Points, Policies & Certificates

[vez]

I'm not sure where this should go, but oh well.

I got a text earlier saying I won $1000, and gave the scammer my adress, email, and birth date. It wasn't until after the fact that I checked google and realized I screwed up. I feel like a complete idiot. So anyway, what should I do? How screwed am I? I already reported the number to the call center. Thanks in advanced for any help...

[Walrus Valued Contributor · Accepted solution]

I would contact Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, the 3 major credit reporting agencies. With that kind of information they may start taking out all kinds of credit in your name.

I'm not sure what they can do with your email except maybe spam you, but they can use your address as a "previous address" and change your address on any mailing you currently get. If you have a mailbox they may steal your mail to accomplish this. Your birthdate in conjunction with your name & address allows them to apply for credit without your SSN. Hopefully you didn't give them this. I would add a line to your credit report that states: "Victim of Scammers - contact me at this number before issuing any credit " and give a different number than your phone that you can be reached through.

In the future, remember that any sweepstakes you enter, you've probably already supplied enough personal information at the front end that when getting a "you've won" anything, they won't need to ask you for any more personal info.

[vez]

Thank you sir

[greyhound_hobo]

They keep sending me crap and now they sent me something about receiving a $1000.00 Best Buy Reward Scam because my patronage.

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Greetings ----

Thank you for your past patronage at Best Buy and we want to see you back again soon! 

Hopefully a $1000.00 Best Buy Gift Card does the trick!

Please Click Here and enter your email to verify your eligibility. Just tell us where to send the gift card and claim your prize!

Enjoy and thank you again for your business!

Sincerely, 
Marketing & Promotions

It'd be awesome if it were true, but I highly doub it.

[Mike-BBY Community Connector]

Hey greyhound_hobo,

I've seen this offer myself. It would be wonderful to receive a $1000 Best Buy gift card, but your instincts are correct. This is not a legitimate offer.

We want to research any time an organization is using our name. If you suspect a scam or receive a suspicious e-mail regarding an offer from Best Buy, please contact us. When forwarding a suspicious e-mail to us, forward the entire e-mail, including the header, so we can work to identify the sender.

Please forward the message to abuse@bestbuy.com.  

Thanks,

[springacres]

I got a similar message, but as a text on my cell phone.  I tried to forward it to abuse@bestbuy.com as a multimedia message, providing of course the phone number listed as the sender.  (By "tried" I mean it worked on my end, but I'm not sure whether it's legible on Best Buy's end or not.)  Is there any way to forward it to Best Buy as a text?

[Mike-BBY Community Connector]

Hi springacres,

Thank you for your desire to share the information with us. At this time we do not have a system in place to accept text messages. If you do want to send it in, at this time the best way to do so is to forward the information in an email.

Thanks!

[FourFinger81]

I also just receivered the text about a $1,000 gift card. It says to go to some website, which obviously I didn't do. Just throwing out the warning to anyone who may read this. Also, their number was 347-460-1116 in case anyone is interested. Late Happy Easter everyone!

[alinta1970]

I received a text yesterday that says: You have been randomly selected for a $1000 BestBuy Card. Get your prize now at

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Is this a scam or is it valid? 

[bblop]

Beware of a similar scam.

I received two messages on my cell phone directing me to a website to claim my rewards card:

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It asks for a code, which I don't have.  I click on the button underneath "don't have a code"

and it prompts for a cell phone number.

When you enter the number, a new text message is sent to your cell phone supposedly giving you the code to enter on the website.

Bad news!!  It has automatically subsribed you to a horoscope service and charged $9.99/month to your cell phone account, with a message that you can stop the subscirption by replying with a STOP message.

Without any warning you have just lost $9.99 to the scammer!