According to a post that is currently travelling rapidly across Facebook, you can win an hour-long shopping spree at Target just by liking, sharing, and commenting.
The post, which comes from a Facebook Page that calls itself “Target Club”, claims that the company is going to select 100 lucky families who can shop as much as they want for 1 hour and Target will cover all costs. The post instructs you to like and share and then add the comment “Thanks”.
The post features the Target logo along with several photos depicting various Target stores.
A Page comment on the post adds that you can get 5 times the chance of winning by sharing to 5 active Facebook groups that you belong to.
However, the post has no connection to Target whatsoever and those hapless people lured into participating have precisely zero chance of winning anything at all.
In fact, the post is a typical Facebook giveaway scam that is designed to build a large audience for the bogus Facebook Page that published it.
By launching such a fake giveaway, the scammers who operate the fake Target Club Page can gather many likes and shares and thus significantly increase the Page’s potential reach for future scam campaigns. Once they have grown their pool of potential victims in this way, the scammers can then launch survey scams or other types of fraudulent activity.
Alternatively, they may sell the fake Page on the black market to other scammers. The more likes a Page has, the more it may be worth on the black market.
There is a seemingly endless parade of such giveaway scams on Facebook. Be wary of any Page or post that promises the chance to win valuable prizes just for liking, sharing, commenting, or completing surveys.
Please don’t participate in these scams “just in case” they are genuine. Keep in mind that there are no prizes and you have no chance of winning. And, by participating you are not only helping scammers but also exposing your friends and family to such fraudulent activity.
A screenshot of the scam post:
Transcript of the scam post:
To help our loyal Customers – We are going to select 100 lucky families who can shop as much as they want for up to 1 hour and we will cover all costs! To win simply Like, share this post & comment “Thanks” We will announce the winners within the next 24 hours, Target Inc.
Target Club To get 5x Chance of Winning, Share this post to 5 active groups you are in!
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
