Guinness Beer Father’s Day Scam Sweeps UK

On June 8, WhatsApp users were warned about a phishing scam that asks people for their personal details in order to win a ‘fridge full of Guinness’ for Father’s Day.

The ‘competition’, which had already been debunked by Diageo (the UK drinks business that now owns Guinness), came with the caption ‘Uncover the hidden prize in Guinness Father’s Day giveaway’ next to a photo of a fridge.

Anyone who clicks on the link is taken to a legitimate looking website and asked to fill in a quiz and then choose from a number of boxes to find the ‘golden ticket’. And to make matters worse they are told they’ve won and to share the link with 20 friends or five WhatsApp groups in order to claim the prize.

Yikes!

“This is not a Guinness competition and appears to be a scam,’ a spokesman told Mail. ‘We would advise anyone who has received this message to not open the link and delete it immediately.’

This from the Drinks Business…

“The scam, which uses the stout’s popularity along with their desire to treat family members in the lead-up to Father’s Day this weekend, prays on the two core things Brits love: A Guinness and the timelessly compelling idea of free beer. During the cost-of-living crisis as well as a heatwave, the thought of winning such a treat as a fridge filled with free beer has inadvertently led to many people handing over their details without delay.”

Meta, the company that owns WhatsApp, advises people who think they have been the victim of a scam to block the incident and let WhatsApp know by reporting them.

Meta also suggests that scammed users “update privacy and security settings” and “adjust privacy settings to control who sees your information and enable two-step verification to better secure your account.”

Brewers have long been prime targets for cyber-crime.

In 2020 Australian beverages giant, Lion, home to several craft breweries including New Belgium and Bell’s in the US, was hit by a major cyber-attack causing several of its production facilities to shut down.

In 2021 Molson Coors, the second largest brewer in the US and the fifth biggest brewing operation in the world fell victim to a ransomware attack that crippled a number of its facilities.

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