Outline:
Facebook posts claim that you can win a trip to New York by sharing, liking, and commenting. Some versions also ask you to click a link to claim your entry.
Brief Analysis:
The posts and the Facebook Pages that publish them are fraudulent. Those who participate have no chance whatsoever of winning the promised prize. In fact, the prize does not exist. The posts are scams designed to trick people into promoting the fraudulent giveaways on behalf of the scammers and divulging their personal information on suspect third-party survey websites.
Examples:
Detailed Analysis:
Various “New York” Facebook Pages are supposedly offering Facebook users the chance to win a trip to New York for Christmas. The Pages claim that all you need to do to win is like, share, and comment on a prize post. Some versions also instruct you to click a link to claim your prize entry.
However, the Facebook Pages are fraudulent and no amount of liking, sharing, or clicking will give you even the slightest chance of winning the promised prize. In fact, there IS no prize and certainly no winners other than the scammers who created the bogus competition.
Some versions of the scam simply ask people to like, share, and comment to enter. These versions are designed to quickly gather large numbers of likes and promote the fraudulent Facebook Pages.
By stipulating that participants must share, like, and comment on the bogus prize post to enter, the scammers ensure that their Page and its fraudulent material is seen by a rapidly increasing pool of potential victims.
Other versions of the scam are designed to generate revenue for its unscrupulous owners by tricking people into submitting their personal details on dodgy third-party ‘survey’ websites.
The site you eventually arrive at will offer the chance to win further prizes in exchange for filling in a survey and supplying your name and contact details. However, fine print on the site will stipulate that, by participating, you are giving permission for the site’s owners to share your personal information with site sponsors and online marketing firms.
Thus, soon after participating, you will begin receiving unwanted and annoying marketing messages for various products and services via phone, text message, email, and surface mail. The scammers who created the fake New York prize giveaways will earn commissions each time somebody provides his or her information on one of the survey sites.
And, to reiterate, the promised New York trip prize does not exist, so participating is a waste of time.
Such scams are extremely common on Facebook. Don’t be tempted to participate in these bogus competitions ‘just in case‘ they are legitimate. They are NOT harmless. By participating, you are aiding and abetting scammers who have no place on Facebook or any other social network. And, by liking, sharing, and commenting on such fraudulent material, you are exposing all of your friends to the scam as well. Just don’t do it!
