The First [insert: number] People Who Join Get a FREE [insert: cool prize]

We’re still waiting for our brand new I-pod Nano.

It has been 2 long months, but that’s understandable, since the nice folks that set up that Facebook Page are going to be giving away about 100,000 of them, so I guess we just have to wait until it’s our turn.
You see, 2 months ago we joined a Facebook page titled “The First 100,000 People to Like This Page Get a FREE I-Pod Nano”. Amazing huh? All we had to do was ‘Like’ the page, and share it with all of our friends, then simply tell the Page creators what color we would like the I-Pod Nano to be.
So for the last 2 months we have been expectantly and excitedly anticipating the delivery of our brand new Ferrari Red I-Pod Nano.

And we wait.

But of course we wait to no avail. You see, we are just another victim to a completely pointless time wasting hoax that is still sweeping Facebook, the free gift hoax. A Facebook fraud that is in no way limited to I-Pod Nano’s nor the group we joined, rather a swindle that uses endless amounts of “free” goodies to bait victims with Facebook groups, events and pages, that pop up everyday, tricking more and more Facebook users.

If you think it’s a relatively new type of hoax then you would be wrong. What you might not know is that this is just the latest variation of a long running con that has been around for over a decade – before Facebook was merely a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye.
Back in the day where emailing could be considered social networking, it was chain email hoaxes that used this particular type of social engineering to lure victims. Seasoned email users may remember certain emails that claimed forwarding it to a certain amount of contacts will result in you receiving a free laptop, or even better, Bill Gates would send you money for testing his Beta email tracking program. Those emails claimed the email would be tracked, and you would be handsomely rewarded for helping it along its way.
Only now it’s not receiving email, it’s joining a Facebook Page. It’s not forwarding email, it’s inviting friends. This old ruse has now found the new social networking, and millions of new victims.

But seriously, did we ever think we could get a free I-Pod Nano for merely liking a Facebook page? The marketing model itself could even be considered potentially sound if the prankster’s claims weren’t so damn audacious and so massively unrealistic. We mean, baiting people to join a Page by rewarding them – yet at the same time subjecting them to your carefully planned marketing spiel – may just be worth it if you were giving away… say… pens or erasers. But I-Pod Nano’s? Laptops? Hoodies? Trainers? Hardly. A marketing exec who ends up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in freebies just to claim he has 100,000 people liking a Facebook Page would be fired on the spot, or worse – committed.

There is a more sinister side to this as well. With the attention of so many in one Facebook Page, the prankster could provide a link to a dodgy “rewards” program or worse, a malware payload. “Click the link to claim your prize” … oops, too late. Another victim. Another statistic.

Sorry folks, being in the first few to like a page, join a group or attend an event will not get you any freebies, no matter the excuses or the reasoning. Jumping through the hoops will make you look silly to the friends you invite, and the postman is not coming to your door with your brand new Ferrari Red I-Pod Nano.