Scammers send mass-emails, request recipients to participate in a survey, and promise a gift card in return. The crooks pose as retail chains or fast food restaurants and use the real logos to make it seem legitimate.

Participants who respond and enter personal information often find that, instead of receiving a gift card, they receive calls from telemarketers. Through the survey, the scammers attain participants’ email addresses, phone numbers and home addresses.

The worst comes not when your personal info is sold to telemarketers, but when your identity is stolen.

How to avoid: people love freebies and that’s exactly what scammers use as bait to get your info. One rule of thumb: free gift cards on Internet are never free. Get them through legitimate websites, but first find out if the website is authentic and not cloned.