According to posts currently being shared on Facebook, you can win a brand new 2019 Toyota 4Runner just by sharing and clicking a link to validate your entry.
One such post, which features several photographs of a Toyota 4Runner, claims that a Facebook user will be chosen at random to receive the prize. A later version claims that the July 2019 winner could not accept the prize, so it is again being offered to Facebook users.
However, the posts are fraudulent and have no connection to Toyota. People who choose to participate have no chance whatsoever of winning a 4Runner.
In fact, the posts are typical Facebook giveaway scams designed to trick you into submitting your personal details on suspect websites.
If you follow the link as instructed, you will be taken to a website that claims you must click a button to complete the validation process. Clicking opens a second website that claims that you can win further prizes such as iPhones by providing your name and contact details.
But, a legal disclosure on the site notes that the information you provide will be shared with third-party marketing companies. So, you will soon be inundated with phone calls, emails, text messages, and letters touting a range of products and services that you most likely neither want nor need.
And, despite completing the supposed validation as instructed, you will never get the promised 4Runner prize entry. No 4Runner is being given away.
Scams like this are very common on Facebook. Be wary of any post or Page that claims that you can win a valuable prize such as a car or holiday just by sharing, liking, and clicking a link.
Screenshot of the scam posts:
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
