A fake £250 Aldi voucher designed to steal shoppers’ information is being widely shared on WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and email.
Victims are told everyone could get a 'free coupon' for shopping at Aldi by clicking on a link and then provide certain personal details.
Twitter user @DGDCampbell alerted Aldi to one of the scams he'd seen shared on Whatsapp, which you can see below.
If the text is too small, we've typed it out in full here:
"Aldi supermarket offers a free coupon of £250 to everyone this week to Help the nation. Click here to get: http://www.aldi.uk-coupons.store/
Hi @AldiUK. A relative of mine received this on WhatsApp this morning: Afraid it looks like the fraudsters are at it again with the voucher scam, making the best of the #coronavirus coupled with your brand name. #ScamAlert pic.twitter.com/5LuY8GKaG8
— Darren Campbell (@DGDCampbell) May 2, 2020
It's a fairly believable scam for a number of reasons.
First of all, Aldi does indeed run competitions where it gives away vouchers: take a look at this screengrab of an advertorial than ran on a reputable news site a few years back.
It's a fairly regular occurrence.
In fact, here's a tweet we spotted just this morning from Aldi in Ireland:
Be a part of the team, join in the #AldiPlayRugby challenge with @IrishRugby! Be a good sport and tweet us a video to win a €100 Aldi voucher. This week's challenge: Pass the bucket. https://t.co/79wnqY9wyI pic.twitter.com/d1kGCUD7Fp
— Aldi Ireland (@Aldi_Ireland) April 30, 2020
How to stay safe
Fake supermarket vouchers are a common tactic for scammers as they have such widespread appeal. After all, who doesn’t want cash off their next grocery shop?
And as we've pointed out above, they can seem credible if the supermarket in question does indeed offer competitions where it hands out free vouchers.
So how can you tell it's a fake?
First of all, look for grammatical errors (in the above example 'Help' is capped up for no reason). Second, supermarkets are unlikely to ask you to share detailed personal information with them, so treat any such request with suspicion.
Finally, and most importantly, is the very concept itself. Just imagine the whopping cost of Aldi giving everyone £250 worth of free shopping. The supermarket would go bust in no time!
So a bit of common sense should also reassure you this is a fake.
If you want to be sure you’re not missing out on a bargain you can contact the supermarket’s customer support team and ask them (just don’t follow any links in the voucher in question).
For more long term savings, have a look at our top 10 tips to save even more at Aldi.