OCALA, Fla — A local man thought he won a $1000 Publix gift card.
Tim Siket of Ocala said, “When I hit submit it took me to a Publix Rewards part.”
He later learned it was part of an elaborate sweepstakes scam.
The Publix Customer Voice Survey Sweepstakes is a legitimate contest, but it appears Siket somehow ended up on a scam website designed to look like the grocery store’s real site.
Siket believes he was on the real site, at least at first. He told Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal he answered the survey questions and when he was done a pop-up came up telling him he had won. At the time he got that pop-up, a winner hadn’t even been selected yet.
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If you shop at Publix and take a close look at the receipt, you’ve likely seen the survey for a chance to win a $1000 dollar gift card to the store.
“It’s on the Publix receipt, the bottom of the receipt,” Tim Siket said.
He enters every chance he gets. The self-described loyal customer has never won, but last month when he hit submit, he thought his luck had changed.
“Congratulations, Mr. Timothy Siket you won a $1,000 gift card,” Siket said describing the message that showed up on his screen.
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The pop-up on the screen wanted him to scan a QR code to claim his prize, but since he doesn’t own a smart phone, he had to call a 1-800-number. The person on the phone claimed to be with Publix and told him he needed to verify his identity through his Amazon account and purchase an Apple gift card with the end game seeming to be to get Siket’s payment information. Fortunately, Siket didn’t give that up and eventually called his local store and Publix customer service to find out if he really won.
According to Siket, a Publix customer service representative told him he got hacked and there was nothing they could do.
“Well, I don’t think I got hacked because it was your website. I said, ‘I think you guys got hacked.’” Siket said as he recalled the phone call with Publix.
Siket believes the scam pop-up came after he entered his store and receipt numbers on the real Publix site and did the survey because when he tried it again, it said he had already entered the sweepstakes.
When Action 9 reached out to Publix about his experience, a spokeswoman wrote:
First, we would never want a customer to feel that being targeted by a scam is their fault – bad actors are intentionally deceptive, and anyone can be impacted. But we do have an opportunity to help customers protect themselves. The only official Publix customer survey is accessed directly by typing into a browser the full URL printed on the receipt. Unfortunately, some bad actors create look alike websites that appear in online search results.
We encourage customers to take precautions online by typing web addresses exactly as printed, avoiding links found through search engines or unsolicited messages, and being cautious of offers that create urgency or request payment. This also includes misspelled words (typos) in the web address/URL or elsewhere on the page/screen, as well as being told you’re a “winner” without completing an actual survey. Publix does not ask customers to provide payment information, purchase gift cards or share financial details to participate in a survey or claim a prize. Any website or phone call requesting that information is not associated with Publix.
When customers alert us to potential scam activity, we share that information with the appropriate teams and continue working to help protect our customers from fraudulent activity.
When Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal searched online, he found an imposter Publix survey website. It had the word survey spelled incorrectly in the URL. When Deal filled in the information on the website, it also showed he had won the $1000 gift card. So, he called the 1-855 phone number on the site to ask about claiming the prize.
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When a woman answered, Jeff Deal said, “We’re recording this for broadcast. I can’t believe I won the $1000 from Publix.” The woman laughed and Jeff questioned, “This is Publix?”
The woman answered, “Yes, my name is Jennifer Smith.”
After Deal gave his real name and his Channel 9 email address, he was put on hold. Even though Jeff Deal had never registered his email address with Publix, the woman returned to the line and said, “Alright, congratulations, sir. That is correct, you have won the $1000 rewards card from Publix.”
Jeff Deal said, “That’s awesome, how do I claim my prize?”
She answered that he needed to open his Amazon account and tried to get him to buy an Apple gift card, very similar to what Tim Siket experienced when he got on the line with would be scammers.
The woman said, “Apple gift card, email delivery do you see that?”
Jeff Deal questioned the process and said, “So, you’re not trying to scam me right now?”
The woman answered, “No, not at all. Why would I? And how am I going to scam you?”
She claimed buying the gift card from partner companies would prove Jeff Deal’s identity, but ultimately her storyline fell apart.
Deal asked, “How come the website has survey spelled wrong on the top line?”
She responded, “What does it say?”
Deal said, “It says Publix-Dot-Survey with with two (letter) Vs in survey.”
The woman said, “I don’t know, sir.”
Deal then asked, “Do you feel bad about scamming people ma’am?” She then hung up the phone.
This was the same type of scam, that left Tim Siket frustrated with both the scammers and Publix.
“I said, ‘Well, I want you to take the information.’ I said, ‘I don’t want this to happen to other people,’” Siket said recalling his conversation with Publix.
Siket wishes Publix would put the drawing dates on the receipts so he would have known from the beginning he hadn’t really won. Again, Publix said it doesn’t ask people to provide payment info or buy gift cards to participate in a survey or to claim a prize.