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BBB Tip of the Week: Beware iPhone survey scam

You have been chosen to participate in a survey and receive a free iPhone 6. How did you get so lucky? In reality, it isn’t luck. This is a phishing scam to get your personal information and credit card number.

This scam has been seen on FaceBook and seems to target those using the Safari browser, meaning they are probably already using an Apple device. The scam asks you to take a survey to qualify to test the as-of-yet unreleased iPhone 7 (which doesn’t exist at the time of this writing). Simple yes/no questions are asked, such as, “Do you own an iPhone or iPad?” You are told you qualify for the upcoming testing group, and for your efforts so far, you will received a free iPhone 6 by paying $1 for shipping with your credit card. Don’t do it.

Better Business Bureau offers the following advice to avoid this scam and others when an offer seems too good to be true:

· Check the website of the offer and survey carefully. In a URL, all of the text between the dots and just before the domain designator, “.com” or “.org” and so on, is the website domain name. You can search for the website owner at www.whois.net.

· Before clicking a link for an offer that seems too good to be true, do a quick search of the offer with the word “scam.”

· Better yet, don’t click on offers that are too good to be true. The odds are stacked in favor of it being a scam.

· If the offer is from a well-known company, go to the company’s online forum and search to see if others are talking about it. You can also contact support and ask if the offer is real.

· Some surveys may offer a small reward, such as a gift card, for participation. They do not offer large rewards worth hundreds of dollars for answering a few simple questions.

· If you are being asked to provide your birthday, Social Security number or a credit card number in a survey, then it is a scam.

· Only use your credit card for online purchases if the website is secure (starts with “https”) and you are completely confident that the website is legitimate.

To report a scam or to see what scams have been reported near you, visit BBB Scam Tracker at https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/eastern-washington.

Erin T. Dodge, BBB editor