Opportunistic scammers are allegedly using the recognisable branding of a popular local radio station to try and sucker unsuspecting victims into parting with their personal card details.
A Facebook account claiming to be a radio presenter at Greatest Hits Radio called Debbie appears to be conducting an elaborate scam that involved setting up a competition that chooses posts anyone had made on the Greatest Hits Radio Swindon page over the last ten years.
The scammer would then comment underneath these historic posts and tell the person that they’d been chosen as the winners of the competition, where they need to go onto 'Debbie's own Facebook page, and then follow a link and fill out their details to win money.
The page contains a picture of ‘Debbie’, some photos of her ‘at work’ and some copies of recent legitimate Greatest Hits Radio branded posts. It also contains a smattering of Instagram pictures and selfies to create the impressing that ‘Debbie’ is a real person, and this account is her real account.
But the prevailing thing on the page is the promotion of the competition, seemingly endorsed by Greatest Hits Radio, and encouragement for ‘winners’ to click on a link and register their details.
The competition says: “Congratulations to the people we have chosen. Special Giveaway. We have collaborated with our sponsors to do a RANDOM SEARCH from 2015 to 2022 to choose 20 lucky people to get: a SPECIAL PRIZE £1000.”
Clicking on the link then directs you to a page designed specifically to appear like a legitimate Greatest Hits Radio competition, but those savvy enough will be able to see the tell-tale signs that it’s a scam.
One potential victim who cottoned on to the ruse was messaged by ‘Debbie’ on a post that he’d made on the Greatest Hits Radio Swindon Facebook page over eight years ago.
This person, who did not wish to be named, questioned the competition with their would-be scammer and asked them to get the station to contact them directly.
They then contacted Greatest Hits Radio on its official social media and via email to ask about the ‘competition’ being held in their name but received no response.
This worried them, because they felt that the real Greatest Hits Radio should be able to clarify if a competition is real or not when asked to prevent people from becoming victims of the scam.
Greatest Hits Radio had previously warned people about similar scams in February, but they appear to have still been running throughout the year.
It has also placed an article on its website warning people and in October, presenter Debbie Mac, who has been targeted in this specific scam, also put out a warning on her Facebook page.
It has also approached 'Debbie' who has not responded to any questions.
At the time of writing, the page claiming to be ‘Debbie’ and the scam competition still appears to be running.
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