“Isn’t she lovely, Isn’t she wonderful, Isn’t she precious, Less than one minute old, I never thought through love we’d be, Making one as lovely as she.” – Stevie Wonder
That ↑ was what we were all singing and thinking when we heard that there was a Petunia Picklebottom Ergo in Portofino print up for grabs at the Abby’s Lane Twitter Party.
I was SO excited to get to give one away, so I DID, to a thief, to the wrong person, to a fraud, a scammer, a jerk.
I am bitter. I feel pretty foolish and embarrassed but it needs to be announced so that as bloggers, and managers of giveaways, etc. we all can be a little more aware of what is possible and how easy it is to get scammed.
A fake email account was created in the winners name using their twitter id and their real name in the signature and title of the email. They were friendly and excited to have won and they even said “Yay! I won!” They said they had been participating in hopes of winning to give to their family member who is expecting and asked that I send it to her instead and I agreed.
It wasn’t until I realized on Twitter that the real winner whom I thought was the one I had been in contact with was saying she didn’t know if I’d gotten her emails. I said I did and the Ergo was on it’s way to her daughter-in-law. Then…she said she has no daughter-in-law.
So, in a nutshell, the Ergo had been shipped to a fake name with a fake address that’s already been mysteriously automatically forwarded to another mystery location and there’s no tracking info for it as of yet. Scammers do what they do best, they cover their tracks, and by the speed with which they replied as the winner it leads me to believe this is not their first time pulling this trick.
So, with this lesson under my belt, there will for sure be changes to how I notify and correspond with giveaway winners and I hope that you’ll learn a little as well and perhaps take precautions to make sure this doesn’t happen to one of you next.
The actual winner will receive the Ergo she won fair and square and Stephanie of Abby’s Lane was generous enough to not hold me personally responsible which I am SO thankful for. The criminal will get theirs too, but it may be cursed, I sure wouldn’t want to wear my baby in it!
Yours Sorely,
Julie
P.S. For those who attended the Twitter Party and/or RSVP’d you can still use code TWITTER for 5% off at Abby’s Lane through May 10, plus FREE Shipping on USA Orders.
I’m Julie, a former cloth diaper retailer who discovered a passion for the industry. Now, instead of selling cloth diapers, I advocate them and promote small businesses I love who sell and manufacture them.
I’m the wife of a fireman and mother of three. I have a daughter and identical twin sons.
