BBC reports on the rise of fake Facebook promotions
This week the BBC have raised the growing issue of fake Facebook promotions or ‘raffles’ that scam the public. The Victoria Derbyshire programme interviewed victims of scammers who set up raffle pages for prizes such as iPads, holidays and cash without a gambling license.
Facebook, which has strict rules for running online promotions, says it shuts these illegal pages down but there is nothing to stop new ones emerging often under the guise of raising money for charity. The Gambling Commission, which regulates all gambling activities in the UK, says complaints about social media raffles have greatly risen in recent years and those interviewed admitted they had lost a great deal of money.
This investigation has coincided with the increasing number of fake Facebook promotions also tricking users. Airline Ryanair recently warned customers not to be tricked into believing a fake page giving away two free flights. Entrants who clicked the link would be taken to a malware site where their personal details could be accessed by scammers.
If your brand is under threat from scammers gain customer confidence by advising followers how to differentiate a genuine Facebook page from a fake. Here are our tips for your customers:
- Check that there are T&Cs included in the post
- Ensure there is a blue verification tick on the page
- Look at how many followers the page has and how long the page has been running for
- Look for clues such as poor grammar and misspelled names such as Virgin. or McDonalds instead of McDonald’s.
If your promotional posts are planned properly your followers should be able to spot the real thing. For help and advice running all types of promotions contact PromoVeritas on +44 203 325 6000 or email info@promoveritas.com.