Southfield, MI – July 29, 2010 - The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning consumers to be on the look-out for an e-mail satisfaction survey appearing to be from Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). The e-mail promises a $100.00 gift card just to complete the survey but instead is a ploy to obtain personal information and turn more telemarketers loose on unsuspecting consumers.
Consumers have alerted the Louisville BBB about an e-mail they received to complete a survey and in return, they would be sent a $100 gift card. The e-mail clearly displays the KFC logo and copyright symbols and asks about thirty questions with only the first four questions being related to KFC. The rest of the questions are about different items and companies. With every group of four to five questions, the survey asks the consumer to enter their e-mail address, home address and telephone numbers, as well as, encourages the user to continue the survey with “Almost Done” notations.
To date no gift cards have been delivered as promised but instead consumers received telemarketing calls from four or five different companies as soon as the following day.
Patrick Bennett, BBB Director of Community Relations, notes that YUM! Brands, parent company to KFC, does not have any involvement with the survey and provided the following response when alerted by the BBB:
“This is not a KFC sponsored survey nor have we given them the rights to use our logos in the survey that was e-mailed out. Our legal team is aware of this……. I believe they have sent this address an e-mail that has asked them to stop sending surveys with KFC logos. The e-mail is not from KFC, one customer stated the e-mail (address) that it comes from is freechickensurvey@arlissnovemarticulate7372.info, which is not one of our survey vendors”.
The BBB offers the following advice to consumers hoping to avoid online scams:
· Don’t be fooled by the appearance of an e-mail or website. Thieves have become very sophisticated in their ability to replicate sites, even providing direct links to a company’s history, departments and contact information.
· Don’t fall for offers promising a significant cash payout, credit or gift card for taking a simple survey. If something looks too good to be true, it likely is.
· Do not, under any circumstances, give personal or financial information to anyone until you have verified who will be using the information and how it will be used.
· Look for, read and understand Privacy Policies. Know what information will be collected and how it will be used.
· To avoid unsolicited telemarketer calls, register your phone numbers with the National Do Not Call Registry (www.donotcall.gov).
· If you feel you may be the victim of an online scam, contact the BBB at www.bbb.org or 248-223-9400 and the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
About Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Michigan is a non-profit organization with the purpose of assisting in the protection of consumers and businesses from fraud and unethical business practices in the local marketplace. In addition to its recognized dispute resolution services, BBB maintains reliability reports on the customer service history of more than 80,000 local businesses and provides consumer education materials on numerous topics. BBB provides its services free to the public and its service territory stretches across Eastern Michigan from Jackson/Ann Arbor through Metropolitan Detroit, Lansing, Flint, upward to Alpena, and covers the entire Upper Peninsula of the state.