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I won a holiday but it turned out to be a big scam
Aug 7, 2020
When Sammie Richardson saw an Instagram post about winning a week's holiday to Tenerife she tagged a friend to enter and thought little more about it.
Then she got an email saying she'd won. "I was shaking," she said.
But after the competition organisers started asking for personal details, Ms Richardson discovered it was a scam.
She isn't the only person who has nearly been caught out - experts warn there has been a surge fraudulent prize promotions since lockdown.
Crooks are exploiting the fact that more of us are online for longer periods and are trying to trick consumers into revealing sensitive personal information.
"Criminals know people are spending far more time online, and they're capitalising on that," said Jeremy Stern, chief executive of PromoVeritas, a company that helps firms run legitimate prize promotions.
"We've seen a significant increase in the number of online scams."
'A little weird'
After Ms Richardson was told she'd won the holiday, the organisers asked for her and her partner's passport details.
"I asked them if I could take my kids could on the holiday," says Ms Richardson of Brighouse, West Yorkshire, who has three children, aged three, five and 13.
"They said no problem at all, but said it would cost £300 for each child, £900 in total. I thought it was worth it.
"They asked for my children's passport details but when I told them my children didn't have passports they said no problem at all.
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