A viral scam going around claims that Kohl’s is giving out a free $100 gift card.
It says: “Complete these 3 simple steps below to get Your $100 KOHL'S Gift Card!”
The page that is being shared appears almost exactly like the Kohl’s website, but it merely tricks users in completing bogus surveys.
The surveys are how the scammers make their money.
The website URL with the scam is http://rewardnow. pw/?am7YKdN .
The bunk page has more than 6.3 million shares and “likes” as of Wednsday.
Kohl’s took to Facebook on Wednesday, saying it’s aware of the gift card scam. “We are aware of the gift card promotion. However, we are not affiliated with this third party site. We apologize for the confusion,” it said, per Snopes.com.
“Don’t believe what you see. It’s easy to steal the colors, logos and header of an established organization. Scammers can also make links look like they lead to legitimate websites and emails appear to come from a different sender,“ said the Better Business Bureau on scams. ”Legitimate businesses do not ask for credit card numbers or banking information on customer surveys. If they do ask for personal information, like an address or email, be sure there’s a link to their privacy policy. “
“Watch out for a reward that’s too good to be true. If the survey is real, you may be entered in a drawing to win a gift card or receive a small discount off your next purchase. Few businesses can afford to give away $50 gift cards for completing a few questions.”
Facebook a few months ago said it was trying to clean up some of the spammy stuff that is being shared.
“Some stories in News Feed use inaccurate language or formatting to try and trick people into clicking through to a website that contains only ads or a combination of frequently circulated content and ads. For instance, often these stories claim to link to a photo album but instead take the viewer to a website with just ads,” it said.
