May 26th is Father's Day in Germany. It would be great if you could quickly win a gas grill from OBI? Dad would definitely be happy. But far from it. There is nothing to win here, only to lose!

First of all, you will receive a message via WhatsApp from one of your contacts.

Screenshot WhatsApp message about the alleged competition from OBI for Father's Day
Screenshot WhatsApp message about the alleged competition from OBI for Father's Day

The OBI mascot, the beaver, can be seen, the short text reads “Obi 2022 Father’s Day competition”. There is also a short teaser text that promises 5,000 free gas grills, under which “obi.de” appears. The link, however, leads to a Russian domain “wp20. ru.” This fact has already caused some users to doubt. - Good this way.

Because this competition does not come from OBI!

OBI itself has already been informed by some users and has distanced itself from this alleged competition on Facebook.

As OBI already writes, you should not enter your own data here as it can be distributed, sold and misused. But that's not all.

We clicked through

The supposed competition follows the same pattern as most of this kind. At the beginning, a few simple questions are asked that you can't answer wrongly. No matter what you click on, at the end you will always be informed that by answering the questions you have qualified to win the prize - in this case a gas grill.

To do this you would only have to share the good news with 5 groups or 20 WhatsApp friends. Once you have done this, you can move on.

MIMIKAMA

We are redirected to another page where you could suddenly get an iPhone 13 for 1.50 euros. “But we wanted a gas grill!” – Yes, but as “generous” as the competition operators are, they are also offering us a new iPhone 13 at an unbeatable price. - Really?

The lowercase!

Marked in the screenshot we see a lowercase text. It is a special offer for a limited period of 5 days, which comes with a 15 euro welcome voucher that can be used to discover and purchase products on one of our partner websites. Purchasing “enrolls you in our affiliate membership services.” The membership fee is 44 euros and is automatically debited every 14 days. You can cancel at any time with 30 days' notice or pay 4.95 euros to get out immediately.

We have questions:

  1. Who informs us here?
  2. Who are “our partner websites”?
  3. Which affiliate membership?
  4. Is there a gas grill up for grabs here? And on top of that, an iPhone for 1.50 euros?
  5. What is this about?

So let's keep clicking.
Again we are redirected to another URL. Here you want our credit card details. If you hastily overread the lowercase letters and are greedy for an iPhone 13, you might think that you would pay the ridiculous price of 1.50 euros and would soon be the proud owner of a gas grill AND an iPhone. But here too you should first scroll down.

Even more lowercase letters!

At the beginning we read about a FREE gift card that starts our membership in the “AmaziTech membership loyalty club”. If we read on, we will again find out about a tariff of 44 euros, which is due every 14 days. In short: By entering your credit card details on a dubious site, you are not only leaving them to unknown people, but you are also taking out an expensive subscription.

What further causes concern is the information at the end of the text that “AmaziTech” reserves the right “to revoke or modify the contractually agreed subscription at its sole discretion and without prior notice”.

Screenshot: Fake competition in the name of OBI is a subscription trap
Screenshot: Fake competition in the name of OBI is a subscription trap

An address in Cyprus is listed as the company headquarters. OBI hasn't been mentioned for a long time.

Do we want that? No, absolutely not!

So what should we do?

  1. Quickly close the page and first inform and warn the contact from whom you received the message.
  2. If you've gotten this far, you've followed all the requirements and shared the message yourself with 5 groups or 20 contacts. – We will now also inform them that they should not click on the link and that it is fake.
  3. In the future, don't fall for such fake competitions and take a close look at the link right at the beginning, which has nothing to do with the alleged competition organizer.

Conclusion

This alleged Father's Day competition has nothing to do with OBI.

There is no gas grill to win, there is also no iPhone 13 for 1.50 euros.

What you “win” is an expensive subscription that can be changed arbitrarily and without notice by the provider. You have also entered personal data and also your credit card details, which can mean that these can be distributed, sold or even misused.

As always: HANDS OFF!

You might also be interested in: Beware of dubious appeals for donations for children with cancer


If you enjoyed this post and value the importance of well-founded information, become part of the exclusive Mimikama Club! Support our work and help us promote awareness and combat misinformation. As a club member you receive:

📬 Special Weekly Newsletter: Get exclusive content straight to your inbox.
🎥 Exclusive video* “Fact Checker Basic Course”: Learn from Andre Wolf how to recognize and combat misinformation.
📅 Early access to in-depth articles and fact checks: always be one step ahead.
📄 Bonus articles, just for you: Discover content you won't find anywhere else.
📝 Participation in webinars and workshops : Join us live or watch the recordings.
✔️ Quality exchange: Discuss safely in our comment function without trolls and bots.

Join us and become part of a community that stands for truth and clarity. Together we can make the world a little better!

* In this special course, Andre Wolf will teach you how to recognize and effectively combat misinformation. After completing the video, you have the opportunity to join our research team and actively participate in the education - an opportunity that is exclusively reserved for our club members!


Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )