Outline:
Circulating post claims that you can click to get a free voucher from UK retailer Marks & Spencer.
Brief Analysis:
The post is fraudulent and has no connection to Marks & Spencer. Those who participate will never receive the promised voucher. The post is a scam designed to trick you into divulging personal details on suspect survey websites.
Example:
Detailed Analysis:
According to a post being widely distributed across Facebook, you can get yourself a free voucher valued at £100 from UK retailer Marks & Spencer. The post features an image depicting several Marks & Spencer gift vouchers and urges you to click to grab your voucher.
However, the post has no connection to Marks & Spencer and those who participate will never receive the promised voucher. In fact, the post is a typical Facebook survey scam designed to trick you into divulging personal details on suspect survey websites.
If you click the post in the hope of getting a voucher, you will be taken to a fraudulent “claim” webpage built to look like it is part of Facebook. The webpage instructs you to firstly share the page on Facebook and then send a link to the scam page to 5 Facebook Groups you belong to. Of course, following these “two simple steps” turns you into a spammer for the fraudsters operating the fake giveaway and can potentially expose your friends and fellow group members to the same scam.
And, even after you spam your friends as requested, you will still not get the promised voucher. Instead, when you click the “claim your voucher” button, you will be taken to a second fraudulent webpage that appears to host a claim form.
However, the claim form will be obscured by a popup window that tells you that you must complete a verification by participating in a survey. The popup includes links to several available surveys. The links open various survey websites that use the promise of further prizes to get you to supply your name, email address, home address and other personal information.
But, fine print on the sites will state that, by supplying your information, you are giving permission for it to be shared with site sponsors and third-party marketers. So, soon after participating, you will likely start receiving annoying phone calls, emails, and surface letters from companies trying to get you to buy various products and services.
And, the scammers who created the bogus Marks & Spencer promotion will earn commissions each time somebody provides their information via one of the survey websites.
Such scam attempts continue to be very common on Facebook. The scammers use the names of many well-known companies to trick people into participating. You should be very cautious of any Facebook post that claims that you can get store vouchers or win valuable prizes just by sharing, liking, and filling in surveys.
Last updated: September 8, 2016
First published: November 9, 2015
By Brett M. Christensen
About Hoax-Slayer
References:
What is a Facebook Survey Scam?
Facebook Survey Scams