Identify Gift Card and Voucher Scams on Facebook

If one of your Facebook friends is promoting a shopping voucher, give away or gift card, you might as well think first before clicking on the link because click-jacking scams  that promise to give away gift cards and vouchers abound online.

How to Identify Gift Card and Voucher Scams on Facebook

One way to identify gift card and voucher scams is to consider whether the offer is too good to be true. If it is, then it likely is a scam.  Googling for information about the offer can also help.

Things to Do when You See Fake Offers on Facebook

1. Ignore the message. The link will likely lead you to another page that may prompt you to answer survey ads or download malicious application.

2. If you think the offer is legitimate, make sure to use Google for to find further information and confirmation that the offer is legit.
3. If the offer turned out to be a fake, flag the message as spam by clicking the x mark button on the right side of the message.

4. Help keep your friends safe from gift card and voucher scams on Facebook by informing them about fake offers.

Below are some of the widely circulated fake gift card and voucher offers online:

Eat at McDonalds for Free

With thousands of branches and chains worldwide, McDonald's is undeniably one of the most popular, if not the most successful of the fast food restaurants worldwide. It is currently the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants with presence in 119 countries serving approximately 68 million customers everyday.

Unfortunately, McDonald's popularity also have drawbacks since the iconic name has repetitively been used in spreading false humors and bogus offers in the social networking site Facebook. Together with such Starbucks, Best Buys and a number of popular other consumer brands, hoax news and fake offers from MacDonalds is often used to lure innocent people to answer surveys or provide their personal details to online scammers.

If you love the popular fastfood chain McDonalds, be sure not to fall to survey scams that distribute fake MCDonals meal vouchers to dupe facebookers into reposting the scam and answering surveys:

Eat at McDonalds for FREE! (limited time only)
McDonald’s is currently giving away free meal vouchers to all Facebook users!!
Walmart is giving away $1,000 gift cards

Wouldn’t it be nice if Walmart is giving away $1,000 gift cards by simply asking people to share or do rewards survey on Facebook? As good as this may sound, however, any messages you see in the social networks telling you of Walmart distributing gift cards for almost everyone is a hoax.

£250 Asda Shopping Voucher
Target $500 Gift Card Giveaway
Applebee's Gift Card
$500 Woolworths Voucher Scam

$500.00 Victoria Secret Gift Cards

One of these new scams appear to target ladies who may drool on the supposed Victoria’s secret merchandises that they dream of getting their hands to if they receive the supposed free gift cards on Facebook. By how the messages are reshared on Facebook, it appear that the gift cards are distributed by the popular lingerie brand for Facebook users.
Get Dunkin Donut Gift Card for FREE! (limited time only)

Regal/AMC Movie Tickets
The biggest and most awaited movies of the year is hitting the cinemas this summer: The Avengers and the Men In Black 3, for example. Scammers, however, are also looking forward to the excitement generated by these movies since they have been using supposed free Regal/AMC movie tickets as bait to make people fall to survey scams.

Free Walgreens Gift Card

Scammers on Facebook keep luring and deceiving people to click the links they spread in the social network by making use of bogus give aways. Apparently the Christmas season and the coming new year make the Facebook give away scams perfect for making people visit survey scam sites or provide their personal information such as their emails and telephone numbers.

$25 Tim Hortons Gift Card

Costco Gift Card

Amazon.com Gift Card

Here’s the newer variation of the Outback gift caRd Facebook scam, a message that claims you’ll get free Tim Horton gift card/ coupon if you share the message on your wall and do some survey.

Free Cheese Factory Gift Cards

Argos Gift Cards

Free KFC Gift Card 

If you are rooting for a KFC lunch, don't trust the messages circulating in Facebook to give you free meals. Scammers are yet again distributing fake gift card messages in the social network the latest using the name of KFC. Here's the misleading messages being reshared by non suspecting Facebook users at the moment:

Get $100 KFC Gift Card (limited time only) CLICK HERE & CLAIM NOW
KFC is currently giving away $100 gift card to 10,000 lucky Facebook users!

