A series of spam Facebook pages are using simple games or puzzles to bait users into engaging with their posts so they can be lured to data harvesting marketing websites.
All our regular readers will be familiar with the classic fake Facebook giveaway scam and how it operates.
1. A Facebook post claims to be offering expensive prizes for all those that like, share or comment on the post.
2. The post then claims that in order to finalise the entry, each user needs to visit a website.
3. And finally, that website turns out to be a data harvesting website that sucks up any personal information entered into it, and uses that information to spam the visitor.
And this latest series of spammy posts – many of which have accumulated close to a million comments – is essentially the same scam with one subtle twist. Instead of asking users to like or share the post to enter a competition, the posts are asking users to complete a simple task, such as spot a number in an image.
Take the prolific example below which has been used by several different Facebook pages.
So far no one has found a number other than 529, no winner yet, the Camper & RV World . There are still 2 wins left.
The rest of the scam is essentially the same. The post is still offering prizes (that don’t exist) and is still attempting to lure anyone who engages with the post to a spammy marketing website. (See below.)
Posts that offer up simple tasks like “spot the number” or “can you complete this impossible maths equation” are often used on Facebook by clickbait pages looking to induce some engagement on their posts. However this is one of the most prolific cases of spammers using the same technique to lure users to spammy or potentially malicious websites.
The puzzle is likely to change between posts. In this example it asks users to spot a number in an image. In other popular examples users are asked to work out which car will fill with oil first based on a simple maze.
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Remember, if you do engage with these posts, you put yourself in the crosshairs of spammers who will attempt to lure you to spam websites. And if you offer up your personal information on these spam websites, you put yourself in the crosshairs of a myriad of spam marketing websites that will likely bombard you with spam email, marketing phone calls and spammy text messages. It’s really not worth it to try and win a prize that doesn’t actually exist.
Read this article for some more information on what happens if you fall for these types of fake Facebook giveaways.
