Shopping vouchers and coupons are some of the most common promotions that you will find in most popular promotions on the internet. These offers give you excellent discounts for many of your purchases. However, some of the vouchers are a scam and may make you lose some or all your cash in the fishy deals. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to tell the genuine vouchers from fake ones. This article gives you a few tips on determining whether an online shopping voucher is a scam or not.
Obey that Gut Feeling
If it does not feel right, it is probably not. The gut feeling is a particular feeling that comes when something is amiss, even if you do not really know what is wrong. If you just cannot tell what is wrong but feel it might be wrong, take a moment to investigate. Most people that ended up losing their cash from fake coupon deals had a feeling that the offer was not okay, but they shrugged off the feeling before falling into a scammer’s trap.
The Deal is Too Good
There are some excellent offers out there. You may get 25% on your next visit to a hotel or £100 voucher at a favorite online store. However, you are less likely to find £500 vouchers randomly on the internet, as it does not give much value to the seller. Therefore, that £800 voucher that you found online might not be genuine. Take time to ascertain whether the deal is legit before you decide to use it.
Online Coupons Linked to Surveys
Most of these fake coupon deals are sent via SMS or messaging apps such as Twitter or WhatsApp. The send uses the name of a popular brand such as a bank, a supermarket chain, or a popular restaurant. However, when you click the link, you do not get to the code redemption page but a site, which asks you to answer a few questions before you can get the voucher. These questions usually ask for your personal and banking information. In most cases, you still do not get the coupons after sharing your personal information as most links hit a dead end. Legitimate companies will not ask you to share personal information. In cases of surveys, the company will explicitly ask for your views.
You are asked to Make Part Payment
Voucher codes are free offers that do not come with any charge whatsoever. However, there are online frauds that claim to help you get offers on popular websites at a small fee. You are then required to pay the amounts before receiving your pins or an image of the voucher. Unfortunately, after sending the cash, either you do not get the voucher or the numbers you get do not work. You lose your money and waste time on non-existent offers. Legitimate companies will not ask you to pay a dime for their online coupons.
Check Voucher’s Expiration Date
Vouchers have a time limit within which you should have used them. This because the coupons are meant to promote a particular offer and for a given season. If you fail to find an expiration date for the voucher, that could be a red flag. Besides, most voucher codes are specific to what you can purchase. For example, it could be a voucher for the latest menu in a restaurant menu, dinner for two, shop at a particular section in your favorite stores, or buy at item from one of the brands for less.
Check the Source of the Voucher
The coupon code should always come from the brand company, a legitimate affiliate, or coupon research site such as vouchercodesuae.com. If the ad says that the online voucher comes from the company, head to its website and check if there are such offers. If it comes from an affiliate company, read reviews of the company and reliability status using free online tools.
Be wary of new websites that crop out of nowhere, start giving crazy coupons and have brands for less with premium features. Most of them are scam sites created to harvest user information. On the other hand, if the offer is sent via email, start by checking the sender email, fake ones will add or remove a character on the official email in a way that you might not notice. You can also hover the mouse over the email and the source appears at the bottom of the page. If it is not from the legit company site, delete the email.
There is a Sense of Urgency
You receive an email that asks you to redeem the voucher in the next three hours, or the offer will be lost or so that you can get a better deal. Most companies will give you enough time to take advantage of their great deals. Therefore, where you are pushed to redeem the voucher, it is probably a scam. In any online deal, drop any offer that comes with too much pushing. Pause, think, and research before you take up any offer.
Use of Scareware
This may not be explicitly related to the coupon code you are about to redeem. However, the company may have a warning that your device has a virus and you need to download their tool immediately to protect your data. Online voucher sites or any other site for that matter cannot determine whether there are viruses in your device. Whatever you are told to download may indeed be the virus or any other malware meant to steal your personal information. However, by the virtue of being on the site, the website is not legitimate.
Your Browser Gives You a Warning
Have you ever tried to click a link and the internet browser gives a warning that the online shopping site is malicious? It is probably true that it is indeed a malicious site. There is always a reason why a browser will warn you. It may be that the security certificate is not valid, differs from the registered name, or has been