KFC already denied the claims of this fraudulent give away via a statement in their Australian Facebook Page:

Hi all KFC Australia Fans,
We have had a number of questions and posts to the page regarding the $100 gift voucher offer currently being circulated on Facebook.
We can confirm that this is NOT an official offer and apologise for any inconvenience that this may have caused. If you have installed an application or connected the offer to your account we would advise you remove it immediately. Thank you.

If you wonder why bogus vouchers and gift cards are getting rampant on Facebook, scammers actually earn money whenever people answer surveys that they prompt whenever links to these misleading gift cards are clicked. Do not fall to these give away scams on Facebook.

Free $100 McDonald’s Gift Card for Mother’s Day

Sharing to mothers in your network a message on Facebook that promises to give free $100 McDonald’s gift card for Mother’s Day isn't really a nice way of saying Happy Mother's day to your mom friends because this is a scam. If you're a mom, don't get duped into believing MCDonalds is giving away giftcards for you today because this is not true.

$1000 Visa Gift Card 

The link will ask you to answer surveys supposedly to determine whether you are qualified for the visa gift card.
Eat for Free at Pizza Hut 

After the the Starbucks voucher scam and the free $250 Outback Steakhouse gift card scam, another bogus offer is yet circulating on Facebook.  This time, the message says you can eat for free at the popular pizza restaurant Pizza Hut if you share or repost the message and its link, leave a comment and provide the information you are asked for.

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Fake Celebrity Deaths on Facebook

News of death among movie stars and singers can spread like wildfire on the internet. This is why scammers and hoaxers frequently use celebrity names to get attention for their clickjacking scams and rogue browser plugins and to spread false information online. Here are just some of the  fake celebrity death news that spread on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter:

Lady Gaga found dead in hotel room

Fans of Poker face singer Lady Gaga seem to be the likely victims of a clickjacking scam that spread on facebook. Fake news about the singer being found dead in a hotel room obviously take advantage of the singer’s popularity to make people click on links that will lead them to questionable links or pages.

International Rockstar Legend Jon Bon Jovi dead at 49
Here are the misleading news that you might have encountered posted by one of your friends:

Rockstar Jon Bon Jovi (John Francis Bingiovi, Jr) was pronounced dead today afternoon after paramedics found him in coma at his Empress Hotel, city and law enforcement at Asbury Park, NJ sources told The Times after World Christmas Tour Concert on The Bamboozle Festival, North Beach Asbury Park.

New Jersey Fire Department- First Aid Captain Douglas Gray told The Times that paramedics responded to a 911 call from home. When they arrived, Bon Jovi was not breathing.

Chuck Norris dies at age 71! Not a Joke

Even the tough and mighty Chuck Norris is not immune to being used in Facebook scams.

[video] Chuck Norris dies at age 71! Not a Joke.
Worldnews77551.com
See the video to find out how he died. News today of Chuck Norris death at age 71 has been met with confusion and humour but sadly its true.

Rihanna is dead

Fans of singer Rihanna should not fret and should not believe a  hoax news spreading in networking sites. The singer is alive and well.

 Sad News Once Again, Singer and Songwriter RIHANNA passed away some Hours ago in a Plane crash on her way to Germany to shoot her new music video... Our Prayers and Condolences go out to her Family! Pass This message on So that people would know how short life is and that fame and fortune can't buy you life.

Keanu Reeves dies in snowboard accident

While news of singer Whitney Houston's death is true, messages circulating information that Matrix actor Keanu Reeves died in a snowboard accident is a hoax.

Robert Pattinson dies in car accident

Did Robert Pattinson died in an accident? The Twilight actor is in the news lately following his girlfriend Kristen Stewart's caught-in-the photo affair with a married man. As of the moment, a round of articles about the young actor is circulating in Facebook and the messages claim that the actor died in an airplane accident.

Adam Sandler is dead

The veteran comedy actor Adam Sandler is the latest victim in a series of online killings online-- by hoaxters. Hoax messages are spreading in popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter that Adam Sandler is already dead but the truth is, the actor is alive and well.

This is an ugly joke perpetrated by likely the same people who have spread the death news of other actors and singers like Morgan Freeman, Bill Nye, Rihanna, Bon Jovi Johnny Depp and Lil Wayne. Even Cuban leader Fidel Castro has also been victimized by a death hoax.

Hoax and false rumors such as this can be mitigated by verifying the authenticity of news read on social networks by using popular search engines like Yahoo and Google before reposting or resharing news.

