How to spot a scam competition

Nobody legitimate asks for a fee to release a prize

No courier fee, no clearance fee, no tax payment, no airtime voucher. If someone asks you to send money or airtime before you can receive a prize, it is a scam, every time.

Legitimate promoters build delivery costs into the competition. Where tax applies, it is handled between the promoter and SARS, not collected from you by a stranger on WhatsApp.

You cannot win something you did not enter

The most common scam message opens with congratulations for a competition you have no memory of entering. That is because you did not enter it.

Check your own record before you reply to anything. If you have a Yebo Wins account, everything you entered through us is listed under your account.

Check the page you are actually on

Scammers clone retailer and bank pages closely. Look at the domain in the address bar rather than the logo on the page.

A real SPAR competition lives on a SPAR domain. A real Standard Bank competition lives on a Standard Bank domain. If a competition claiming to be from a large brand is running on a free hosting subdomain, close it.

Pressure is the tell

Scam messages push urgency: reply within the hour, claim before midnight, do not tell anyone. Real promoters give you days and publish their terms.

Slow down. Nothing legitimate is lost by taking ten minutes to check.

What to do if you have been targeted

Do not send money or personal identity documents. Stop replying.

Report it to the brand being impersonated, so they can warn others. Most large South African retailers and banks have a fraud reporting line.

If you saw the competition on Yebo Wins, tell us and we will take it down and look at how it got through.