Costco Scams

Scammers frequently use well know business names and likeness to try to scam unsuspecting consumers which look like they are coming from a store that you may do business with.  A recent scam purporting to come from Costco offers consumers a free ice cream maker for completing a survey.  This is a phising scam attempting to obtain your financial information or gain access to your computer.

The featured image is a copy of part of the email, stating "Dear Costco Shopper, We would like to offer you a unique opportunity to receive a brand new Ninja CREAMi Ice Cream Maker!"

As discussed in previous posts, one way to confirm if the email you are receiving is authentic is to check the email address of the sender.  In this case the sender’s domain was “@handtoneed.net".  The purported ad also creates a deadline to try and seek a quick response without checking the email.

Costco’s website contains a list of current scams that it is aware of but is not an exhaustive list since scams pop up frequently: https://customerservice.costco.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/9770/~/currently-known-scams

It also contains a list of email addresses that are official Costco emails:  https://customerservice.costco.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/1015017/loc/en_US

It is always best to contact the company directly or thru their official website instead of clicking links in an email.