While gift card scams themselves have been around for years, what is new here is that they are being delivered through new channels. In the early days of the Internet, consumers would typically come across these scams via spam email or web advertisements. With the advent of Web 2.0, these gift card scams are now showing up on popular B2C marketplaces – such as Craigslist and eBay – as well as social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter.

These scammers (typically unscrupulous affiliate marketing firms) understand social engineering tactics well and exploit them to optimize their campaigns. For example, many of the scams create a sense of urgency to respond (a tactic often used in phishing scams) to maximize response rates. In one scam, a $1000 Best Buy gift card is offered to the first 20,000 people who sign up. In the IKEA example mentioned above, the gift card offer expired in 24 hours. Scammers also understand the viral nature of social networks and leverage the trust built among friends and colleagues to quickly spread the scams. For example, in several gift card scams, including a $500 Target gift card scam, consumers must suggest the page to all their Facebook friends in order to be eligible for the promotion.

What is the harm in falling for one of these scams? In short, plenty. In order to receive a gift card, consumers are typically asked to divulge their email address, along with other personal information, including mailing address and phone number. Once this information is captured, consumers are sometimes asked to complete a series of surveys. Then, consumers are usually required to signup for roughly a dozen offers that often cost more than the value of the ‘free’ gift card which they may or may not receive in the end. Meanwhile, the affiliate marketing firm has captured a wealth of information that it sells to third parties and telemarketers. As a result, consumers who fall for these scams reportedly receive around 30 junk emails per day, numerous unwanted telemarketing calls and sometimes even costly text messages sent to their cell phones. Plus, they end up subscribing to services they never wanted in the first place.

Sometimes it gets even worse. The goal of a recent $500 Whole Foods gift card scam was identity theft by leveraging malicious software, or malware. In this scam, consumers were required to complete a credit assessment form that left their personal information exposed before the malware crashed their computers.

If brand owners are in no way involved in or had any knowledge of these scams, what is the harm to them? Again, plenty. If not handled adeptly, any bad customer experience associated with their brand can significantly damage the reputation of their brands for years to come and the trust consumers have with those brands. If consumers are continuously annoyed by unwanted solicitations and junk mail, they will surely remember the event that triggered it all.

So, what can brand owners do? While these types of scams involving social networks are difficult if not impossible to prevent, several brand owners have taken proactive measures to warn and safeguard their customers against these scams. Some best practices that can be gleamed from their actions include:

• Report the scam to Facebook or other Web 2.0 site to have the scam removed.  Facebook offers a process and complaint form for reporting trademark violations on its site. 
• Warn consumers of the scam through various mediums, including:
  • the official company Facebook page (see Whole Foods example)
  • the corporate website (see Walmart example)
  • an official tweet on Twitter (see Whole Foods example)
  • the official company fan site (see IKEA example)
• Continuously monitor social media networks and other Web 2.0 platforms for new scams and respond swiftly

In addition to brandholder efforts, Facebook is also taking proactive measures to identify and shutdown these types of scams on its own and has started building an automated system to detect these types of scams before they are reported.  It is clearly in the interest of Facebook and other social media sites to maintain a trusted and safe environment for their users.   

Scammers are always coming up with new ploys, and the ongoing evolution of the Internet presents them new opportunities and angles. The challenge for brand owners is to be always vigilant of where and how their brands are being used online and to respond expediently and appropriately when these abuses do arise.  In doing so, brand owners will not only preserve the integrity of their brands, but also the privacy and trust of their customers.

Beyond the liberal use of the word “dude” applied to anyone despite their gender, I actually did learn something from @AplusK (Ashton Kutcher’s moniker on Twitter).

Seriously, a recent broadcast of National Public Radio mentioned the size of the respective Twitter followings for Ashton Kutcher and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  As a result, I decided to begin following the more popular of the two – it wasn’t Arnold in case you were wondering.

Within just a few hours @AplusK made the following post: “I totally agree with this RT @mashable: Reading: “Brand Mentions Preferred over Ads” – http://bit.ly/3mNnZ”.   The link leads to an eMarketer survey that concluded that brand mentions in articles are more interesting than branded advertisements.

A few hours earlier, @songzunhuang tweeted “Trying still another Bluetooth headset. Plantronics 925. I’ll see how it works with iPhone” in which he mentions two very popular brands.  When I saw that post from a trusted friend and technology junkie, I’d wondered if I should contact him to discuss his conclusions about the devices’ compatibility.

Mr. Kutcher, @mashable and their pals at eMarketer are right – but in a new media.  Had there been a sponsored link in that tweet I would not have clicked on it, but I did wonder what my friends are saying about brands I might use or need.  This vignette underscores the power of social media and, by extension, the importance of managing and protecting your brands in social media. And, in the unlikely world of Twitter I learned from Ashton Kutcher.

All of the major social media sites provide Terms and Conditions that strictly prohibit impersonation, as well as copyright infringement. 

However, as a preemptive measure, companies should consider protecting their corporate identities and core brands by registering them across social media sites: On some sites, like Twitter and YouTube, this is especially of concern because the username becomes the identity of the poster. 

There is also the whole issue of ‘Groups’ which are being registered on these sites as well. Again, if it appears that impersonation is occurring, then the companies should address quickly by referring to the Terms and Conditions of each site. 

Once brands have been registered on these sites, it is important to keep all login and password information secure. It is also important to let stakeholders within these organizations know that these assets have been secured, should they want to use them for marketing or promotional purposes. Clearly using these sites to promote brands, provide customer support and build community is an extremely cost effective approach given the current economic climate. 

If a brand has already been registered, it is possible to request that the account be deactivated or deleted pursuant to the Terms and Conditions of each social media site. 

Finally, companies should implement internal policies that strictly prohibit employees from the impersonation of, and/or the use of brands or trademarks on social media sites to intentionally mislead others. 

While social media sites provide an extremely cost effective method for companies to reach out, market and provide support to their communities, the risk of trademark abuse and impersonation is extremely high. Companies should take proactive measure to secure their brands and should continually monitor and take action to recover or deactivate sites when issues arise.