Facebook posts that ask you to like, comment and/or share them to win something are perhaps one of the most commonly encountered scams you’re likely to come across on the Internet’s largest social networking website.
The chances are high that at some point when using Facebook you’ve come across a Facebook post purporting to give away some luxury item – perhaps a car, a holiday, a free cruise or a plane ticket – and to stand a chance of winning, all you need to do is share the post on your timeline, like the page that made the post and comment something like “Win” in the comments.
For example check out these examples below –
However the majority of these types of posts are just scams designed to bait you into engaging with the post and becoming a follower of the page that posted it. It’s an example of like-farming, which is the technique scammers use to exploit or deceive people into interacting with a post and following a Facebook page. You can learn more about like-farming here.
Posts that claim all you have to do is like, share and comment on them are naturally very enticing to many since these actions require only a handful of clicks of a mouse, and the potential prize could be something as lavish as a brand new car. So the “well it might be true” and “just in case it’s true” justifications take over, and Facebook users interact with the post, often in their hundreds of thousands.
This leads to these posts going viral across Facebook and being shown in millions of newsfeeds across the globe. The pages creating and publishing these posts can often accrue hundreds of thousands of followers, often in a short space of time.
All by tricking people into liking, sharing and commenting on posts claiming to offer a prize, but in reality no prize really exists.
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But what’s the harm, right? They may be true, and if not, no harm no foul.
Wrong.
The people who set up these like-farming Facebook pages and make these posts are after one thing. Money. And for their financial gain, someone is usually on the losing side. Spammers are looking to cash in on the naivety of others, and this one way in which they do it. But how?
– Spammy marketing websites. Spammers will set up these posts to include a link to a spammy marketing website (or may later edit the post once it goes viral to include a link to a spammy marketing website) that are designed to harvest a user’s personal information. This leads them to become the target of other spam communication, which can be expensive and can lead to things like identity theft or expensive SMS subscriptions.
– Malware. Spammers can include links to websites that attempt to install malware on a user’s computer, including ransomware.
– Phishing for passwords or even money. Spammers may try and target followers of a page with phishing scams that can lure targets into giving up important and sensitive information like passwords and usernames by claiming they won a prize but need to hand over personal details or even money to receive it.
There is no shortage of money-making opportunities available to scammers once they accumulate enough followers to a like-farming Facebook page. Once someone likes a Facebook page, they can be reached. Scammers and spammers will post bait that can lead to any number of different scams, ranging from annoying spam to sinister identity fraud.
This is worth remembering the next time a page asks you to like it to stand a chance of winning a Dodge Charger, a Range Rover, a Tesco gift card or free tickets to Disneyland. By engaging with the post and liking the page, you put yourself at risk. Not only that, you put your Facebook friends at risk too by sharing the link on your timeline, causing it to pop up on their newsfeed as well.
It’s simple. Facebook prohibit companies or brands from requiring Facebook users to share a link on their timeline in order to enter a competition, so any post that states you need to share the post onto your timeline is likely to be a scam.
You can also perform your due diligence on the page that made the post itself. Is it a verified Facebook page (denoted by a blue tick) or are the people behind the page anonymous? Look at other posts made by the page – does the page appear to be more concerned with luring people into liking the page and sharing its posts that with anything else? That’s another sign of a red flag.
How long has the page been operating for? Only a few days or weeks? Like-farming pages spring up every day, and the newer the page, the less you should trust it.
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Remember, you’re responsible for the content you share on Facebook. If you interact with these scammy posts, you’re not only doing yourself a disservice, but you’re doing your friends a disservice as well.
