Scam Alert: Social Media Gift Exchange is Back with a Twist
Milwaukee, Wis. – This year’s shady holiday gift exchange comes with a new twist – wine. If gifting one bottle of wine and receiving dozens in return sounds too go to be true, that’s because it is. This seemingly harmless gift exchange is really a pyramid scheme.
How the Scam Works:
You are scrolling through social media, when you see an invitation to participate in a wine gift exchange. One common version reads: “Hi wine drinking friends!! Let’s do a Holiday Wine Exchange. I did this last year and received so many bottles of wine!” The post explains that all you need to do is buy a bottle of wine and send it to another participant. Then, share the invitation on your own social feed. In exchange, you’ll receive anywhere from 6 to 36 bottles of wine.
Sounds great, right? The trouble is that this is a pyramid scheme. It relies on recruiting new individuals to keep the scam afloat. Once people stop participating in the exchange, the gift supply stops as well, and leaves disappointed participants without their promised gifts
Pyramid schemes are illegal in the US and Canada. The U.S. Postal Inspection Services explains that these gift exchanges are considered a form of gambling and that participants could be subject to penalties such as jail time, fines, or a lawsuit for mail fraud.
Tips to avoid these scams
- Report social media posts. If you receive an invitation to join a pyramid scheme on social media, report it. On Facebook, report posts by clicking in the upper right corner and selecting “Report post” or “Report photo.” On Instagram, tap the three dots above the post and then tap “Report.”
- Never give your personal information to strangers. This will open you up to identity theft and other scams.
- Be wary of false claims. Some pyramid schemes try to win your confidence by claiming they’re legal and endorsed by the government, or even BBB! These claims are false, so don’t believe them.
Learn more about the gift exchange scams that are popular on social media. For more holiday scams and seasonal tips, see BBB.org/HolidayTips. For more information or further inquiries, contact the Wisconsin BBB at www.bbb.org/wisconsin, 414-847-6000 or 1-800-273-1002. Consumers also can find more information about how to protect themselves from scams by following the Wisconsin BBB on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, the Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2018, people turned to BBB more than 173 million times for BBB Business Profiles on more than 5.4 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at bbb.org. There are local, independent BBBs across the United States, Canada and Mexico, including BBB Serving Wisconsin which was founded in 1939 and serves the state of Wisconsin.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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