Fake winner messages: how to tell a real prize notification

Winner scams work because winning feels plausible if you enter a lot. Here is how genuine notifications differ from the fake ones.

How real promoters contact winners

Through the channel you entered on, using details you gave them. If you entered by till slip, expect a call on the number you wrote down.

With specifics: the competition name, the prize, the date of the draw. Vague messages about a grand prize are a bad sign.

Without asking for money. A promoter arranging delivery may ask for an address. They will not ask for a fee.

Your banking PIN, your card number or a one-time PIN. No promoter needs any of these to give you something.

An upfront payment of any kind, including airtime.

A copy of your ID sent to a personal WhatsApp number. Where identity verification is genuinely needed, it happens through the brand's own channels.

Look up the promoter's real contact number yourself, from their website, and call that. Do not use a number supplied in the message.

Check whether the competition existed at all and whether the draw date has passed.