Fake Gift Card Scams on Facebook
As Facebook becomes more and more mainstream, the scammers are coming out of the woodwork to try to take advantage of us. According to Net Security, Whole Foods Market has been fighting the latest Facebook gift card scam. The scam artists have set up fan pages that misuse the company’s name to gain attention and fans: “Whole Foods FREE $500 Gift Card! Only Available for 36 hours!”
In order to receive the gift card, fans are asked to fill out a credit assessment and give personal information. The scammers use malware to crash their computers and leave the information vulnerable. As quickly as one page is taken down another pops up. Whole Foods is fighting to have all campaigns removed.
Facebook is actively working on a process to automate the flagging of these scam pages. Several other companies reputation have been endangered due to similar cyber attacks (e.g. Best Buy and IKEA).
It’s bound to happen on Twitter and other social networking venues… Don’t let it happen to you! Protect your personal or credit card info (share only what you feel comfortable with, and only do so with trusted sites/pages). If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Confirm the legitimacy of a sweepstakes or giveaway by visiting the company’s website.
