Free Sharpie “12th Anniversary” scam spreads on Facebook
Links are spreading via Facebook that claim marker pen manufacturer Sharpie are giving away free 24-market sets of their marker pens for those that share a Facebook post.
The links, which can be seen below, lead to a Facebook page that asks visitors to share it onto their Facebook timeline, as well as post a link in 5 Facebook groups to which they are a member, and like a Facebook page.
Sharpie is Giving away Free 24-Market Set to Everyone on its 12th Anniversary
Hurry up! Only 800 sets available! Claim one now!
This is just another spammy Facebook fake giveaway designed to lure Facebook users into completing spammy surveys and questionnaires that harvest their personal information and which will inevitably lead to being spammed.
Facebook users are tricked into spreading the scam on behalf of the scammers by sharing the link from their own timelines as well as posting it to Facebook groups. In reality this is a typical survey-rewards scheme designed to trick Facebook users into filling out spammy surveys which harvest personal information and target people with more spam.
There are no free sharpie pens on offer here, and once the target discovers this it will be too late and they will have already plastered the spammy links over Facebook as well as parted with their personal information.
Sharpie have since announced on their own Facebook page that the links are a scam –
Sharpie fans – many of you have commented about a Sharpie sweepstakes hosted by www.saphires. Please note that this is not an official Sharpie giveaway and we are NOT sponsoring and supporting it. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion that this has caused, and we thank you for your loyalty to Sharpie.
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Spammers get paid every time they trick someone into completing the spammy surveys, so are willing to trick people into thinking they will get free prizes for doing so.
Our usual advice is applicable here when it comes to spammy Facebook links purporting to offer freebies. Don’t click on suspicious links. Don’t share webpages on your timeline to enter competitions or giveaways since this is against Facebook’s terms of service. Also, don’t share webpages to Facebook groups to enter competitions of giveaways since this is also against Facebook’s terms of service and never complete surveys or join “reward programs” to enter competitions or giveaways.
If you ignore all of those tips you’re going to find yourself the target for spam and possibly identity theft and you would have already invited all of your friends to fall victim to the scam too.
Read our article on how these scams work in more detail on our article on Facebook giveaway scams.