Outline:
Post being shared on Facebook claims that you can click to get 5 free tickets from UK based cinema chain Vue Cinemas.
Brief Analysis:
The post is fraudulent. It is not associated with Vue Cinemas and participants will never receive the promised movie tickets. The post is a scam designed to trick people into divulging their personal information on suspect survey websites.
Detailed Analysis:
According to a post that is currently being shared on Facebook, you can get 5 free tickets to any movie at Vue Cinemas. Supposedly, the giveaway is a means for the company to celebrate its 15th anniversary. The post features an image depicting a Vue Cinemas ticket and urges you to click to claim your prize.
However, the post has no connection to the UK based cinema chain and those who participate will never receive the promised tickets. The post is designed to trick you into firstly spamming your friends with the same fraudulent giveaway and then submitting your personal information via decidedly dodgy “survey” websites.
If you click the post in the hope of getting your free tickets, you will be taken to a bogus website that asks you to provide answers to an utterly pointless survey about your movie watching habits. Regardless of what answers you give, the site’s phoney analysing process will determine that you have indeed won the five tickets.
Next, you will be instructed to share the page via Facebook and then send a direct page link to 15 of your Facebook friends (See screenshot below). By getting people to promote the fraudulent website on Facebook, the scammers know that they will substantially increase the result of their fraudulent material thereby gaining many more victims.
After sharing and sending the link as instructed, you will then be able to click the ticket claim button. But, alas, you will still not get to claim your tickets. Instead, you will be told that you must first verify your claim by filling in one or more surveys. A popup window will provide you with a list of links to various surveys.
All of the links open third-party websites that promise the chance to win further prizes in exchange for filling in surveys and providing your name and contact details. But, fine print on the sites will explain that, by supplying your information, you are giving permission for the site to share your details with site sponsors and online marketing firms.
So, after participating, you will soon begin receiving unwanted and annoying phone calls, text messages, emails, and surface letters that try to sell you a range of products and services that you most likely neither want nor need.
Meanwhile, the scammers will earn commissions every time the person supplies his or her details on one of the survey sites.
And, no amount of survey filling will ever get you the promised tickets, which never existed in the first place.
For the record, Vue Cinemas was founded in 2003 so, in 2016, it is not 15 years old as claimed in the scam message.
Survey scams like this one are very common on Facebook. Be wary of any message that promises valuable prizes just for sharing, posting links, and filling in surveys.
Last updated: August 8, 2016
First published: August 8, 2016
By Brett M. Christensen
About Hoax-Slayer
References
Vue Facebook
What is a Facebook Survey Scam?
SURVEY SCAM – 'Get 5 Free Cineworld Movie Tickets'
Original Source : https://www.hoax-slayer.net/vue-cinemas-five-free-tickets-facebook-scam/