Free Walmart Gift Card? Not likely.

Facebook posts purporting to be giving away freebies such as $100 Walmart gift cards are a common sight on social networking sites like Facebook, especially as the Holidays draw closer.

Whilst many may be tempted to venture a little further into this apparent opportunity for some cheaper shopping, these offers are rarely legitimate and in many cases can lead to identity theft or a malware infected computer.

Of course Walmart are far from the only brand used by these scammers as bait. Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Target, Costco, Kohls, BodyShop and a plethora of other popular high-street stores are often used to lure online social media users into a variety of cyberspace traps.

These scams often work by luring a visitor into liking or sharing a post to become eligible to collect their free voucher. This spreads the con onto that user’s social media contacts, helping it spread across the Internet.

Links to external webpages are also common with such posts. These lead to websites that can either install malware onto your computer, or bait you into completing surveys that harvest your personal information.

These links can also lead to Facebook App installation pages asking you to install a Facebook app to proceed. These apps are spammy apps that result in flooding your Facebook account with unwanted spam.

It is important to be aware that Facebook posts offering free gift cards just for liking, sharing or visiting webpages are almost certainly just scams designed to trick you. Competitions run by supermarkets or high-street brands are run from their verified social media channels so you can always check those out, and be careful not to get caught out by imposter accounts!

If you’ve been tricked into installing suspicious software then run a full system scan on your computer straight away. Check out our recommendations for security software for 2015.