According to a post currently being shared on Facebook, Air New Zealand is offering EVERYONE two flight tickets for just $1. Supposedly, the company is making the offer as a means of celebrating its anniversary.
The post, which features a photograph of an Air New Zealand jet, includes a link that you can click to get the supposed offer.
However, the post is a scam designed to trick you into divulging your credit card details and other personal information to online criminals. The post is not associated with Air New Zealand and those who participate will never get the promised $1 flight tickets.
The genuine Air New Zealand Facebook Page has published a post warning people about the scam:
There is a scam message going around about us offering fares for $1. This message is not from Air New Zealand and we advise anyone who receives this not to engage.
An example of the scam post:
If you click on the post, you will be taken to a website that first asks you to fill in a brief survey:
After pretending to check your answers, the site will claim that you are eligible to receive the $1 tickets and then display the following page:
The fake page includes an equally fake countdown clock that is designed to rush people through the process without due forethought. Supposedly, the offer will expire within a few minutes and there are only a limited number of tickets available. However, the countdown clock and the number of tickets revert to their original values every time the page is refreshed.
The page claims that you must share and comment on Facebook before proceeding to the next step. This ensures that the scam post will reach an increasing number of people thereby ensuring that the scammers get more and more victims.
After you have shared as instructed, the following form will load in your browser:
After you fill in your details and click the “continue” button, you will be redirected to an “offer” website that claims that you can win further prizes in exchange for supplying your name and contact details.
Meanwhile, the criminals operating the scam can collect the information you supplied and use it to commit credit card fraud and identity theft.
And, because you submitted your contact details on the offer website, you may be soon inundated with unwanted marketing calls, text messages, emails, and letters.
This scam is more dangerous than the average Facebook giveaway scam in that it can trick people into divulging their credit card details.
If one of these scam messages comes your way, do not click on it or interact with it. And let the person who shared it know that the post is a scam.
A second version of the scam post:
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Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
