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A new scam surfaced recently on Facebook claiming to be Street Stall Saturdays in Saskatoon.
The scam comes from an unofficial Facebook page that sends personal messages to Facebook users featuring links to a giveaway registry.
Once the link is clicked, the site asks for personal information like email addresses and credit card numbers. Below in very small and unnoticeable fine print is a line saying the credit card will be charged $39.95 per month unless cancelled.
Tanner Michalenko, the community manager for Ideas Inc., which organizes Street Stall Saturday, discussed the scam.
“To the average eye, it could fool a lot of people,” he said. “They had all of our social media assets on their profile just as it would appear on our profile.
“Street Stall Saturdays is a likable (Facebook) page and it’s a followable page, but these impersonators seem to be a personal page where you have to send a friend request. If they send you a link that says ‘Register here,’ we’ll never do that. You’ll never have to register or give your email if you win our giveaway.”
It’s unknown how many people have fallen for this scam and sent in personal information to the impersonators. Many users contacted caught the scam early on and informed Street Stall Saturday about the situation.
According to Michalenko, scams are very common for local businesses, especially when their contests or giveaways begin to gain a lot of traction. Now Michalenko is sharing his advice for businesses to make their giveaways distinctively different from the scammers.
“They should never ask you for credit card information or your email. I think that business owners should recognize that. You should never send anyone a link to register to win a contest because it looks really similar to scammers,” Michalenko said. “That’s exactly what they do.
“I think the best way for business owners is to reach out to the person via (direct message) and probably grab their phone number so you can actually talk to them and confirm your identity with them. That’s a much more comforting way for someone to be contacted.”
Street Stall Saturdays started this year on May 1 and is to run until Oct. 9. Its hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday.
Anything from handcrafted home decor and clothing to locally made food and produce can be found at Market Square/River Landing in Saskatoon.
Payton Zillich, 650 CKOM
