What is the “Gift card giveaway” scam

“Gift card giveaway” scam refers to pop-up scams that promise users various gift cards (Amazon, eBay, Google Play, iTunes, Netflix, etc.). This scam aims to phish users’ personal information. Users are redirected to this scam when browsing highly questionable sites without an adblocker or if their computers are infected with adware.

 

 

The entire point of this “Gift card giveaway New Codes” scam and similar ones is to phish users’ personal information. When you get redirected to the site hosting this “Gift card giveaway” scam and click on one of the icons, you will be redirected to a different site where you’ll be asked to choose the value of the gift card. You may also be asked to complete a survey. Whichever value you choose, you will again be redirected to a different site and asked to put in your personal information. Personal information like names, email addresses, phone numbers, and home addresses, is very valuable data. It can be sold on hacker forums to other cybercriminals who would use it for their own malicious purposes. Some giveaway scams even ask for users’ payment card information. This is usually the case when users are promised physical prizes, with scammers claiming that the payment card information is necessary to charge for shipping.

This “Gift card giveaway” scam is a classic example of a giveaway scam. They are very common and often encountered when users browse high-risk websites. However, as long as you do not interact with them, they are harmless.

For future reference, these types of giveaways are always fake. Legitimate giveaways are not hosted this way, so whenever you are redirected to a site that claims you have won something, know that it is a scam.

Whenever you encounter these types of giveaway scams, you can just close the windows. However, if you notice that you are redirected even when browsing safe sites, you should check your computer for an adware infection by scanning it with WiperSoft.

Why are you redirected to the “Gift card giveaway” scam?

If users get redirected to giveaway scams, it’s usually either because they browse high-risk websites or due to an adware infection on their computers. The former is usually the case. Many websites are considered high-risk due to the ads they host and the redirects they trigger. For example, sites with pornographic or pirated content trigger redirects no matter where users click on them. These redirects are easily preventable with an ablocker program.

If you notice that you are redirected more than a couple of times, especially if it’s to the same website, your computer likely has adware installed. Adware is not a serious infection and it mainly tries to expose users to advertisement content. Users install adware and browser hijackers by accident in most cases, via a method known as software bundling. The way this method works is said infections are added to programs (usually free ones) as extra offers. The offers are authorized to be installed alongside the program automatically. They also do not need explicit permission from users. The offers are technically optional but users need to manually deselect them to prevent their installation. However, many users cannot do that because the offers are hidden in settings users don’t normally use. This makes this installation method quite problematic. Many anti-virus programs detect programs that use it as potential threats.

If you want to prevent unwanted installations, pay attention when installing programs. In particular, you need to choose Advanced (Custom) settings when given the option during program installation. The installation window may recommend using Default settings but if you do that, all added offers will be installed automatically. However, Advanced settings will make all offers visible and give you the option to deselect what you do not want. We always recommend deselecting all offers because no legitimate program will use this method to install.

“Gift card giveaway” scam removal

To remove “Gift card giveaway” scam from your screen, all you need to do is close the window. You should also install an adblocker program to prevent these types of redirects in the future. We also recommend scanning your computer with WiperSoft to check for an adware infection in case that is what triggers redirects to these scams. If nothing is detected, the redirect was likely a one-time thing.