A survey scam is where the survey either doesn’t exist or is just a pretext to get your personal information – this can be via email, website, call or text.

It may start out as just a request to fill in a short survey but usually there are incentives – e.g. a cash payment, a major discount at a well-known retailer, a gift voucher, a free holiday etc.

The questions are general stuff e.g. do you have pets, favourite holiday location, what newspapers o you read but the ones that matter are the ones with information they can sell – where were you born, birth date, mothers maiden name, occupation, mobile number, address etc.

That information can be sold to legitimate business such as Marketing companies but more probably will be sold to thieves and in particular identity thieves.

If, shortly after filling in a survey you get lots of cold calls, floods of spam emails etc. then your details have been sold on.

To gain your trust, the scammers will often claim their survey is on behalf of a major high street store or supermarket or a famous clothes outlet etc.

Check the exact email address of the sender as it may have a slight deliberate misspelling e.g. Morrisonis instead of Morrisons.

If someone calls wanting to pre check your eligibility for a survey with a major reward, do not trust and do not provide any personal information.

There are many genuine surveys, but if the rewards look too good for a 5 minute survey then be very suspicious and do not give away any information that can be used by criminals.