Outline:
Post being shared on Facebook claims that you can click to get a free 52 inch “unsealed” LED TV.
Analysis:
The post is fraudulent. No TVs – unsealed or otherwise – are being given away. The post is a scam designed to trick you into spamming your Facebook friends with the same bogus giveaway and then supplying your personal information on suspect survey websites. The survey sites will share the information you provide with third-party marketers who will subsequently inundate you with unwanted and annoying phone calls, text messages, emails, and surface letters.
Clicking the link opens a bogus website that falsely claims that the TVs are being given away because they were found unsealed in the factory (see screenshot below). The page urges you to share on Facebook and then send a direct link to 15 friends. It then asks you to click a claim link that will lead you to various dodgy survey sites.
Scams like this one are very common on Facebook.
Refer to the following resources for further details about such scams:
What is a Facebook Survey Scam?
Survey Scam List
The following Hoax-Slayer YouTube video covers a similar type of scam that claimed to be giving away a Range Rover:
A screenshot of the scam page the link in the giveaway post opens:
Last updated: September 22, 2016
First published: September 22, 2016
By Brett M. Christensen
About Hoax-Slayer
References
What is a Facebook Survey Scam?
Facebook Survey Scams
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
