The dangers behind entering free online competitions

We’ve all come across a competition trying to entice us, whether it’s to win a free holiday or to win your dream wedding. Are you one of the people who regularly fill out your details and submit an entry?

Many of these companies share your details and sell your data to third parties (which you would have consented to at the time of entering) so you really are opening yourself up to your details being spread all over the place.

Many of us are guilty of pressing accept without even reading!

Here are the main dangers behind entering free competitions:

Not legitimate

If a competition seems too good to be true then it may well be! Competitions can be fake and the people behind it can be cyber criminals! Once you provide them with your personal details such as your full name, address, email and phone number they can then use this information to commit cyber crime.

Gaining your personal data

They may ask you to create an account with them in order to sign up to the competition. This may involve creating a username and password and as most people use the same generic password across all their accounts, you are essentially giving these cyber crooks the chance to re-use the details you give them and attempt log-ins to other sites such as PayPal, eBay, and any other online places. They may even try to access your email account and once they get within your mail they can scour through and search for other private information.

Sharing your data with other companies

Who’s a fan of junk email and cold callers? If you can’t stand being flooded with annoying phone calls and emails of no interest piling up in your inbox then stay away from giving these companies your details.

Summary

Nobody likes the thought of a criminal going through their home so don’t make an exception for your online presence. Always be cautious and think twice before freely handing out your data.