Watch out for LIVE fake Facebook giveaway scams

ByCraig Haley

Facebook users should be on the lookout for fake Facebook giveaways that use Facebook’s Live Video feature to spread.

Most of our regular readers will know that Facebook is plagued with thousands of fake giveaways and competitions that are designed to lure users into following spammy Facebook pages and to trick them into visiting spammy marketing websites.

Typically these scams are made using normal Facebook posts, but scammers are taking advantage of new technologies to get their schemes out there, including Facebook’s Live video.

The Facebook pages in this case are publishing “Live” videos (which is actually just a screenshot) along with the claim that liking and sharing the live video will be enough to win a prize.

For example the below post – from a like-farming page called Freebies & Giveaway – claims you can win Delta Airline tickets for liking, sharing and commenting on their live video as well as visiting a website (which is actually a spammy, data-harvesting website.)

Delta Airline is giving 2 free tickets
Delta Airline is giving 2 free tickets to EVERYONE! to celebrate 88th anniversary!(438 left)
To get your tickets LIKE & SHARE this post and comment “THANKS”
Winners will be randomly selected and will receive their tickets within 4 hours.
Instantly Get your tickets after share: http://delta-ticketsoffer.us/
Don’t forget to like us.
Good Luck

Live videos are given added exposure on Facebook than regular posts, as the social networking site is emphasising video content. Friends of people and followers of pages that post live videos are automatically notified when an account starts a live video, which doesn’t happen if they make a regular post.


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As such, live videos are proving effective at luring Facebook users into engaging with fake competitions. Remember, these competitions are used to trick you into following spammy pages and visiting data-harvesting websites.

For more information on how these scams work and how to avoid them, read our article here.