Chocolate giant Cadbury is warning customers after hundreds fell for an online scam over the weekend.
Shoppers have been urged to “not interact or share personal information” with an unofficial Facebook group called ‘Cadbury Rewards’, which shared posts this weekend from someone calling themselves "Anna Burton" who claimed to be a regional manager at the chocolate company.
The post claimed Cadbury was offering to giveaway free hampers filled with Twirls, Curly Wurlys and Dairy Milk bars, to celebrate its 126th birthday, but the company says it has no affiliation with the post.
The giveaway was posted on Facebook over the weekend and by Sunday, November 8 had more than 1,700 likes and hundreds of comments, reports the Mirror .
The post proved false on several points, including the fact that Cadbury is in fact 196 years old and Cadbury’s official social media channels had not shared the post.
But the convincing message - which was accompanied by an image of a woman clutching a hamper of chocolate including Twirls, Curly Wurlys and Dairy Milk - has seen shoppers duped.
Beneath the post, Facebook users were sharing their reasons for deserving to win the hampers, with one person saying she'd like a hamper to go to her elderly friend who carried on working to support patients affected by Covid-19.
Along with this, people signing up to the giveaway were also directed to a fake website using Cadbury branding asking shoppers to enter their name, home address, phone number, email address and bank card details to be eligible.
Cadbury has confirmed it has no affiliation with the ‘Cadbury Rewards’ group and says it is working with “relevant organisations” to resolve the problem.
A spokesperson for Mondelēz International, which owns Cadbury, said: “We’ve been made aware of a circulating post on social media, claiming to offer consumers a hamper of free Cadbury products.
“We can confirm that this has not been generated by Mondelēz and would urge the general public to not interact or share personal information through the post.
“The security of our customers is our priority and we’re working with the relevant organisations to ensure this is resolved.”
