We talk frequently around here about Facebook contest scams. The majority of which involve requesting that you like and share a post. Coupons, gift certificates, and vouchers from major retailers are a common lure.
As are big prizes like RVs.
Another favorite is to use the face and name of Ellen Degeneres because her talk show is known for having prize giveaways.
As we’ve discussed before, some of these crooks don’t even bother to attempt to spell her name correctly.
One thing that all of these scams have in common is they ask you to like a post or page, comment, and share the post. And ya’ll keep doing it. Even though I’m sure a lot of people who share have to wonder if these posts are legitimate. The reason that these scammers insist on liking the post and commenting as part of the phony contest is that the more likes a post gets, the more often it will turn up in someone’s Facebook feed. This is called “like farming.” Liking and commenting on posts of friends and legitimate pages, will raise their profile and I’m all for that. But liking and commenting on these scam sites means that they are more likely to turn up in your friends’ feeds.
You might say, what’s the harm? The harm is that many of these fake contests also involve clicking on links that can take you straight to malware. It means these scammers might contact you or your friends who fell for the scam and either invite you to click on a link or attempt to trick you into paying some type of fee to get your prize.
Another thing like farmers do is get a whole bunch of likes for their phony contest, then get rid of that content and replace it with something else they’re trying to sell. Bait and switch doesn’t only exist in brick and mortar stores.
Every single time you like, comment on, or share a post that you haven’t checked out closely, you’re raising the profile of crooks.
Think about it. Be part of the solution and not part of the problem.