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Original poster

To wonder why so people fall for Facebook scams?

52 replies

Lauren1983 · 28/01/2022 17:55

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?

OP posts:
gettingolderandgrumpy · 28/01/2022 19:55

I’ve seen a few times probably not real but will share just in case . I’m like 🙄 a restaurant is not going to give free meals out to people that share think about it . Ffs it’s a bit like greed and they only have themselves to blame as most of these people aren’t stupid are very tech savvy and spend their lives on Facebook.

Isababybel · 28/01/2022 19:57

The other week i saw a fake center parcs fan pqge advertising a free stay for 6 people and soo many thousands of people lapped it up! Everyone received a reply saying they had been "randomly" selected and you just need to click the link and enter your personal details!!! Insane.

Meandthesky · 28/01/2022 19:58

I have one fb friend who shares stuff like this constantly. Even though on almost every one, someone will comment to warn her that it looks like a scam.

I really think it is just stupidity

Original poster
Lauren1983 · 28/01/2022 20:03

I wish Facebook would do more but as said they don't care. Since I reported the page several thousand more people have commented. I bet if I put something copyrighted up they'd act quicker.

OP posts:
over2021 · 28/01/2022 20:11

I genuinely believe that a significant percentage of society have no critical thinking skills.

It's weird and scary.

ISmellBurnings · 28/01/2022 20:18

‘We’re giving away a Disney cruise as we’ve had a last minute cancellation!’

‘We haven’t managed to get hold of the winner of this caravan so we’re giving it away again!’

You just have to look on the fb page to see it isn’t real, yet it’s shared with comments ‘oh we’ve had such a difficult year this would be such a treat’.

grumpytoddler1 · 28/01/2022 20:33

There was a fake center parcs one the other week, where the claim was that someone had cancelled a treehouse booking for August 2022, which was non-refundable, and therefore center parcs were giving it away.

Obviously there were thousands of entries to the fake 'competition', but the funniest part was the hundreds of comments from people saying how disgusting it was that center parcs weren't refunding the poor imaginary people who had cancelled their booking - 'I am disgusted, this is center parcs all over!!' Grin

Anna10309 · 28/01/2022 20:35

@drpet49

Because they are stupid.
This. This is the only reason.
gamerchick · 28/01/2022 20:36

It's just like farming. Get enough people then sell the page.

PossiblyDreaming · 28/01/2022 20:40

A friend of mine who is genuinely a bright woman is constantly sharing and commenting on posts like “This camper van is ex display so we can’t sell it. Like, share and comment why you would like this van and it could be yours!” from pages whose only post is this competition and the photos are clearly of several different vans, taken in the states. It’s baffling.

PartyPlan · 28/01/2022 20:45

I’m always amazed at people who I would assume have a basic level of intelligence that share these things. I can’t decide if those are worse than the awful “how many likes can this sad puppy get” crap.

MiddleNameJane · 28/01/2022 20:51

I got forwarded a WhatsApp message from a friend, promising me £100 (can't remember the exact amount but it was high!) of FREE groceries from Waitrose. Also encouraged to share it with my whole address book. The link looked super dodgy, clearly not the official one. How on earth do people think this would work? Waitrose would be paying for the shopping of the UK population within a day!

BHX3000 · 28/01/2022 20:54

@over2021

I genuinely believe that a significant percentage of society have no critical thinking skills.

It's weird and scary.

This.
Aposterhasnoname · 28/01/2022 21:07

I always post this on these threads.

My uncle sent a copy of his passport, driving licence, birth certificate and bank details to “great uncle George’s solicitor” in Nigeria, who randomly phoned him to tell him he was the sole heir of Georges £10 million fortune. He would also have sent £10,000 “admin fee” but the bank stopped it. My uncle was 55 at the time, had a degree, and ran a very successful business. To this day I can’t fathom how he fell for it. He just said they were very convincing.

BedknobsNoBroomsticks · 28/01/2022 21:15

It's the same with those motor insurance companies or windows phone calls. Someone must be falling for it or they wouldn't be still cold calling people.

