Taco Bell says some PlayStation Vita giveaway winners didn’t actually win

You may recall that Taco Bell recently kicked off a PlayStation Vita giveaway, otherwise known as the “Unlock the Box” promotion. Well, it turns out that a few of the giveaway’s “winners” didn’t actually win at all–and hackers are apparently to blame.

A good many customers were voicing complaints that they didn’t receive their Vita after being told that they had won after entering their code on the contest website. According to a statement sent out by Taco Bell, hackers “illegally accessed” the website and generated too many winners.

Here’s what Taco Bell had to say to its disappointed customers:

We have learned that during a short period of time on January 30th, some people entering our Unlock the Box promotion erroneously received a message suggesting they had won a PlayStation® Vita, pending verification. After a thorough investigation, and an additional review by the independent company administering the promotion, it was confirmed that these entrants viewed these messages as a result of others who attempted to gain illegal entry and defraud the system. Unfortunately, during this time period some saw a confirmation screen but were not valid winners.

Taco Bell designed this sweepstakes to be fun for our consumers and we know that there are some disappointed fans.

We are therefore giving those consumers who viewed erroneous messages a second chance to win by automatically entering them into a separate drawing to win a PS Vita. All winners will be notified and their names posted the week after the end of the promotion. The issue that occurred on January 30th has been resolved and the Unlock the Box promotion will continue to run through March 11, 2012.

Did you enter into Taco Bell’s giveaway for a chance to win a PlayStation Vita?

Source: CBS (via Game Informer)