If you see any of your friends posting the fake celebrity death news on Facebook, make sure to mark the message as spam.

1. Find the x mark beside the post and click report/mark as spam.


2. Share this post to your friends so they learn about fake celebrity deaths on Facebook.

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Rihanna "S3X" Tape Facbook Scam

A new Facebook scam is circulating around the social network. The "Rihanna "S3X" Tape" scam with it's variant the "Kim Kardashian "S3X" Tape" spreads like wildfire over emails and social networking sites. The scam starts with an infected email or post on Facebook then automatically posts comments on your friend's status messages. When someone intrigued by the link and clicks it he is then taken to an external link that takes him or her to a verification page which then takes him or her to another page requiring that the person take a survey or trial to view the video. There are no actual videos. It is just a ploy or a tool for them to hijack you Facebook accounts and spread the link.

To remove the Rihanna "S3X" Tape Facbook Scam or the Kim Kardashian "S3X" Tape, Please follow the instructions given on this link (click here).

Pass on this critical information to all your friends that may be infected by this scam.  Many thanks and stay safe.

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Unique and Geeky Christmas Cover Images for Facebook

Tis the Season to Use Christmas Cover for Facebook

Here are some nice Christmas cover images we have found online. You may visit their respective sources for more images you can use for your social networking profile. Merry Christmas!

Best for Star Wars fans and geeks is this Stormtrooper gift-giving image from coverslike.com:



From addacover.com:

From cower.me

From addcovers.com:

From tweeting.com

From kate.net:

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Facebook will end on January 15th 2013: The Truth

Another Facebook closing down news is taking rounds: Facebook will end on January 15th 2013.

FACEBOOK WILL END ON JANUARY 15TH, 2013!

ALO ALTO, CA – Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be shut down in January. Managing the site has become too stressful.

“Facebook has gotten out of control,” said Zuckerberg in a press conference outside his Palo Alto office, “and the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.”

 

The news is spread by Weeklyworldnews.com, a site known for distributing fanciful stories disguised as news articles. Other stories published by Weekly World News are alien stories and other otherworldly and tabloid stories.

The news of social networking giant Facebook shutting down is not new. People, for example, have spread news about Facebook closing down on March 15, 2011 and then July 2012 but the close down never happened because the claims are not true.

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Get the Black Facebook

Get the New Facebook Black

How do you change the color of your Facebook or use the black Facebook? These features sound cool and you may have just learned about it from someone who have posted about it on Facebook. Unfortunately, these features do not yet exist.

If you see a post on Facebook about a feature that allows you to change your Facebook color or one that allows you to get the new black Facebook, be advised that this is a scam.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="306"] A perspective of how a black Facebook theme may look like by rames.blogspot.com.[/caption]

Clicking on the get the new black Facebook link may direct you to a page where you will be prompted to do surveys. You may also be prompted to install a rogue facebook app that won't really give you the ability to change the color of your Facebook but instead will spam your friends on your behalf about this fake color changing feature.

Scammers spread misleading information about fake and non existent features on Facebook such as the Pink Facebook, dislike button and black Facebook to lure people to give their personal details and contact information. Scammers may use these details for their own advantage. Victims are also popularly redirected to survey scam pages. The scammers earn whenever people answer of complete those surveys.

If your account starts to spam your friends with the new black Facebook messages, here's what you should do.

Go to your account settings, then apps.



Remove the rogue facebook app by clicking  x mark beside it.



Make sure that you also remove all the spammy posts the app has posted in your timeline.

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Adam Sandler is Dead Hoax

The veteran comedy actor Adam Sandler is the latest victim in a series of online killings online-- by hoaxters. Hoax messages are spreading in popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter that Adam Sandler is already dead but the truth is, the actor is alive and well.

This is an ugly joke perpetrated by likely the same people who have spread the death news of other actors and singers like Morgan Freeman, Bill Nye, Rihanna, Bon Jovi Johnny Depp and Lil Wayne. Even Cuban leader Fidel Castro has also been victimized by a death hoax.

Hoax and false rumors such as this can be mitigated by verifying the authenticity of news read on social networks by using popular search engines like Yahoo and Google before reposting or resharing news.

Read more