Watch out for fake $80 Publix coupon links spreading on Facebook

Facebook users should be aware of a spate of spammy links offering a $80 coupon for the American supermarket chain Publix.

These links – like with a whole host of similar scams – are designed to lure Facebook users to spammy marketing websites that will harvest a visitors contact information in order to spam them. There are no free coupons on offer for Publix.

Links like the one below are spreading virally on social media –

Publix is giving everyone FREE $80 Coupon to celebrate 75th Anniversary!
Claim your Coupon here – 1 Per Ferson [sic] only few remaining

When clicking the link, visitors are directed to a website that has nothing to do with Publix. That site urges users to share the link on their own timelines in order to claim their free coupon, which helps the scam spread through Facebook.

Upon doing that, users are then directed to spammy questionnaires and surveys from third party marketing companies looking for contact details so they can send out unsolicited spam, through post, email, SMS and even phone.

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And of course there are no free Publix coupons on offer here, and none of this has anything to do with the supermarket chain. Those who click the links and attempt to claim a coupon can expect to be spammed relentlessly from a host of marketing companies.

Previous scams that were very similar to this have previously targeted Walmart, Tesco and Asda.

As usual, the advice is the same. Don’t click these links and certainly don’t post them onto your timeline. If you see a link offering a free coupon that you can only claim by jumping through lots of hoops such as posting links onto your timeline and completing surveys, then you’re being scammed.