Olympics Safety
Olympic Scam Tips
As the London 2012 Olympics are upon us, there will be a lot of cases where emails are sent falsely claiming to be from London 2012, or other organizations involved in the Games. In reality, most of them are the first step in a scam to lure you in. Common scams include:
- Emails saying that you have won an Olympic lottery that you haven't entered
- Emails saying you can apply for an Olympic Games job for a fee
Ignore any communication that asks you to reveal information, such as bank details or to pay any amounts of money up front. London 2012 will only ever use a secure website to collect personal or bank card details. Look for a padlock symbol in the browser window. The website address will begin with 'https://'. If you click on the padlock, your browser will either give our full title (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd), or identify our sites as part of london2012.com. If you don't see a padlock, or if the site name is not what you are expecting, then you should not enter personal or financial information into the page.
Legitimate Emails Regarding The Olympics
- This is an example of a legitimate email from NY Times.com. Note the high-quality layout design, imagery, and writing that are used.
- This is another example of a legitimate email. Though not a guarantee, the quality of the images and copy writing used is a good clue that this email is probably from a reputable sender.
Scam Emails
- This is an example of a scam email. Note the lack of well-written marketing copy and attractive images that any organization running a high profile event would invest in. Another clue that this is not a legitimate email is that event promoters don't use attachments in their promotional emails.
- Here's another scam email example. If you compare to the legitimate email displayed above, you can see this lacks an attractive professional look and feel.
How To Identify Scam Emails
The following conditions are points to consider if a mail is a scam. One or more of these conditions should apply, depending on the case.
Condition 1:
The return addresses or From: field uses free email provider such as gmail, yahoo, hotmail, etc.
Condition 2:
The recipients email address is not included in the To: field. Or sometimes the mail is sent out to a volume of recipients.
Condition 3:
The email does not greet you specifically. It uses greetings like Dear Winner, Good Day, Dear Recipient, etc. Or sometimes it doesn't have any greeting at all.
Condition 4:
The email claims that the recipient won a large amount of money from a lottery.
Condition 5:
The recipients were asked for their personal details such as full name, bank information, credit card number, nationality, country, passport number, etc.
Condition 6:
Uses the name of legitimate corporations/companies or any legitimate lottery organizations.
Condition 7:
Users were asked to pay for the processing fees, delivery fees, transfer charges or even travel to personally get their prize.
With London 2012 also committing to use social media more to update visitors and overseas viewers, the opportunity for unforeseen scams is also possible. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media sites will be choice grounds for hackers. Can you spot the spam e-mail?
Official London 2012 Mobile Apps
There are two free official mobile apps to help users keep in touch with the Games wherever they are:
- Official London 2012 Join In App — you can download on Android, iOS and Blackberry. This free app is an essential planning tool for everyone, whether you have tickets for a sporting event or not. From the start of the Olympic Torch Relay to the Olympics and Paralympics, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, plus all the cultural, city and community celebrations happening across the UK. Join In is your essential companion.
- Official London 2012 Results App — available to download on Android, iOS and Blackberry. This app provides all the latest news, schedules and results, allowing users to keep up-to-date with the latest action live across all Olympic sports and Paralympic sports. Key features include results, live updates, calendar schedule, details of sports, medal tables, and athlete profiles. Users can also follow specific countries, receiving official news and updates tailored to them all in one app.