it is said.
According to the police, reports
infranken.de
, the link in the so-called sweepstakes aims to get as much data as possible, ideally from banks or payment service providers such as PayPal.
Neither the police nor the company itself can rule out the possibility that numerous users have already fallen victim to this scam.
Aldi publishes tips and tricks: You can use this to recognize fake sweepstakes immediately
Almost everyone has had an e-mail in their inbox about a supposed prize without ever having taken part in the competition.
According to Aldi, in order to be able to distinguish future fraud attempts from serious competitions, you should pay attention to the following:
In the case of a real competition, the
organizer is clearly recognizable
and must be stated in the conditions of participation and in the imprint.
Always be skeptical when
sensitive data such as account information or address information is requested
.
For data protection reasons, these cannot simply be requested.
In principle, Aldi only contacts users who have previously
explicitly registered for a competition
.
Only in the event of a win will the winner be contacted at the
e-mail address previously given
.
The
spelling is another important indication of the seriousness of a competition.
Aldi and other large competition organizers usually have their own employees for the type of texts who filter out errors before publication.
Some fake sweepstakes, such as on Whatsapp, appear serious at first glance and do not seem to differ much from other usual sweepstakes providers.
Pay attention to the fine details - it's worth it and saves a lot of trouble.
(Vivian Werg)
