Internet scammers – Tips to avoid being scammed
Plus, what can a scammer do with your details?
List of fake pages
Make sure you have a look through this list of fake pages and check you aren’t following any of them. These pages will be taken down eventually when enough people report them, by this time they have been able to scam hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
I have heard a number of different things that can happen with these fake Facebook pages. There is a full explanation of what they are and how to spot them further down this post. I have heard from a few of you in the past who have fallen victim to these pages and someone has had their bank account emptied after supplying her bank details for her cash prize to go into, another had to supply her mobile phone number so they could contact her regarding her prize which she then was added to a spam text list and charged hundreds of pounds for texts she was receiving from them.
Please, let everyone know about this. Some of these pages have over 200,000 likes and they are scamming so many people everyday. Don’t let yourself, a family member or a friend be the next.
Boots. UK – We got this removed!
Weekly Deals – This is a major scam page right now. I have heard from someone whos parent was scammed by this. She handed over a ton of personal information and the police are now involved.
UK Holiday Deals – Thank you Lauren for informing me of this one.
Argos UK – They keep sharing fake competitions and asking you to fill in a form them remove them once they have collected peoples details.
Holiday 3 – Now called Fashion Maker.
Disney Cruises – This was a MAJOR page a few weeks ago, sharing Disney Cruise competitions – however the competitions have all been removed. This is an indication they will now start to pretend they’re another page because they have a high number of likes. *UPDATE* we have finally got this removed!
Fun Stuff – Now changed its name to The Fitness Magazine
Kinder openings – Thank you Joy.
Professional Mac – Now changed its name to The Fitness Magazine1
You can see more information here how scammers make their money on Facebook…
Also, don’t fall for the fake news stories these Facebook pages share such as ‘Donald Trump has died of a heart attack’
Type of Scams to watch out for:
1. Facebook pages of well known brands/companies asking you to like them and win a car or another fabulous prize. These are usually spam pages which have been set up to trick you into thinking they’re genuine. More on this below…
2. Supermarket Surveys with the promise of Vouchers in Exchange –
Basically the scammers use big name brands such as Tesco, Asda, Argos etc. They ask you to fill out a survey to get a £100 voucher etc. They then get all your personal details, including bank details then look to empty your bank account or sell your details on the black market. I had an email from a woman called Louise who follows my page and she rang Tesco after receiving this survey who confirmed they would never ask for your bank details in a survey.
Tips – Contact the customer service departments of the so called Big Brand and ask if they are running the survey.
3. Free/Low cost Trials – In a nutshell, these scams entice you to sign up for unbelievable offers for a trial price of £2-£5 pounds and then once they have your card details, they start billing you every month for £89-£99 pound. It’s in the small print and as long as they send you the sample they are not breaking any laws. However, this is morally wrong and they are causing people stress and aggravation when they try to cancel and reclaim the money.
Tips – Check out the company and website using the government websites Company Check, how long have they been trading, are they UK, Can you ring and speak to someone? Do a google search for the web address and any reviews, this will normally reveal other stories if people have been scammed.
What can scammers do with my details?
If you give ALL of your information out, a scammer could pretend to be you run up a mountain of debt in your name or even empty your bank account.
If you supply your phone number, the scammer could then sign you up to one of their text systems which charges you for each text received – I heard from one of my followers to say this happened to her and she was charged nearly £100 in an hour!
If you supply your date of birth along with your email address, this could be used to reset your password of your emails and the scammers then have full access to your emails which could allow them to access your social media and scam friends and family, send emails on your behalf and scam your contacts.
If a scammer has your name and date of birth, they could be able to look you up on a database and get access to all kinds of information on you such as your address, NI number, details about your family etc.
Random Competitions for Big Ticket Prizes on Social Media
Have you ever seen a friend share a post from a well-known retailer with the heading something like ‘We have 50 iPhone 6’s that are unsealed so we can’t sell them, simply like and share this post to be in with the chance of winning one of them’.
The give-away is often in their Facebook name, such as Apple. instead of just Apple with no full stop.
Another clue that the page is fake is how long the page has been going. If the page was made 3 days ago do you really think it’s going to be the genuine Facebook page of that huge world-wide company you know and trust?
Or what about how many likes it has? How many phones and iPads has apple sold around the world, yet this Facebook page has just over 4000 likes? I would be very suspicious.
A fake page offering 1 of 100 iPhones
This is one of the longest running pages offering prizes such as food hampers, clothes and MAC products. All scams obviously.
Why are scammers doing this?
This is called Like Farming. The more likes a page has, the more likely it is the page can be sold.
If you’re offered the chance of winning a high value item or £100 gift voucher you will probably want to like the page to see if you are announced as a winner. Once you have shared with your friends, then your friends may like and share the page and so on, which is going to get them hundred’s and thousands of likes an hour!
People then buy these high liked scam pages on the black market where they can use the pages to send out spam advertising their products or services.
Some scammers may even send out links that ask you to sign up to a text service which can be quite costly when they start texting you hundreds of times a day charging you a few pound a text.
How can you spot a fake page?
Like I said above, check the likes on the page and how long the page has been going, especially if it’s a well-known company.
Also, 99% of large retailers have the ‘blue tick’ on their pages on their Facebook and Twitter pages so you know they are genuine.
REMEMBER!
DO YOUR RESEARCH, IT MAY TAKE 5 MINUTES, BUT SORTING THINGS AFTER BEING SCAMMED TAKES A LOT LONGER!
IF IN DOUBT ASK AROUND ON FORUMS
NEVER GIVE YOUR CARD DETAILS UNTIL YOUR 100% CERTAIN!
For further advice please visit – www.adviceguide.org.uk
ASH x
More examples I’ve come across…