DuesToTheDirt · 28/01/2022 21:22

@Aposterhasnoname

I always post this on these threads.

My uncle sent a copy of his passport, driving licence, birth certificate and bank details to “great uncle George’s solicitor” in Nigeria, who randomly phoned him to tell him he was the sole heir of Georges £10 million fortune. He would also have sent £10,000 “admin fee” but the bank stopped it. My uncle was 55 at the time, had a degree, and ran a very successful business. To this day I can’t fathom how he fell for it. He just said they were very convincing.

Oh my word! Shock
ElftonWednesday · 28/01/2022 21:44

@Lauren1983

Yeah because a missed word is exactly the same thing.
Some scams are pretty sophisticated now, I wouldn't blame it on stupidity. I got caught out with a phishing email at work as the email from the sender and attachment looked exactly like something he would send, and Microsoft were always (genuinely) asking me to put my password in at that point, so I thought nothing of it. Not a financial scam, one of those that emails everyone. Just bloody annoying.
Everydaydayisaschoolday · 28/01/2022 21:55

There's a Simon and Garfunkel lyric - 'a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest'.

It was always in the back of my mind when I was a counsellor listening to clients (when I also had to be aware of my own personal bias so as not to disregard important things they were telling me).

It's equally true when it comes to people falling for scammers and con artists of any description.

earsup · 28/01/2022 21:56

@Aposterhasnoname

I always post this on these threads.

My uncle sent a copy of his passport, driving licence, birth certificate and bank details to “great uncle George’s solicitor” in Nigeria, who randomly phoned him to tell him he was the sole heir of Georges £10 million fortune. He would also have sent £10,000 “admin fee” but the bank stopped it. My uncle was 55 at the time, had a degree, and ran a very successful business. To this day I can’t fathom how he fell for it. He just said they were very convincing.

Oh I had one of these....in fact several...I was bored at home a few years ago, so played along for weeks with a few of them...even sent fake western union paperwork to show i had sent them money....eventually a few turned very abusive and another finally admitted he was in the internet cafe in ghana with hundreds of lads all scamming away...!!
Everydaydayisaschoolday · 28/01/2022 21:57

@Lauren1983

I wish Facebook would do more but as said they don't care. Since I reported the page several thousand more people have commented. I bet if I put something copyrighted up they'd act quicker.
Or post a photo exposing half a nipple.
PinkiOcelot · 28/01/2022 22:25

Yay! The Brexit vote has made it into a thread about FB scamming!!

DdraigGoch · 28/01/2022 22:26

Oh I had one of these....in fact several...I was bored at home a few years ago, so played along for weeks with a few of them...even sent fake western union paperwork to show i had sent them money....eventually a few turned very abusive and another finally admitted he was in the internet cafe in ghana with hundreds of lads all scamming away...!!

I know how I can occupy my time if I need to isolate!

I stayed at my parents' for a night while they were away recently. In that time I found myself fielding several scam calls. The most annoying thing about it though was that every time the phone rang I had to stop whatever it was I was doing to answer it. I don't have anything plugged into the landline socket at my house, I rely entirely on my mobile which hardly ever gets a scam call.

Original poster
Lauren1983 · 28/01/2022 22:36

I agree about scams becoming more sophisticated. I think email and phone ones can be difficult to suss out. I had a scam text from a delivery company that said they had a missed delivery for me. I wasn't expecting a delivery and had been in all day but could easily see how someone waiting for a parcel could have believed it.

I think these Facebook scams are different though as they aren't as sophisticated. In my example in my op a quick Facebook search for Toby Carvery would have shown the genuine page with a tick of authenticity thus showing the Toby Carvery fans page to not be real.

OP posts:
MrsDThomas · 29/01/2022 08:23

They are thick.

Sharing a new Center Parcs page for a free holiday which the original winner couldn’t be traced. Jeez….that is thick.

CounsellorTroi · 29/01/2022 08:46

There’s a saying “if it sounds to good to be true it probably is” but people don’t seem to believe that any more.

Those flashing boxes that sometimes come up saying Congratulations you have been randomly selected to win an iPhone - who in their right mind would click on it?