Compers are the ideal target for a scam Facebook page, which is why we so regularly see crazy generous giveaways of iPads, iPhones, supermarket vouchers and Disneyand tickets. The prizes seem too good to be true, and that's because they usually are!
These pages usually pretend to be a genuine company or product, for example Argos or Apple. A classic example of a post on these scam pages is: 'We have 250 iPads which can't be sold because they're unsealed, so we're giving them away! Just share this photo and like our page'. This is nonsense, and any page claiming that unsealed products must be given away should be treated as suspect.
Why would someone set up a fake Facebook page just to get Likes?
This is called Like-Farming, and it works because pages with lots of fans (usually 100,000+) can be sold. Once these fake giveaway posts are liked, shared and commented on by Facebook users and their friends, the pages can gain thousands of Likes in a matter of hours. People can then BUY these popular pages on the black market and use them to send out spam posts advertising their products or services to the large fan base. In some cases, pages may go on to share links which direct fans to sign up for expensive text messaging services.
Hoax-slayer is an excellent website to check out the latest Facebook scams, and should be your first port of call if you spot a suspicious page. Try googling the text from their Facebook competition post using quote marks, and it will probably appear on Hoax Slayer with more information about the scam.
How to spot a scam Facebook page:
• No website details on the 'About' page
• Huge number of prizes
• Spelling mistakes in the page name or description
• Usually pretending to be a big brand - Argos, Tesco, Apple etc.
• Promotion has no terms and conditions or closing date
• Page has only been set up recently
A current example is this dodgy promotion for Disneyland tickets.
If you do come across a scam page, you should report it. See the screenshots below from the scam Apple Store Giveaway page - click the 'settings' cog on the main cover photo, and choose Report from the drop down menu. Then choose It's spam or a scam. You could also message the official company Facebook page - eg. Argos, Tesco, Morrisons, etc - a link to the imposter's page.
Facebook takes far too long to remove these scam pages but if we all remember to report them - and warn our friends when we see them sharing these fake giveaways - hopefully we can stop them infiltrating our news feed too much!
Comments
Thanks PrizeFinder this was
Thanks PrizeFinder this was really useful.
Really interesting
Really interesting article.
Not always easy to tell the scams. I won £2000 worth of vouchers from Tesco's, all sent looking very genuine. The only thing is, I never open emails directly and always open in properties so I can see where something has come from. I noticed that this web address's origin was Australia. It began to ring alarm bells, I forwarded the email to Tescos who confirmed it was not genuine, but I have to say, even for someone like me who never trusts emails this one was very authentic.
Hi, can I ask how to open
Hi, can I ask how to open emails in properties please, it sounds quite useful, thanks
Very interesting. I'm having
Very interesting. I'm having spam email from a company who say they are Blackberry and have my name, address and email! I haven't clicked the link to claim my prize (a TV) because of the spelling mistakes in the text and I'm fairly certain it was through one of these scam fb pages that they harvested my info. I will be a lot more careful in future.
can I report another scam
can I report another scam that happened to me 2 months ago
I got a phone call telling me I had won a prize and I would be hearing from them soon to arrange delivery ,the woman then went on to say in the meantime we would like to give you a free iphone plus a tablet when I asked about this she said the phone was on a contract of 30 pound a month
needless to say I declined the offer and of course no prize has appeared
Well - we posted this blog
Well - we posted this blog specifically about Facebook pages, but it sounds like lots of you are the targets of email and phone scams too! What a pain. Spelling mistakes are always a giveaway with emails - and check the email address it's come from carefully too. It's usually only slightly different to the genuine company email address.
i have a lot of friends
i have a lot of friends commenting on my 'annoying' competitions on facebook but they all seem to find these fake comps like the disneyland one in your posts.
i havent had any emails or phone calls really from fake competitions, just a couple to tell me im in the running to win a my offers competition which im a bit dubious about
Don't do any comps that are
Don't do any comps that are linked to facebook, agree with Tracey they get very annoying. Its a shame as I now do fewer competitions than I used to. Wish that there weren't so many linked to facebook and twitter.
I have come across quite a few of these which friends have clicked the 'like' on and then gone on to 'share'. I click on there relevant fb page first see whats going on and when they happened to open the account which can be another tell tale sign. i then inform the friends who have clicked and tell them its a scam, they then remove their names and i report it as a scam/spam i also go on the reputable companies who they are mimicking and tell them.