Is that car giveaway legit? How to spot a scam

Plenty of car giveaways are real promotions run by real companies. Many scams don't run a giveaway at all; they pretend to be one, with a DM saying you won, a text with a link, or a “claims agent” who needs a fee before the truck can ship. The FTC's rule catches nearly all of them: “If you have to pay to get your prize, it's a scam.”

This guide covers the checks that separate a real giveaway from a fake, with numbers from the 77 live giveaways and 75 sponsors we track.

The legit check, in eight questions

1. Can you find the official rules before you enter? The postal inspectors' advice is simple: if you can't find, read or understand the rules, think twice. We've read the full rules for all 77 live giveaways in our directory.
2. Do the rules name a sponsor with a business address? Federal law requires sweepstakes sent by mail to identify the sponsor and where to reach it, and the online giveaways we track follow suit. 74 of the 75 sponsors we track name a legal entity, such as an LLC or a nonprofit, in their rules.
3. Is there a free way to enter? “No purchase necessary” is the law, not a courtesy. All 77 live giveaways offer one.
4. Are the prize, its value, the dates and the drawing method spelled out? These are standard disclosures. Vague rules (“a truck,” “soon”) are a reason to wait.
5. Is the company registered? You can look a company up in a state's business registry; the National Association of Secretaries of State links to each state's office. We found a state registration for 54 of the 75 sponsors. A missing record isn't proof of a scam, since a company can be registered under another name or in another state, but it's worth a second look.
6. Does the sponsor publish winners? 61 of the 75 sponsors we track have published winners, including 45 of 50 sponsors with a giveaway open right now. Of the 2,202 winners we've collected, 43% come with a video from the sponsor.
7. Is it a big promotion? Then state rules add paperwork. New York requires any promotion with more than $5,000 in prizes to register 30 days ahead, post a bond and file a list of winners afterward. Florida requires a filing 7 days ahead and generally a bond or trust account, and the sponsor has to give a winners list to anyone who asks.
8. Has anyone asked you for money to claim a prize? Then stop. A real sponsor never charges the winner to receive the prize.

Red flags that mean stop

Prize-notification scams on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook

One pattern doesn't involve a giveaway you've never heard of. It piggybacks on one you have. You comment on or enter a real creator's giveaway, and then a message arrives from an account using the creator's name and photos. You've won, it says. Click this link, confirm your card, pay the “delivery fee.”

The FTC has described the same pattern on social media: scammers borrow the names of real winners or brands, move the conversation to text, then ask for gift cards to cover processing and delivery. There is no prize, and the money is gone.

Compare that with how real giveaways say they contact winners. Among the 77 live giveaways we track, 69 list email, 59 list phone and 43 list mail. None list a social media message. When a message does come, check it before you reply:

• Compare the handle with the official channels on the sponsor's website or its page in our sponsor directory.
• Don't click links in the message. Go to the sponsor's site yourself and use the contact details there.
• Check whether the drawing has even happened yet. The date is in the rules.
• Report the account to the platform so it gets taken down before it reaches someone else.

Fake “you won” texts and emails

The FTC lists free-prize promises among the common scam texts. Its advice is to skip the links entirely, forward the message to 7726 (SPAM) so your carrier can block similar ones, and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

For email, look at the sender's domain, not the display name. A real notice comes from the sponsor's domain or the administrator named in the rules. If the email says you won a giveaway you can't find on the sponsor's site, treat it as fake until the sponsor confirms it through its own contact page.

What a real winner is asked for

Legitimate giveaways do collect personal details from winners, which is exactly what scammers imitate. That can seem to clash with the FTC's warning about Social Security numbers. The difference is who asks, when, and whether money changes hands. Here's what the live giveaways' rules require of a winner:

• A signed affidavit of eligibility: all 77 live giveaways.
• An IRS Form W-9 with your Social Security number, so the sponsor can report the prize: 51.
• A valid driver's license: 56.
• Proof of insurance before you take the vehicle: 50.
• A notarized signature: 16.

Those requests come after the drawing date, from the sponsor or the administrator named in the rules, and none of them comes with a fee. The postal inspectors put it simply: you only pay taxes to the IRS. If someone wants your Social Security number before any drawing, or wants it alongside a payment, walk away. Our guide to what happens when you win covers the real process step by step.

Is a giveaway that sells merch a scam?

No, not by itself. Selling shirts or parts that come with entries is a legal model as long as there's a free way in with the same chance of winning. Our guide to how car giveaways work explains why.

A P.O. box in the rules isn't a red flag either. Of the 124 addresses printed in the rules we've checked, 69 are P.O. boxes or mailbox services, and 39 of those belong to the company that administers the drawing. What matters more is the track record: past giveaways, the company behind them and whether winners were announced. Every sponsor page in our sponsor directory shows all three, and our winners page lists 2,202 published winners, 1,424 of them from official winners lists.

If you've been targeted

1. Stop replying. Don't send money, codes or documents.
2. If you already paid, contact the company you paid through (your bank, card issuer, gift card company or payment app) right away and ask for a reversal. The FTC notes these payments are hard to recover, so speed matters.
3. Report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to your state attorney general.
4. If it came by mail, report it to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
5. Tell the real sponsor. They can warn their followers and report the impersonator.