Customers hoping to win a Burgerville gift card through a Facebook promotion instead discovered a fake account was trying to scam them.
A July 5 post on the Vancouver-based restaurant’s Facebook page said, “GIVEAWAY Your dream Burgerville milkshake flavor: GO. Tell us in the comments – if your flavor suggestion gets the most likes, you’re gonna win a $25 gift card!”
The post was legitimate, but a scammer created a fake Burgerville account and started interacting with customers in the comments.
Kristin Noelle was among the people who commented on the post. She posted Guinness as her favorite flavor and was chosen as a winner by what turned out to be the false account. In order to receive the prize, customers had to register through a link, which asked for personal and credit card information.
“I almost fell for it,” Noelle wrote in an email. “Even had my wallet out.”
A handful of followers reached out to Burgerville’s team in direct messages about the giveaway, Clare Clancy, Burgerville’s community marketing and public relations manager, said in an email.
The post has since been deleted, and Burgerville’s official account administrators addressed the issue.
“Unfortunately, many customers were tagged in a Facebook comment on our recent giveaway from a false account pretending to be Burgerville,” the restaurant said on Facebook.
The false account was blocked, and all of its comments were deleted by Burgerville’s administrative team.
“While the giveaway was legitimate, we made the decision to stop the contest,” Clancy said. “We’ll revisit a possible giveaway in the future.”
Burgerville’s team advises people not to click the link provided or give out any personal information. People who clicked on the link should consider updating passwords and checking for any unauthorized activity.
“We take these matter(s) seriously and hate to see it happen to our Localville Community,” Burgerville’s post said.
