To wonder why so people fall for Facebook scams?

[Lauren1983]

A Facebook friend of mine shared a post from a fake Toby Carvery page that was offering a free meal for 2 to everyone who shared. The page is named Toby Carvery Fans which surely says dodgy? There are only 3 posts 2 of which are the scam posts.

I know some people aren't very internet savvy but surely you would do a quick check to make sure it is legit. Nearly 8000 people have liked the post and possibly clicked a link giving god knows what details.

Facebook are next to useless and take an age to crack down on these pages so they are also to blame.

Maybe there needs to be more info out there to stop people being taken in by these scams?

Oops missed a word in the title. It should be so many people.

It all comes down to a lack of critical thinking.

Because they are stupid.

They aren’t as clever as you OP

I think some know it’s unlikely to be real but don’t see the harm in doing it just in case.

I report these pages all the time as it’s not fair on the companies involved to have scammers pretending to be them so as to get likes and shares and information.

MIL was close to putting all her personal & bank details into a scam 'You've won a Tesco £500 Voucher' one. It was sheer luck we arrived before she completed it and was excitedly sharing her good news with us. I felt a bit sorry bursting her bubble but I shudder to think what could have happened.

Because "I've seen it on FB so it must be true" - a lot of my relatives take anything they see on FB to be fact

There was an April Fools Day post on a local page offering free square footballs stating they wanted feedback on their innovative new product in return.
100's of people posted, liked and shared the post...I think some folk just see the word FREE and then switch off.

@stairway

They aren’t as clever as you OP

This.

I sometimes see the ads for the clothes...nice pics and good prices but in reality, I know they will come from China and be poor quality and probably some silly small size as can never trust the conversion charts....so i dont bother clicking....but the ads are well done and look professional.

Yes that's a good point about seeing the word free and then switching off.

To be clear I'm not particularly clever or internet savvy but I've seen enough of these scams to be wary.

Meh they're made to seem genuine. How many people have done those name quizzes etc and given away info like mothers maiden name and first pet

Hardly a scam though as they're not being taken for anything except a share.

@CourtRand

Hardly a scam though as they're not being taken for anything except a share.

And there we are, one day you're sharing the scam post, (as it doesn't do any harm) and then the next day you're filling in your details for a £500 tesco voucher

The average person isn’t very bright. As evidenced by the semi-literate nature of most Facebook posts, the success of MLMs, the popularity of Love Island, the Brexit vote etc etc. Scammers know this, and pray on it. Intelligent, savvy people with well developed critical thinking skills are not their target market.

This scam directs you to a link which could be risky. I haven't clicked it but it appears from comments it is a survey so it could easy ask for information useful to scammers.

I don't know, OP. Why do people miss words out of MN thread titles?

Yeah because a missed word is exactly the same thing.

It's very common unfortunately. There was some research a little while ago that showed that around 52% of people find it hard to spot truth from lies and are easily taken in by scams.

People are thick.

It’s the children’s cancer charity scams which really get to me.

Earsup: Good point, I was looking at one last night, I don't know if we can name the company here but it was underwear/night wear for curvy ladies, I decided not to bother as I find it a faff to enter card details and order stuff, and the sizes were in bust measurements. May not have been a scam but you never know.

We are used to advertising being regulated - TV and press adverts have been from many years.

Outfits like Facebook don't consider themselves subject to these laws.

Martin Lewis had to spend a lot of money to get them to stop publishing scam ads with his face on "recommending" things he didn't recommend and had never heard of.

He managed it but Facebook isn't listening to most of us.

@RozHuntleysStump

People are thick.

It's not that simple - advertising scam has been properly outlawed in print and broadcast media for years - but Facebook doesn't care.

Yeah, I wonder about my friends sometimes when they like and share fb posts that claim to be giving away an RV because it's old stock.. really? Like that matters? Or a Land Rover (various versions of this one, but the first winner of the draw was always 17 so it has to be done again). Sure, companies give away vehicles worth tens of thousands on facebook .

Not to mention the urban legends that people share (e.g. don't accept a keyring given away at the petrol station, it has a tracker and they will follow you home). To which my response is, And? If they did follow me home, what could they possibly gain from this?

Complete lack of critical thinking.