By Mark Ogagan
Today is November 29, a day named after the US Thanksgiving holiday, widely known as “Black Friday” and obviously, kick starts the Christmas shopping season.
With many major retailers promoting “Black Friday” deals, scammers are also hard at work, using retailers’ names to try to trick shoppers.
One of such messages claim that supermarket chain Pick n Pay is giving away “Black Friday gifts” but it’s all a scam.
Shops and businesses across the world run promotions to coincide with Black Friday, and one of those is South African retailer Pick n Pay, which sells groceries, home appliances and clothes. It started building up to Black Friday in mid-November.
In this context, a message sent to Africa Check’s WhatsApp line claims there’s a “PnP – Black Friday Sale” and encourages users to “click here to get your gifts”.
But there’s no such promotion.
The lack of details in this message is the first sign that it can’t be trusted. When a retailer as big as Pick n Pay runs a promotion, it usually provides details such as when the promotion ends, terms and conditions, and what prizes can be won. The viral message just says “gifts” and “limited time offer”.
Another red flag is the dodgy-looking link. When clicked on, the page was unavailable. Clicking on such links could lead to you giving out personal information or unknowingly downloading viruses.
Pick n Pay has active social media accounts, including on Facebook and X, and there was no mention of the promotion in question.
On 19 November, the retailer labelled the claim a scam: “This is not a valid Pick n Pay website and is not affiliated with Pick n Pay in any way. We only run competitions on our own social media pages.”
Pick n Pay also posted the circulating message on its website, urging customers “not to click on any links, capture personal information or share such messages”.
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