I love my job and I have been blogging for almost 6 years now and 4 of those years have been on the Two Classy Chics. While I enjoy my job a lot, I really despise people who cruise blog giveaways and cheat when entering giveaways. I mean really…cheating to try to win a $5.00 kid’s DVD or a $50 gift card…it’s all the same to me.
From the beginning I have been very outspoken about all of the cheating going on with blog giveaways and have published posts on that many times. It is YOUR JOB and YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to prevent cheaters from ever winning on your blog. You OWE it to your readers and to the companies that sponsor your giveaways.
With that said, the problem is getting worse and some cheaters are being bold and telling me (when caught) that they get away with it on other blogs, why not try getting away with it on ours!!! WTH? Hmmm, no!
So today, let’s look at some of the ways I have been catching the cheaters and bring it to all of your attention.
1. Not Completing the mandatory entry or publishing some kind of nonsense response to the mandatory question! Yeah, that’s a big one & very easy to spot! If we ask you to visit the sponsor’s site & come back and tell us the name of your favorite product…surely responses like “I want to win”, “That is so cool” and “My son could use that” don’t qualify!
2. Is what I call “Tweet Hi-Jacking” and that is when a cheater will see a tweet by a legit person who is entering the giveaway, steal their tweet status link and then publish it as their own entry. Pure laziness!
3. The “repetitive tweet” is when the person entering the giveaway Tweets out the link one time and then every day comes back and submits the same exact Twitter status link, day after day…without ever Tweeting it again. Shameful! Make sure you double check those Twitter status links for correct day and time.
4. Multiple email addresses, same name, same IP. I usually see this form of cheating going on with our higher value prize giveaways. Luckily with WordPress, I can see your email address, your IP and of course…the name you submit under.
5. Fake Shares on Social Media Networks is another big one these days! Don’t take their word on it that they shared the giveaway on Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Only consider those share entries when they leave a direct link to the shared post. Make sure you double check that link to make sure it was published by them and not hi-jacked from someone else.
6. When checking out mandatory entries, look for those people who copy & paste the person’s answer above them. A few days ago I caught someone who copy & pasted the previous person’s answer to use as their own answer…typos & grammar mistakes along with it. LAZY and a no-go on our blog.
7. Some cheaters will go follow a sponsor or you for that matter on Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media sites and will immediately unfollow you after it verifies through Giveaway Tools or they will unfollow you and the sponsor immediately after the giveaway closes. What a shame that they are doing that!!!
As bloggers…we owe it to our readers and the legit people who enter our giveaways to do everything in our power to ensure that cheaters never win. Some of the reason this is getting so out of hand is because…the cheaters are indeed getting away with it on other blogs. I know this to be FACT because I enter giveaways and I host giveaways and see it happening all of the time!!!
So there you have it…my tips on what to spot when it comes to cheaters entering the giveaways on your blog.
Thanks for all you do and I do hope other bloggers take a lesson from you.
There is honestly nothing more discouraging than to follow a blog/blogger and see cheating happening. It happens so much anymore that for those who play fair we cringe when we see the same “winners” .
There are some very well known blogs letting this happen… and although I like the blogger(s) if I see it as an ongoing problem I will not only unfollow and discontinue entering or supporting them. And I do hope they realize the word gets around quickly.
As Betty pointed out for some it is just stats, it doesnt matter that a bunch are double triple (or more) IDs entering as long as they get a new follow. It’s a pity really , and to me at least it seems pathetic to sacrifice ethics for numbers.
Thank you Shelly for your diligence to keep things honest! I expect some are definitely focusing on blog promotions because there are so many bloggers who don’t backcheck entries and never disqualify anyone. I get the feeling that for many bloggers, it is all about stats – the more entries (legit or not) the better the blogs status.
Rafflecopter should be modified to make it possible to auto-eliminate those you have blacklisted. And they should be able to program screening to find duplicate URLs – I’m thinking of where you have the same tweet url put in day after day. Rafflecopter is a program and they should be able to offer modifications that accomplish some of the detail work that takes up so much time. And they should be able to put in an age check that blocks entry if underage. Some years back I entered a sweep where it did not take my year of birth and reset to current year making me only a few months old. The program informed me there was an age limit and flat out blocked me from changing the date. Love your blog and don’t want to see you burned out from spending so much time with such a frustrating aspect.
