Beware Facebook posts offering “scratched” camper vans as prizes

ByCraig Haley

Bogus Facebook giveaways and competitions are still thriving on the social media platforms as various posts offering to give away free campers and RVs because they have “dents and scratches” are still managing to spread virally.

We’ve all heard of products such as clothes or handbags being sold for exceptionally cheap price tags because of minor quality issues. But are companies on Facebook dolling out free campervans as freebie prizes just because they’ve been scratched?

Despite these fake Facebook giveaways being just as ubiquitous as the notorious “Nigerian Prince” email scams, they still managed to fool thousands of Facebook users. Like the post below.

Due to having a few small dents and scratches we have been unable to sell this in our showroom, rather than flog it as second hand we have decided to bring some joy by giving it to someone who has Sharred then commented by Jan 11th at 5pm. Delivery should be within 2 weeks

As with all of these types of giveaways, there is more to it than meets the eye. And by that we mean no, there is no scratched RV being offloaded as a prize on Facebook. These types of Facebook posts serve one purpose – they’re bait.

And by that we mean they’re used by spammers to lure Facebook users to spammy marketing websites. These Facebook posts request users engage with the post (e.g. share and comment) and those that do engage are quickly lured to spammy websites (below) known for harvesting their contact data in order to spam them.

While most of our readers won’t need reminding, any Facebook post purporting to offer expensive prizes for liking and sharing a Facebook post are going to be schemes aimed at luring users to spam websites.

Always check to see what entity made the post. Is it the official “blue tick” page of a trusted entity, or an anonymous Facebook page operated by unknown people? These simple checks can help users avoid potential online traps looking to harvest their personal data.

Keep up-to-date with all the latest cybersecurity threats and our tips to stay safe online. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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