Scam winners notification on Facebook

SevenChakras

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know about something that happened this morning.

My mum phoned me to say she had commented on a competition post on Facebook and had a private message this morning to say she had won. She was asked to click a link, register her details, enter her email address and a password, then they asked her for her card details and a payment so she could receive her prize. They said she must do this within an hour otherwise the prize would be withdrawn.

Luckily she realised it was probably a scam and phoned me to check she was right as she was worried about giving her card details. The competition is being run on a genuine page, with a genuine prize. But the scammers had cloned the page to make themselves look genuine and had replied to many people on the post to say they had won and they must click a link and follow the instructions to claim their prize.

Having been entering comps for many years I can spot a scam easily, as I am sure many of us here can. But I worry about those who perhaps don't know what to look out for. So I just wanted to pop on here and put this post up, although I know this has already been said many times on here.

Always approach a winning notification with caution, especially on social media, and assume it could be a scam until you prove otherwise that it is genuine. Never click links, or give any personal details, especially card or bank details. It's extremely unlikely a company running a competition would ever ask you to do this. Nor would they add the urgency for you to claim the prize within an hour. All signs of a scam. Check out where the message has come from before you reply, just to be sure it is genuine.

Unfortunately from the comments I saw, it did look like someone had gone through all steps and given all their details to the scammers.

I know the majority of people on here are super careful, but I wanted to post this, even if it stops just one person getting scammed.

mjm3346

Sadly nothing new and this type of thing has been posted several times before particularly regarding FB and some Instagram as well

lovelyfromlancs

Thanks for this SevenChakras. Even though as mjm has said, it's been posted several times, I think it's good to keep reminding people. I've told my mum many times to be careful but I'm not sure she wouldn't fall for it. I'm going to show her your post today. I'm sure others will apppreciate you posting this too.

Blulu

Thanks. It's always useful to have an up-to-date reminder of the latest scam. I'm going to post about this on my FB page too, to let others know.

Blu XXX

annat

Hi all

I would say I have had at least 2-3 of these each day!!! To the point where I am seriously thinking of ditching Facebook. What is more irritating, is the instant update from Facebook, about the report you have submitted milliseconds before. Asking you to log in again, just to tell you, there was nothing wrong with their post!! Absolutely no point trying to contact FB as never get anywhere, just angrier
Thank you all, enjoyed my massive whinge

Chyna-s

It's been happening for years now unfortunately.