According to a post that is currently being shared on Facebook, Disneyland is giving 4 free tickets to every family to celebrate its 125th anniversary.
One version of the post features the Disney Parks logo. Another version includes an image supposedly depicting a 100% off coupon along with text inviting you to “follow simple steps” to get your free tickets.
If you click on the post, you will be taken to a website that initially instructs you to complete a short survey about any previous visits you may have had to a Disney park. The site will then pretend to check your answers and select you as a “winner”. In reality, all site visitors are told that they have won, regardless of what survey answers they provide.
Next, you will be instructed to share and like the page on Facebook. Supposedly, you must share and like before your entry can be verified. Sharing and liking exposes your friends and family to the scam and helps the scammers promote the fake giveaway across Facebook.
If you do share and like as instructed, you will be told that you must complete your verification by clicking a link. You may be presented with a list of links to choose from.
The links open further suspect websites that promise you the chance to win various prizes in exchange for supplying your name, email address, phone numbers, and home address. However, all of the information you provide will be shared with dodgy marketing companies.
After participating, you will be inundated with unwanted marketing calls, emails, text messages, and letters promoting a range of suspect products and services.
And, you will never get the promised free Disneyland tickets, no matter how many sites you give your information to. The free tickets do not exist.
Facebook scammers have been targeting Disney fans via similar free ticket scams on Facebook for years now. In fact, scammers have used the names of many well-known companies around the world in an endless series of fake Facebook giveaways.
For the record, Disneyland opened in July 1955, so 2019 is not its 125th anniversary as claimed in the scam post.
Screenshots of the scam posts and fake website:
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
