Facebook posts claim users can get free Primark products, vouchers or goodie bags for sharing and commenting on the Facebook post.
Many posts then also ask users to click a link that leads to an external marketing website once the user shares and comments on the post.
Examples of such posts are below.
To celebrate the amazing news of Primark’s reopening on 12th April we’ve got a few special surprise for everyone who has shared&commented before 4PM Sunday, Every person who does this can get one of these Primark bags having lots of Primark goodies and a £75 voucher.
These posts are scams.
Primark is a frequent target for Facebook like-farming scammers. Such scammers set up fake competitions or promotions from fake Facebook pages to lure Facebook users into engaging with them. Once a user engages with a Facebook post by commenting or sharing it, they’re then contacted by the page (or another fake page) and instructed to visit a third party website to “claim their prize”.
This is data harvesting. These websites request a visitor hands over their personal information and contact information. This will then lead to them being spammed by third party marketing companies. It can also potentially lead to identity theft and a visitor unwittingly enrolling in hard-to-cancel subscriptions.
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And there are no Primark products, vouchers or goody bags being offered out for free on Facebook. And none of this has anything to do with Primark at all. However victims may not realise this until they’ve already handed out their personal information to crooks.
To avoid these scams –
– Be sceptical of any post that claims you can win prizes just for liking and sharing a Facebook post.
– Check a page belongs to an official brand before responding. Does the Facebook page have the blue verified tick? Check the Facebook Transparency tool to see if a page is legitimate (learn more on that here.)
– Don’t visit third party marketing websites (that have nothing to do with the brand in question) and give away your personal details to claim a prize.