Don’t fall for this latest Facebook scam

With so much press about fake news lately, you’d really think some people would be able to tell when something is a scam or not, and if you have a Facebook account, you’ll definitely see your fair share. There are so many apps that predict your love life or tell you how your children will look or the latest that promises £100 of free stuff, but you have to know, it’s a crock of shit. Everyone loves a freebie and even though this store is probably the cheapest on the high street, don’t fall for this con. The latest in a series of scams to hit the social network is a chance to bag yourself £100 worth of free Primark vouchers. Any Primarni shopper will know, their store is always packed with bargains and it’s changed throughout the years, from just being a clothes shop to now being a homeware store too. Whatever next? But free vouchers just by signing up to an app, £100 worth? Really?

There’s a coupon that’s doing the rounds online that promises every shopper in the UK who has a Facebook account £100 pounds worth of Primark stuff for free! FREE!! That’s my summer wardrobe sorted then. But wait, there’s a catch. It’s actually a massive scam and you really need to watch out. The coupon makes out that it’s part of Primark’s anniversary, but if you Google Primark, you’d know that the store was founded in 1969 in Dublin by Arthur Ryan and trades under the name of Penneys in the Republic of Ireland. A celebration of 48 years? That’s not a celebration or even an anniversary worth celebrating!

So what happens?

The coupon pops up on users home feed and prompts users to click through the link and enter their details. But instead of £100 flying your way, your details are likely to be stolen, passed to a 3rd party or you’ll end up with lots of spam, and frankly, spam should be left in a tin, #justsaying.

Unfortunately, there are so much of these scams circulating around the internet. If you like to enter competitions, there’s a fair few that promise you’ll be entered but basically take your details and spam your inbox with emails about random crap.  Same goes with the product testers sites. All a load of bull! If you’re likely to receive £100 free vouchers it will be from Primark itself, not an unreliable source.

If you see such post in your home feed, be sure to report it. Don’t fill in your details, don’t share the link on Facebook, don’t post to 15 of your pals for the money off vouchers or you’ll reel them into this scam too. You’ll just get a lot of pop-up windows that will populate your laptop asking you to fill in some surveys.

A spokesperson for Primark told The Independent: “We are aware that some fake adverts have been circulated on social media. We advise all our customers to ignore these posts and not to submit any personal information.”

Hoax Slayer says

A message currently being distributed across Facebook claims that you can receive a free voucher from UK based retailer Primark by clicking a link and following a set of instructions.

However, the supposed promotion is fake and has no connection to Primark. Primark vouchers are not being given away as claimed. In fact, the message is a scam designed to trick Facebook users into spamming their friends and disclosing their personal information via suspect online surveys.

The link in the scam message opens a bogus website that asks you to complete an utterly pointless survey about your Primark shopping habits. After completing the survey, the page pretends to analyse your answers for eligibility. But, in fact, no matter what answers you give, you will always be selected as one of the “lucky winners” of a voucher.