What is Verizon Reward Scam

Verizon Reward Scam is a giveaway scam that falsely informs users that they will get a $90 promo reward if they take a survey. This is a very common scam and there are many different variations of it. It’s worth mentioning that wireless carrier company Verizon has nothing to do with this scam, its name is merely misused because it’s familiar to users. These scams usually aim to phish users’ personal information. The scam itself is harmless as long as users do not interact with them. Redirects to these scams usually happen because users visit high-risk websites but can also be caused by an adware infection.

 

 

 

The way this scam works is users get redirected to a questionable website that displays a Verizon Reward Scam. The site displays a message saying “Please tell us about your Mobile experiences, and as a thank you, you can select from several exclusive offer rewards!”. Supposedly, if you take their survey, you’ll receive a reward. However, this is merely a rewards scam that wants your personal information.

If you were to interact with this rewards scam and clicked “Take Survey Now”, you would be asked to answer 5 questions related to Verizon services. If you were to answer the questions, you would be shown a list of items offered as rewards. After “claiming” the rewards, you’d have to fill in your personal information, to supposedly get the reward. The scam requests the full name, full home address, email address, and phone number. This information would be transferred to scammers and malicious actors, and either sold on hacker forums or used to perform more sophisticated scams. If you submitted this information, you should be more cautious in the future because you could be targeted. And when scammers have access to personal information, their scams become much more believable.

Keep in mind that these kinds of giveaways are always fake. No legitimate company will host giveaways this way. If they were to do one, it would be announced via official channels, not random ads. You always need to be very careful about to whom you give your personal information because once it’s in the hands of malicious actors, things can get quite complicated.

Depending on how often you’re redirected, your computer may be infected with adware. If you’re only redirected when visiting certain websites, it’s likely the sites that are at fault. In this case, either stop visiting high-risk websites or install an adblocker program. However, if you’re redirected more regularly, even when you’re visiting safe sites, your computer may have adware. Fortunately, removing adware is very easy using anti-virus software.

Why random redirects happen

In most cases, users are redirected to scams either because their computers are infected with adware or because they visit high-risk websites. Usually, it’s because of the latter. There are quite a lot of dangerous websites out there, and often, interacting with anything on them could trigger a redirect. For example, sites with pornographic or pirated content often trigger redirects. Visiting such sites without an adblocker program is not a good idea. Adblockers are quite useful tools because not only do they stop redirects but also block other intrusive ads.

If you are redirected regularly not only to the Verizon Reward Scam but to other sites as well, your computer may be infected with adware. It’s not a serious infection because it doesn’t directly harm the computer. Instead, they trigger redirects and display intrusive ads. Adware, browser hijackers, and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) use a method known as software bundling. The way this works is that these threats come attached to free software as extra offers. This method allows these offers to install alongside the programs they’re attached to automatically. Explicit permission from users is not required in this case. Furthermore, the offers are hidden to prevent users from deselecting the offers. This makes the method quite problematic, and programs that use it to install are often classified as potential threats by anti-virus programs.

It’s quite easy to prevent these unwanted installations, as long as you pay attention when installing free programs. The most important thing to do is use Advanced (Custom) settings when given the option. The installation window will recommend using Default (Basic) settings but following this advice means all added offers will be hidden and allowed to install alongside automatically. But if you opt for Advanced (Custom) settings, not only will the extra offers be made visible, you will also be able to deselect all of them. All you need to do is uncheck the boxes. It’s usually recommended to deselect all offers, even if they appear useful at first sight. No legitimate program will use software bundling to install because it’s quite frowned upon.

Verizon Reward Scam removal

Depending on why you’re being redirected, you may not even need to do anything. In most cases, the redirects are triggered by the sites users visit. If that’s the case, installing an adblocker would help solve the issue because it would block intrusive ads and redirects. Adblockers, in general, are very useful tools to have installed.

It’s also a good idea to scan your computer with an anti-virus program like WiperSoft. If adware is responsible for the redirects, only removing it would stop the redirects. And it’s easiest to remove adware using an anti-virus program.