Team Clark is adamant that we will never write content influenced by or paid for by an advertiser. To support our work, we do make money from some links to companies and deals on our site. Learn more about our guarantee here.
Social media scams are nothing new, but right now there are three specific Facebook scams that are spreading like wildfire!
For cyber criminals, what’s the easiest way to reach the most people with one scam? Facebook. With more than a billion users, Facebook has become an easy way for scammers to rip off as many people as possible at once — and in a variety of different ways.
Here’s how to spot some big scams that are making the rounds and how to protect yourself.
Many Facebook and Instagram users have seen posts inviting them to spend just $10 — with the promise that they’ll receive up to 36 gifts in return. But officials say this ‘exchange’ is actually just a pyramid scheme, meaning most people who participate aren’t going to get what they expect when they sign up.
“We’re just seeing this on Facebook this time instead of the old way of using letters,” University of South Florida mass communications instructor Kelli Burns told WFLA, adding, “Facebook allows it to spread a lot faster.”
The ‘secret sister gift exchange‘ is essentially just a classic pyramid scheme. You send a gift, send the instructions to more people, and the exchange continues on and on. So the promise is that for your first $10 gift you give, and passing on the instructions, you’ll end up with 36 gifts two weeks later. The problem is, the exchange requires a lot of people to keep it going, and your odds of even getting one gift back are slim. According to one report, by the time you get to the 11th level of the exchange, it would require the entire population of the U.S. to participate to make it work.
It’s also illegal.
There are also some concerns around the legality of these types of ‘exchanges.’ According to a report from Snopes, ‘In short, the problem wasn’t whether any one person expected to receive presents back — it was the inherently unfulfillable promise that a $10 buy in would result in hundreds of dollars worth of returns for others. Whether or not a user participated ‘honestly’ they had no hand in ensuring those who bought in under them would receive any return on their initial investment, and the risk in question problematic precisely because it was undertaken on behalf of other folks.’
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service issued a statement saying it’s against the law to ‘request money or other items of value and promise a substantial return to the participants.’
The group explained why these types of gift exchanges aren’t just ‘mathematically impossible’ but also illegal: ‘There’s at least one problem with chain letters. They’re illegal if they request money or other items of value and promise a substantial return to the participants. Chain letters are a form of gambling, and sending them through the mail (or delivering them in person or by computer, but mailing money to participate) violates Title 18, United States Code, Section 1302, the Postal Lottery Statute. (Chain letters that ask for items of minor value, like picture postcards or recipes, may be mailed, since such items are not things of value within the meaning of the law.)’
Read more: Top 15 scams to watch out for and how to protect yourself!
Lottery scams come in all different shapes and sizes. On Facebook, the way it typically works is you get a message from someone saying you’ve won a huge lottery on Facebook — but in order to claim your prize, you have to wire a payment to cover ‘insurance’ or other fees.
If you wire the money, it’s gone. Plus, the scammers will likely continue to harass you for more ‘fee’ payments, claiming you’ll get more money in the end, but you’ll just wind up wasting more money.
Even if you receive a message from a friend, never send any type of payment or wire transfer without confirming whatever it is you’re paying for over the phone or in person. In some cases, criminals have hacked people’s Facebook accounts and sent messages as those people — in order to fool their friends into handing over money.
Read more: 5 popular Facebook scams to avoid
Even if an offer that seems too good to be true comes from a legitimate source on Facebook — or appears to — it’s still probably too good to be true.
This one has been around for a while and Southwest even posted about it on the company’s Facebook page back in 2011.
The way it works is you see a post claiming that some big airline is giving away free flights for a year or some other big offer that sounds INCREDIBLE! All you have to do is share the photo, like the page and post a comment to win.
While figuring out that you fell for a scam and didn’t actually win free airfare for a year is a bummer, the bigger problem is when Facebook users see fake offers like this and end up clicking on a link posted by a criminal — which could expose everything in your computer or mobile device to the scammer on the other end.
Scammers are everywhere, so it’s crucial to always be cautious when: clicking on an email from an address you don’t know or recognize, responding to a text from a number you don’t recognize, and calling back a phone number you don’t know or recognize.
Here’s how to avoid these scams:
This post was last modified on March 22, 2017 3:11 pm
If you're considering subscribing to Fubo, you need to be comfortable missing out on some…
Are you looking for a way to earn 2% back on every purchase you make…
You're not alone if you're running a balance on your credit cards. Collectively, Americans are…
A big part of saving money comes down to knowing how to comparison shop. But…
If you work for a big company as a full-time employee, chances are you have…
Are you a Peacock subscriber? You soon will have to pay more to watch NBCUniversal's…