Great article Sherry. I also cannot believe how many people cheat. I know I hear about it every day on FB contests but never thought that people could cheat on blogs. I can see why it is frustrating for you as it is for all of us who are trying to win something that we really want and do it the correct way. Thanks for posting
OOOps, sorry Shelly. I was watching tv while typing and there was a Sherry on TV. Have a good day 🙂
I am one that found your blog from a giveaway link. Without the giveaway I don’t think I would have ever found you. Now, I enter several of your giveaways and have even won a couple. With that said I appreciate your checking to make sure the rules are followed. Those of us who do follow the rules would never have a chance.
so ridiculous that you have to worry about this! thank you for all of your hard work!please know that you are appreciated!
Although I do not have a blog I am amazed at the lengths some people will go, just to win some sort of prize. This must be very frustrating to all of you. I know you have complained before and I actually once went back to a sponsor’s site to clarify what I had written in my mandatory comment. Now that you have explained more fully I hope the cheaters will stop – on this blog at least.
Hmmm… I never even thought of those ways to cheat…
I can win (or not) without cheating – thank you very much.
At least with the form you use there isn’t a ‘bogus tweet’ possibility.
I’ll pass your good words along to a couple of bloggers I know.
That is one of the reasons we quit using Rafflecopter as a lot of cheaters prefer the RC form so they can cheat with tweets. We get the Twitter cheater problem for the few giveaways we still run on blog comments.
I’m sorry you have to spend so much time verifying the authenticity of giveaway entries.
As a frequent entrant, I try to be sure I’m posting the right links. Sometimes I’ll even edit my response to make sure I’ve copied and pasted the correct URL. It’s a shame that cheating is so prevalent that you have to check every comment and link.
I do appreciate your website, and it’s obvious how much you put into it. I enjoy your review and non-giveaway posts, too, although I’m not a frequent commenter.
In any case, this seems like a good place for me to say thank you for keeping Two Classy Chics, well, classy!
Thank you Anne for your support! I wanted to make other bloggers aware that this problem is going on & that if we all ban together & take the time to double check entries and only allow legit people to win…some of this cheating will stop.
Cheaters do this & get away with it because MANY bloggers don’t care & won’t take the time to double check entries which infuriates me to NO END! In addition, those who do check entries only take the time to make sure the mandatory entry was completed. However, a lot of this cheating going on goes on with the bonus entry portions with people hi-jacking other people’s tweets, using the same Twitter status link day after day (only tweeted it once) or they claim they entered such & such giveaway to get a bonus entry when they didn’t.
The problem is out of control and it’s getting worse by the week because they get away with it on so many blogs & then feel they can get away with it on all of the blogs. Well, I can assure you they will NEVER get away with it here! Nope…NEVER, EVER!!!
Thank you for the great tips, I will share this in one of my blogging buddies groups. Geeze people are so sneaky!!!
They definitely are! I keep notes on the repeat offenders so I can find their comments/entries a lot quicker these days 🙂
It must be exhausting having to check on all of the “children” who can’t play by the rules in entering yours’ and others’ giveaways. Sadly, it gives a lot of us a bad name. I won’t even say I entered a specific giveaway until I have double checked to make sure I have and that is time-consuming enough for me that I will only do it for one extra entry. I’m sorry they make your job so hard.
Hi Linda
It is really exhausting to have to deal with it 5 mornings a week…sigh! I get so frustrated with wasting up to an hour every day of my work time selecting legit winners and disqualifying the cheats. We are determined to never have cheaters win on our blog.
Wow! Some of these ways of cheating, I never knew existed. I do not think it is right for people to cheat on giveaways! To the honest person who is doing the giveaways correctly, it is wrong! I always make sure to answer the question correctly. Thanks for posting this important information.
I’m sorry that people cheat. It has to be frustrating to you. Please don’t get discouraged. There are many out there that follow your blog and really enjoy it. Your friendly, down-to-earth personality shines through. Realistic and informative, I have to say I love your giveaways, too. I enter them and thank you for them. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Sherry for your support. We appreciate honest & regular readers like yourself. Glad you enjoy the reviews & giveaways 🙂