Most online gift exchanges among strangers are illegal, police and BBB say

First at Five – November 28 First at Five looks at the dangers of online chains.

“Send one $10 gift to a stranger and get at least 36 in return.”

That's the premise of many "Secret Sister" gift exchanges circulating on social media.

Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?

Well, it probably is.

Not only do these types of online campaigns cause some serious privacy concerns, they're illegal, too.

While it may seem innocent enough to click on an invitation to join a gift exchange, officials say it’s an illegal pyramid scheme that will likely result in you losing your money and risking your personal information.

Chances are you’ve come across a scheme or two online -- especially this time of year.

"I get emails maybe 3 or 4 times a day. I just send them right to my spam box. I don't have time to go through them,” said Lindsay Wheaton.

Danielle Makar says she’s also seen the emails, but it’s Facebook that has given her trouble.

“My Facebook just got hacked a month or two ago,” she said.

While there are many different types of possible scams, the Better Business Bureau is now warning Maritimers about one in particular: the "Secret Sister" gift exchange.

“It says that if you participate in this exchange and you buy a gift of a $10 value for a stranger, then you can receive up to 36 gifts in exchange,” said Kristin Matthews of the Better Business Bureau.

The gift exchange first started showing up in 2015 and resurfaced this year.

Matthews says it’s an illegal pyramid scheme.

“How the gift exchange works is everybody sends it to the person in the first spot and then they get bumped down and the second spot starts receiving these gifts,” Matthews said. “So, essentially, you could receive these gifts if you are the person in the first spot, but once the pool becomes so large it’s almost impossible to actually receive any of these gifts so you could be losing 10 dollars.”

Not only will you likely lose your money but Matthews says in order to take part you need to provide your name and address to potentially get a gift, which puts your personal information at risk.

“Scammers can take that and actually do stuff with that information whether it be identity theft or something like that,” Matthews said. “They can take little bits of information and use that against you.”

The Better Business Bureau is encouraging people to ignore online gift exchanges altogether.

“I got invited to do that actually,” said Ellery Platts.“My friend texted me about it and was like ‘do you wanna do this thing’ and I was like ‘ummm, no.’”

Police say it’s important to do your homework before taking part in anything online.

“Look into it,” said Nova Scotia RCMP spokesman Cpl. Dal Hutchinson.“Do your research and try to find out if it’s legitimate or not. Most cases when they are asking you to share money with people and send it along to another person, typically it turns out to be a scam.”

According to Hutchinson, people are defrauded every day through online scams in our region.

“We can’t stress enough,” Hutchinson said. “Every day, people are losing thousands of dollars here in Nova Scotia -- right across Canada -- to these fraudsters.”

If you see something suspicious online, you are encouraged to report it.

And, if you receive an invitation to join any pyramid scheme, especially one that involves money or gifts, you are encouraged to ignore it.

You can also report the post to Facebook, without the poster being notified.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Natasha Pace.