Trust & Safety 6 min read

How to Spot Fake Competition Sites: A Safety Guide for UK Players

Warning signs to watch for, quick checks to run before entering any competition, and how to verify an operator is legitimate.

The Good News First

The majority of UK competition sites are legitimate. The market has professionalised significantly since 2020, and most established operators have thousands of verified Trustpilot reviews, published winner histories, and registered UK companies behind them.

The risks are concentrated in a smaller number of newer, less established, or outright fraudulent sites. The checks in this guide take less than five minutes and will protect you from almost all of them.

Warning Sign 1: No UK Company Registration

Every legitimate UK competition operator should be a registered company at Companies House. This is not optional. Running a business that takes payments from consumers without being a registered company is itself a red flag.

Look for a company registration number in the site footer, the About page, or the terms and conditions. It will be an 8-digit number (for example, 11320154).

Once you have the number, check it at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. You can see when the company was incorporated, who the directors are, and whether accounts are being filed. A company incorporated last month with no filed accounts and anonymous directors deserves caution.

RaffleScout displays the company registration number on every operator listing and links directly to the Companies House record.

Warning Sign 2: No Trustpilot Presence or Very Few Reviews

Trustpilot is not perfect, but it is the most widely used independent review platform in the UK and it is very difficult to fake at scale. A legitimate operator that has been running competitions for two or more years will typically have hundreds or thousands of reviews.

Be cautious if:

  • The site has fewer than 50 Trustpilot reviews despite claiming to have been operating for years
  • The reviews are clustered in a short time period, suggesting a burst of activity to inflate the score
  • There are no reviews mentioning actual prize collection or winner experiences
  • The Trustpilot page does not exist at all

A score below 3.5 with a significant number of complaints about uncollected prizes or unresponsive customer service is a serious warning sign regardless of how professional the site looks.

Warning Sign 3: No Evidence of Real Winners

Every reputable operator publishes winner information. This means photos, videos, or at minimum written confirmation that named people have collected named prizes. Many operators post winner reveal videos on Facebook and YouTube where they call the winner live.

If you cannot find any evidence that real people have won real prizes from a site, do not enter. The absence of winner content is one of the clearest signals that something is wrong.

Search the site name on YouTube and Facebook before spending money. Established operators like BOTB, Dream Car Giveaways, and Rev Comps have hundreds of winner videos publicly available. A site with no winner content and claims of having given away dozens of cars is implausible.

Warning Sign 4: No Free Entry Route

Under UK law, any paid competition must offer a free entry route to avoid classification as a lottery. This is almost always a postal entry option: write your details on a piece of paper and post it to the operator's address.

If a site does not mention a free entry route anywhere in its terms and conditions, it may be operating illegally. This is not just a legal technicality. It is a basic indicator of whether an operator understands and complies with UK prize competition law.

The free entry address should be a real UK address. If the address does not exist or resolves to a virtual office with no obvious business presence, treat that as a warning sign.

Warning Sign 5: Vague or Missing Terms and Conditions

Legitimate operators publish clear, detailed terms and conditions that cover:

  • How the draw is conducted and verified
  • What happens if the competition does not sell enough tickets
  • How prizes are delivered or collected
  • The cash alternative (if applicable) and how it is calculated
  • The free entry route and address
  • The complaints and dispute resolution process

If the T&Cs are missing, extremely short, or copied verbatim from another site with only the name changed, the operator has not invested in building a proper legal structure around their business. This is a meaningful risk signal.

Warning Sign 6: Pressure Tactics and Countdown Timers

Legitimate operators let their competitions run on their merits. They do not need to pressure you into buying tickets.

Be cautious of:

  • Aggressive countdown timers claiming tickets are "almost gone" when the competition launched hours ago
  • Pop-ups offering discounts that disappear in seconds
  • Messages claiming you have been "selected" for a special offer
  • Social media ads that imply you have already won something and just need to claim it

The last one is particularly common on Facebook and Instagram. If an ad says something like "You have been chosen as a finalist, click to claim your prize," it is almost certainly a scam. Legitimate competitions do not work this way.

Warning Sign 7: Unusual Payment Methods

Reputable UK competition operators accept standard payment methods: debit card, credit card (up to £250 per month under the Voluntary Code), PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

Be very cautious if a site:

  • Requests payment by bank transfer
  • Only accepts cryptocurrency
  • Asks you to buy vouchers or gift cards to pay for entries
  • Requests your full bank account details rather than card details

These payment methods make it extremely difficult to recover money if something goes wrong. Credit and debit card payments offer chargeback rights. Bank transfers, cryptocurrency, and vouchers typically do not.

The Positive Signals: What a Trustworthy Operator Looks Like

Now the flip side. Here is what a reputable competition operator looks like:

  • Registered UK company with a verifiable Companies House record and named directors.
  • Strong Trustpilot score across hundreds or thousands of reviews, with genuine winner experiences in the reviews.
  • Published winner content on social media, including video evidence of prizes being collected.
  • Government Voluntary Code signatory status, confirming commitment to minimum standards on transparency and player protection.
  • Clear terms and conditions covering all the key areas, with a genuine UK address for postal entries.
  • Standard payment methods with no pressure to use unusual options.
  • Responsive customer service with a named contact email or phone number.
  • Draw history showing previous competitions, their results, and ticket prices, not just the current live competitions.

How RaffleScout Helps

RaffleScout only lists operators that meet a basic set of criteria: UK company registration, active Trustpilot presence, and published draw history. We do not list sites that cannot be verified.

Every operator listing on RaffleScout shows:

  • Companies House registration number
  • Trustpilot score and review count
  • Government Voluntary Code status
  • Draw format (live or automated)
  • Years in operation

This gives you the key signals at a glance, without having to run each check manually for every site you consider.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I do if I think I have been scammed by a competition site?

Report it to Action Fraud (actionfraud.police.uk) and to the Advertising Standards Authority if you encountered the site through an advert. If you paid by credit or debit card, contact your card provider immediately to request a chargeback. Act quickly, as chargeback windows are typically 120 days from the transaction date.

Is it safe to give my card details to a competition site?

With a reputable, registered operator using a recognised payment processor (Stripe, PayPal, Worldpay, etc.), yes. Look for HTTPS in the browser address bar and a recognised payment gateway at checkout. Never enter card details on a site that does not have HTTPS.

How do I know if a competition on social media is real?

Check whether the competition links to a registered company's website with verifiable T&Cs and a real address. Be very cautious of Facebook or Instagram competitions that ask you to message a personal account rather than visit a registered site. Legitimate competitions direct you to a proper website.

Are competitions that charge high ticket prices more trustworthy?

Not necessarily. Ticket price is not a reliable indicator of legitimacy. Some well-run operators charge £20 or more per ticket for low-odds competitions. Others charge 5p per ticket with high volumes. The checks in this guide apply regardless of price.

What is the Government Voluntary Code and does it protect me?

The Voluntary Code is a set of standards published by DCMS that operators can sign up to voluntarily. Signatories commit to minimum standards on transparency, player protection, and draw fairness. It is not a legal guarantee, but it is a meaningful quality signal. Read our full Voluntary Code guide for more detail.

Check Any Operator on RaffleScout Before You Enter

RaffleScout displays company registration, Trustpilot scores, Voluntary Code status, and draw history for every listed operator. Check before you spend.

  • Compare all UK competition operators
  • Browse verified car competitions
  • Read the Government Voluntary Code guide

This guide is reviewed quarterly. Last updated April 2026. RaffleScout is an independent comparison site.