I know I’ve warned you about scams like this before, but folks just keep on sharing them. This Facebook post uses a common scam tactic of a fake contest. One of the tricks of fake contests is to claim that someone won the prize but couldn’t claim it and now you have just a short time to win.
As someone who has conducted a few contests in her time, I can tell you that’s just not how it works. If the winner can’t take the prize, you simply choose another one from your current list of entrants. There are already some sure-tip offs of a scam here. A huge prize giveaway that you must act immediately to win.
But if you click on the page that’s allegedly giving the item away there are a lot of other clues. There are only three posts. One great way to check out a page is to click on Page Transparency. Then choose to See All.
The day I took this shot, this site was just a day old. It was created just for the purpose of running this scam.
Why create scams like this? There are usually three reasons. One is to direct you to click on malicious links. Scammers may tell you you’ve won and must click a link to follow through. These links will download malware onto your device that steals your information.
There’s also “like farming.” Scammers trick you into liking a page for something like a contest then turn around and change the name of the page to something else and flood you with spam. You may find yourself a fan of page that supports a political agenda you don’t agree with or posts questionable material.
Finally, it’s a good way to target people via Messages. The messages could contain malicious links or try to trick you by saying you need to provide personal information to claim your prize.
I know a lot of you share posts like this saying, “It can’t hurt” or “Just in case it’s real.” However, it can hurt. When you share these posts, you are exposing your friends and family members to malware and scammers. Please think twice.