Lowes $50 or $100 Mother’s Day Coupon-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Claims that Lowe’s Home Improvement offered customers a $50 or $100 coupon for Mother’s Day have spread across Facebook.
The Truth:
Fake offers to redeem a $50 or $100 coupon for Lowe’s Home Improvement for Mother’s Day are being used to steal consumers personal information.
The $50 coupon for Lowe’s hoax appeared on Facebook in April 2017, just as shoppers began to gear up for Mother’s Day. At first, the offer was for a $50 coupon for Mother’s Day, but it later shifted to a $100 coupon. Readers are encouraged to click-thru to a website with a similar — but not the same — URL as the official Lowe’s page where they’ll be asked to complete a brief survey:
After answering three questions about shopping at Lowe’s, victims are then advised to share the offer on Facebook in order to proceed and to claim their $50 or $100 Lowe’s Mother’s Day coupon. However, there is no coupon. This is a survey scam that uses the promise of free or discounted products or services to lure victims into revealing their personal information and sharing the fake offer on their social media channels.
The fact the URL of the survey — http://lowes.com-coupongems.com/ — is close to, but the same as, Lowe’s official site should be the first clue. Scammers frequently use official-looking URLs to make people feel comfortable about sharing their personal information.
In order to avoid survey scams, be on the lookout for website URLs that are close to, but not the same as, official company websites. Also, credible companies will never ask for personal information via Facebook, and credible companies would never require shoppers to like and share a post on social media in order to redeem a coupon.