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!
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
