Outline:
Facebook post claims that you can win a holiday supplied by UK based holiday company First Choice by adding a comment and clicking a link to enter. The post comes from a Facebook Page called ‘First Choice UK’.
Brief Analysis:
The post is fraudulent as is the associated Facebook Page. The post and Page are not connected with First Choice Holidays and no holidays are being given away. This is a scam designed to trick you into supplying your personal information on dodgy ‘reward offer’ websites.
Detailed Analysis:
According to this circulating Facebook post, you can win a holiday by adding a comment and clicking a link to enter. The post comes from a Facebook Page called ‘First Choice UK’. The Page also features the logo of UK based holiday company First Choice.
However, the Page is not connected to First Choice and it is not giving away a holiday as claimed. In fact, the Facebook Page is a scam designed to trick you into submitting your personal information on suspect third-party prize websites.
If you click on the fake giveaway post, you will first be taken to a webpage that is designed so that it appears to be part of Facebook. The webpage asks you to answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the question ‘Are you a resident of the United Kingdom?’ and includes a Facebook ‘Share’ Button.
Sharing the page or clicking either answer takes you to one of a number of websites that promise the chance to win further prizes in exchange for supplying your name and contact details and participating in various ‘reward offers’ by clicking promotional links. The links open yet more third-party websites that promise various rewards or benefits for signing up or subscribing.
But, alas, the information you supply on these sites will be used to bombard you with an endless stream of unwanted and annoying phone calls, text messages, emails, and surface letters extolling the virtues of various products and services you probably neither want nor need. And, no matter how many ‘reward offers’ you participate in, you will never get to enter the prize draw for the (non-existent) First Choice holiday.
Meanwhile, the scammers who created the bogus Facebook Page will earn commissions each and every time somebody gives their details on one of the ‘offer’ websites.
By tricking people into adding comments on the fake prize post and sharing the bogus ‘entry’ webpage, the scammers ensure that their material is promoted across the network.
The genuine First Choice Facebook Page, which is called ‘First Choice Holidays’ and features Facebook’s blue ‘verified’ icon, notes via comments that it has reported the bogus Page and is working to have it removed.
Scam Facebook Pages like this one are very common. Be wary of any Page or post that offers valuable prizes such as holidays, cruises, airline tickets, luxury cars, or store gift cards for participating in third-party ‘offers’ or ‘surveys’.
Last updated: April 19, 2016
First published: April 19, 2016
By Brett M. Christensen
About Hoax-Slayer
References
What is a Facebook Survey Scam?
First Choice Holiday – Facebook Page
Survey Scams
Original Source : https://www.hoax-slayer.net/first-choice-uk-holiday-prize-facebook-page-is-a-scam/