Remember safety when entering Online Competitions

Written by Keith Jones Wednesday, 17 August 2011 07:05

Commonly called Online Competitions or Online Sweepstakes, have risen in popularity recently especially among companies wanting to promote their business, product or website. They are extremely handy to build online subscriber lists.

Commonly called Online Competitions or Online Sweepstakes, have risen in popularity recently especially among companies wanting to promote their business, product or website. They are extremely handy to build online subscriber lists.

It's not hard to find an online competition, a simple Google search will list a lot of websites that are dedicated to hosting as many competitions as they can find. Also in the paid area of the Google search results will be many individual companies promoting their competitions. No matter how you find out about a competition there are a number of things you need to know before entering, which can save you anything from wasted time through to the theft of your identity.

If you are only asked to enter your name and email address, it would be classified as a basic online competition. This competition is popular among websites who are solely after increasing their subscriber lists. Once you are a subscriber, you will receive email updates from them promoting their products or services. On entering the competitions you may also be asked to answer a few other questions, as long as the answers cannot identify you, it is safe to enter. A benefit of these types of entries is that you can easily unsubscribe or mark their emails as junk.

Another form of basic entry can include the words or less competition. After entering a few basic details, you are then required to answer a question in a number of words or less. The trick here is to make your answer funny or witty, but also relevant to the question you have been asked.

Any online competition that asks you to enter your personal details, such as address, date of birth, phone number or social security number, will require you to be on your guard.

Anytime you give out your personal details, you have a risk of attracting fraudsters, telemarketers, and identity thieves. There are a number of ways to avoid being scammed. Always read the terms and conditions (T&Cs), if the T&Cs say that by entering the competition you are giving permission to receive telemarketing phone calls, think twice before entering, is the chance of winning the prize worth receiving telemarketing phone calls, especially considering there are hundreds of other online competitions out there?

When being asked to enter your date of birth, enter as least one of the numbers deliberately wrong as safety against identity theft. A majority of the competitions will never check your date of birth before sending you the prize, and in the event that they do, just say that it must have been a accident. Do the same with any other personal number, such as your social security number. The only personal details that you need to ensure are right are your name, address and phone number.

If you have checked the T&Cs and have decided to enter your phone number, make sure it is correct as a lot of companies will contact you first by phone to notify you that you have won a prize. Same goes with your address, the first you may be aware that you have won a prize is when it arrives in the mail. Good luck and happy winning.