Hy-Vee Warns Customers of Giveaway Scam Circulating on Social Media
March 4, 2016 | News & Press Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (March 4, 2016) — Today, Hy-Vee, Inc. issued a warning to customers about a fraudulent grocery giveaway post circulating on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.
The giveaway is not affiliated with or supported by Hy-Vee, and customers are urged to not engage with the scam website or provide their personal information.
In recent weeks, these posts have surfaced using the likeness of other major retailers. Hy-Vee suggests that customers beware of any offers that sound too good to be true, have unaffiliated URLs and contain grammatical errors or misspellings.
Hy-Vee officials are diligently working to get the website taken down. In the meantime, they recommend that customers not share the post and simply delete it. The fraudulent post states people will receive $150 worth of groceries for their birthday.
“We want our customers to know this giveaway is in no way affiliated with our company. We also want to educate them on the dangers posed by sharing and clicking on the post,” said Tara Deering-Hansen, group vice president of communications at Hy-Vee.
People who have accidentally clicked on the scam link and provided their personal information will want to scan their computer for viruses and malware and change any password information.
###
Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned corporation operating 240 retail stores across eight Midwestern states with sales of $9.3 billion annually. Hy-Vee ranks among the top 25 supermarket chains and the top 50 private companies in the United States. Supermarket News, the authoritative voice of the food industry, has honored the company with a Whole Health Enterprise Award for its leadership in providing services and programs that promote a healthy lifestyle. For more information, visit www.hy-vee.com.