Summer Safari WaterPark events on Facebook raise concerns
A series of events that have appeared on Facebook named ‘Summer Safari WaterPark 2016’ bear a striking resemblance to a previous string of fake events that were designed to lure people to spammy marketing websites.
In March 2016, a series of events titled ‘Total Wipeout Tour’ appeared on Facebook asking people to register for various Facebook events across the UK that would replicate popular TV show Total Wipeout. However the events simply directed attendees to spammy marketing websites, claiming they needed to part with their personal information in order to register for the events.
Needless to say, the events were fake. There was no Total Wipeout Tour, just an excuse to harvest personal information.
And this latest batch of Facebook events, all of them titled “Summer Safari WaterPark 2016” then followed by the city name (including Bristol, Bath, Durham and Nottingham) appear identically suspicious.
Just like previous fake events, there are no contact details for the people apparently organising the series of events other than a free web-based Gmail address. There is no phone number, company name, physical address or any other information that could identify the people behind the Facebook events.
Additionally, the photo used to illustrate the events is from Wild Island Adventure Park in Nevada, USA!
A screenshot of one of the events purportedly in Bristol.
Of course this is a big red flag. While the events – at the time of writing – do not direct people to marketing websites yet, it is likely that once they gain enough interest, they will be edited to include such spammy links.
We contacted the Facebook page behind all the events, asking for company information, and were simply told –
We are not an individual company, we work closely with fairground companies.
When we asked further questions about the identity of the people behind the operation, we were blocked.
We received no company information or any details on the “fairground companies” apparently involved with this venture.
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In fact it makes little sense at all. Apparently, we’re supposed to believe that the people behind a nationwide event that includes setting up dozens of what we would assume to be mobile water parks in separate cities across the UK in the same month do not actually represent a company. And the people behind the venture are – in reality – completely anonymous, hiding behind one single Gmail email…
Don’t join such events. They are spam and will eventually direct you to marketing webpages, or potentially worse, used in conjunction with identity theft attacks. Avoid joining events like this that lack any contact information.
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