Harbor Freight Scam Email 2023: Fake Survey & Tools Giveaway!
Harbor Freight Tools customers have been hit with a phishing scam this June 2023. This scam targets customers who purchased something from harborfreight.com recently. The email often looks like a confirmation or notice or receipt for a giveaway, promotion, contest, or “answer & win” survey.
The scam email claims recipients can win or have won a pressure washer, DeWalt Power Station, or 170 Piece Stanley Tool Set. Sadly, it’s all a social engineering attack. This scam preys on unsuspecting buyers using Harbor Freight logo to gain their trust. Observant recipients will notice that email didn’t come from the official Harbor Freight email which ends in @harborfreight.com. Secondly, the link on the email is not the official Harbor Freight Tools website.
Customers who clicked on the link and answered the survey were made to provide their credit card details for ‘shipping fee’ deduction. However, this is where the scam comes in.
By providing their credit card information, they gave access to their bank account. With that information, the scammers withdrew more that $6.99 for the so called shipping fee. Aside from being debited for shipping fee, they had unknowingly fallen for a subscription scam. Once they made the payment, they get automatically charged $9 every month for accessing the website.
This kind of scam is not new. It is a typical bait and switch scam, where scammers lure you in with giveaway or freebies but then trick you into signing up for a subscription. You wouldn’t discover this if you don’t read the tiny prints during your order & payment. In the end, instead of shipping fee, you’re paying for an online magazine subscription. You will be debited from your credit card monthly.
What To Do If You Fell For The Scam
The first thing you should do is to contact your credit card company to block your credit card immediately. After that, you should clear your browser cookies, then you can use your phone’s anti malware tool to scan for any virus.
You should also enable two-factor authentication. Don’t know how to do that? follow the steps written here or Search Google for how to do that. Take extra measures to ensure the scammers can’t get in. Thirdly, If you’ve already shared the link to your friends, you should call or chat them up telling them it’s a scam and not real giveaway.
See similar Giveaway scams – Amazon Package Loyalty Reward, UKPepsi Lottery Scam, Eyeverify, Bath$Body Coupon, Amazon Airpods Raffle Scam, and many more.
