Posts claiming that you can win free gift cards or coupons from particular stores just by liking a Facebook page and sharing a Facebook post are a common occurrence on the world’s largest social networking website.
The Facebook posts implore those who read them that to win a free gift card, the user simply needs to like and share a Facebook post and (usually) visit an external webpage to claim their prize.
But these are almost certainly going to be scams. While many brands do employ social networking websites like Facebook to promote competitions, the majority of “like/share to claim” posts spreading across social media are not what they appear to be.
It’s a type of scam that falls under the popular like-farming umbrella. Like-farming refers to the techniques used by scammers to exploit or deceive social media users into following their pages (see her for more information.) Fake competitions purporting to offer free gift cards for following pages (and liking posts) have proven to be an effective way of doing that.
Like-farming scammers that operate these types of scams will usually have two goals in mind.
1. To get Facebook users to like their pages
2. Many of these scams will also try and lure people to third party marketing websites.
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The first goal is the like-farming element. Facebook pages with lots of followers have the ability to reach lots of Facebook users. This can make them an invaluable resource for marketing companies which can make them a valuable online commodity. Or they can act as a useful tool for launching other types of Internet scams.
The second goal is to lure visitors to marketing websites. Many of these scams will lure users to third party websites, purporting that these websites must be visited to “claim” the free gift card. However these will typically be spammy marketing websites that are designed to obtain your personal information, which will then inevitably lead to further spam being directed at you, via post, email or even phone and SMS.
A typical example of a like-farming scam targeting supermarket Tesco can be seen below –
1. The Facebook post implores you to like and share the post and (will often) ask you to visit a third party website to claim your free giftcard.
2. The third party website may ask you to share the page again on Facebook.
3. You’re asked to complete spammy marketing questionnaires/surveys/programs that harvest your personal information, leading to more spam.
It is important to be able to spot these types of scams. Fortunately, doing so is easy once you know how. Bear in mind these tips –
– Requesting users share a post onto their timeline is against Facebook’s terms of service for promotions, so posts that ask you to share them are likely scams.
– If you’re told you need to fill out questionnaires or surveys to claim a free prize, this is a strong indication that you are being scammed.
– Brands will generally carry out promotions from their official Facebook pages. Official pages will have the blue verification tick next to them. If a post has been made by a recently created Facebook page with no verification tick, this is another indication that you are being scammed.
