Toby Carvery giving out vouchers for liking Facebook post? Fact Check

ByCraig Haley

Viral Facebook posts claim you can win a voucher for Toby Carvery for liking and sharing a Facebook post.

FALSE/ SCAM

An example of such a post on social media below claims Facebook users can win a voucher for a “Carvery for 4” and is being used to promote a new company CEO.

Hello everyone, I’m Dan Stevens. I am very happy to announce I’m the new CEO of Toby Carvery. I’d like to start my Job off with a good deed which is why I’m going to be rewarding everyone who shares&comments by November 5th with a voucher to get a Carvery for 4 at any Toby Carvery. This can be used at breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Note: Toby Carvery is owned by Mitchells & Butler, and the CEO of that parent company is Phil Urban, not “Dan Stevens”. The man in the photo is Jon Owen, the manager of a Toby Carvery in Eden Park, London.

Despite being shared tens of thousands of times, this is just another typical fake competition like-farming scam on Facebook designed to deceive Facebook users into engaging with a Facebook post.


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Once a Facebook user engages (i.e. like/share) with a Facebook post under the belief they are entering a competition or promotion, they are then directed to external websites to “confirm” or “verify” their entry.

However these external websites are actually third party marketing websites that will harvest the personal information of visitors by luring them into signing up for other competitions or giveaways (i.e. a “bait-and-switch” scam.) The marketing websites will then use that information to sell to other companies, and this will lead to the visitor being spammed via the contact information they provided.

Such spam marketing websites have also been linked to other more sinister scams such as identity fraud.

Don’t fall for fake Facebook competition posts. To avoid these scams…
 

  • Be sceptical of any Facebook post that claims you can win a prize just by liking or sharing.
  • Before entering, check if a Facebook page is the official page of a brand. Does it have the blue tick by the name that shows it is an official page? If not, it’s probably a scam.
  • Check the Facebook Page Transparency Tool to see how long the page that posted the competition post has been active. Recently created pages are more likely to be scamming you.
  • If you click a link to enter a competition you found on Facebook and find yourself on a webpage asking for lots of personal information, you’re probably being scammed.
  • Watch out for bait-and-switch scams. This means if you were offered a certain prize but this changes after you click a link, you’re probably being scammed.