Scam Spotter
In anticipation of a spike in gift card scams during the 2021 holidays, Scam Spotter launched an awareness campaign to warn consumers. We secured over 4,000 press mentions totaling 500 million impressions in Fox Business, GMA, USA Today and more.
Case Study
ABOUT SCAM SPOTTER
Over $429 million was reported lost due to gift card scams since 2018, and the 2021 holiday season was expected to be the worst year yet for this crime. Our client wanted to warn as many people as possible about gift card scams before the holidays, so they partnered with creative agency Mischief@NoFixedAddress to develop a series of dramatized videos centered around the most common gift card scam scenarios to show that if the stories scammers use sound unbelievable, it’s because they are. The films remind people “If someone asks for gift cards to solve a problem, it’s a scam” and points them to scamspotter.org to catch up on the latest gift card scams.
Our agency created two pulse-points in the media to encourage conversation around the Thanksgiving dinner table, and when consumers were purchasing last-minute holiday gifts. We targeted trusted local broadcast outlets that would appeal to boomers – the primary target for scams – and national online outlets to appeal to millennials – who can warn their loved ones. We secured over 4,000 press mentions in top media outlets including, USA Today, GMA Online, Money, Fox Business, KTLA, Good Day LA, NBC Chicago, and more. The campaign’s message reached a potential audience of over 500M with a $26.8M ad equivalency. Following the campaign’s launch, we saw a 172% lift in average weekly conversations around gift card scams.