Recognize serious competitions: you should pay attention to this

Recognizing serious competitions is not always easy. It is not only on the Internet that it is teeming with competitions that promise valuable material or cash prizes. In this article, we show you what you should look out for in such offers.

How to recognize serious competitions

Keep a few things in mind to reduce the risk of becoming a victim of fraud.

• Organizer: If the provider is a well-known company, that's a good sign. Large companies do not destroy their good name through dubious competitions.
• Company headquarters: Make sure that the company headquarters are in Germany. Then German law applies.
• Imprint: See if the imprint is easy to find. The contact person, telephone number and address should be specified here. How to find out who owns a website / domain is explained in another article.
• Conditions of participation: The conditions of participation should also be easy to find. read them carefully.
• Requested data: Only the most important data should be requested in the entry form. Your account number is not included.

Be careful with calls and mail

If you get a call, an email or a post informing you of supposed profits, you should pay attention.

• Of course, the fraud is particularly noticeable if you have not taken part in any sweepstakes. Then you have to assume rip off on the phone.
• If you have to pay something to get a supposed profit, you can assume fraudulent intent. An exception is, of course, state lotteries like Lotto, Totto and Co: Here you have to pay for a ticket first.
• If the number is suppressed, you do not need to hope for a blessing either.

Find out about fraudsters on the Internet

If you are not sure whether this is a serious competition, you can find out more on the Internet.

• In this case the contact person is the consumer center. You can find the nearest contact point on the website of the advice center.
• The Hamburg consumer advice center also keeps a black list of rip-offs. You will find both dubious operators and fraudulent profit notices there.
• You can also report a dubious competition there.

You can find out what guidelines apply if you want to run a competition yourself on Facebook in the next article.