This message is currently circulating on WhatsApp. But be careful: Kaufland is NOT behind this!

The message contains the Kaufland logo and the phrase “Purchasing grant for Kaufland’s 39th anniversary. As a thank you for your many years of service…” Below is a link in which the name “Kaufland” appears, but the main URL is (in this case) “majorityexempt.cn”. These false competitions are often set up on the subpages of hacked companies, where they are not immediately noticed.
The official URL of Kaufland is kaufland.de
What happens when you click on the link in the WhatsApp message?
At the time of our research, this link does not work. However, in most cases there are data collectors behind it. In most of these fake competitions, a real click marathon takes place. Most of the time the sequence looks like this:
- You answer a few short, simple questions about yourself and your habits.
- Every now and then you are congratulated on your win and other prizes such as vouchers or smartphones are also promised.
- You should also spread the message by forwarding it to five WhatsApp groups or 20 contacts.
- You then have to register and provide your personal data such as name, address, date of birth, email address and telephone number.
- In some cases you will be asked to download an app and keep it open for a certain period of time.
Data collectors, subscriptions, spam and even malware
What you can be sure of is that the data you enter will be passed on to third parties. They use this to contact you, and in the future you will receive spam in all possible ways: by phone call, SMS, email or even post. Many of these providers use the contact details to offer subscriptions to men and women.
In the worst case scenario, you may even have malware installed on your cell phone.
Therefore: stay away!
Supposed competitions that arrive via WhatsApp always follow the same pattern: The message should be spread further in the first steps of the process so that the likelihood that the fraudsters behind the fake competition will get as much data as possible increases.
Therefore: Ignore and delete such messages, which come with a URL that smells noticeably fake anyway. And it's best to inform the sender that this is a fake competition that has nothing to do with the alleged sender "Kaufland".
Related: Singapore Airlines: Fake competition on WhatsApp
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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 )

