Brock’s Information Technology Services (ITS) team is advising faculty, staff and students to be aware of online scams offering free — but fake — gift cards.

Targeting individuals with the promise of no-cost rewards from popular retailers, these scams come through emails, social media posts or text messages that claim the recipient has earned a gift card for completing a simple survey or just for being a loyal customer. However, claiming the free gift card often requires providing personal details or downloading a file.

Providing personal information or downloading files can lead to serious risks such as identity theft or malware being installed on the recipient’s device. It is crucial to be vigilant and skeptical of such offers. Legitimate promotions from reputable companies rarely require the submission of sensitive information or involve any form of payment.

Brock ITS advises users to protect themselves by:

• Verifying any gift card offer by contacting the retailer directly through official communication channels.
• Looking for warning signs such as poor grammar, requests for personal information or links to unfamiliar websites.
• Being suspicious of any message containing an offer that looks too good to be true.

Brock community members can reach out to ITS with questions or forward suspicious emails to itsecurity@brocku.ca for the IT Security team to investigate.